Why create process-focused goals & anti-goals

I’m writing this from 500+ km away from my loved ones on Christmas day.

My friend and I got stuck in a remote community as Canada & US got hit by a winter storm on the day of our flight. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have cut our travel nursing contract so close to the holidays (Dec 24th). Lessons learned for next year.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about my goals for next year.

Last year, I didn’t have any specific goals, but I wanted to experiment more with:

• freelancing
• travel nursing
• launching digital products

All of which I achieved.

As I learned more about myself throughout the year, I came up with new goals in 2023 with one focus in each of these categories: health, wealth, relationships, and personal growth.

And to avoid overwhelm, I decided to divide each goal into different quarters.

I've never done this before so we'll see if this system works for me.

Do you have a similar process that you works for you?

Having a process-focused (instead of outcome-focused) goals lets you:

1. Have control over the achievement
2. Have accountability for your actions
3. Avoid getting distracted by shiny object syndrome (this is my worst enemy)

But not only I decided to have goals this year, but I also wanted to have a list of anti-goals.

I borrowed Sahil Bloom’s annual review questions and Justin Welsh’s example to develop my anti-goals.

One of Sahil’s annual review questions was, “Look at your calendar over the years. What activities, people, and tasks drained you last year?”

After reflecting, here are some of the anti-goals I created for the upcoming year:

• content strategy for platforms other than YouTube
• write for more than two clients at a time
• do bedside nursing

I’ve also never written anti-goals before, so this is my first year being mindful of things I don’t want to do.

Just like having goals, having anti-goals is powerful because:

1. You can set boundaries in your life
2. You create a more satisfying & fulfilling life
3. You get clear on what you don’t want to do in life

I’m excited to see if I’ll be able to go through this.

If you’d like to create your own goals + anti-goals using Notion like mine 👆🏽, let me know, and I can send you a polished copy in my next newsletter.

Also, my writing habit has fallen off the year, so I'm joining the first cohort of Ship 30 for 30 in January. If you're interested in joining, click here. Use CT100 for $100 off at checkout! Here's my story about how Ship 30 for 30 changed my life for the better.

With online love and happy new year 💌 ,

Jerine