Goals

I am a huge list maker. I make a ton of to-do lists, shopping lists, and even goal lists. There's just something about writing out what I want or need to get done and checking each thing off when I get it accomplished. One thing I have to keep in mind when I'm listing out all of my goals is realistic goal setting. This post my be a little advice column-y, so please don't hate me. I just really wanted to talk about this with the start of a new semester and of a new year. We all have goals we are trying to accomplish.

It's great to aim high, but I feel like it's even more important to set your sights on things that aren't going to overwhelm or stress you out.

It is no secret that I am easily overwhelmed, but I am also someone who has very high expectations of myself and my capabilities, so I tend to take on a lot of things at once. One way I alleviate some of the stress that comes with that is breaking my goals down into smaller milestones. I give myself time to work and build up to reaching my big goals.

 I'm the type of person who would literally force myself to build Rome in one day if I didn't remind myself to take it easy. 

Implementing my mini-goal process actually really helps when it comes to major stuff. For example, anytime I have a really important project or assignment, I allot myself plenty of time to work on and revise it over a course of a week or more (depending on how big of a workload it is). This is one of those processes that requires me to hold my self accountable as well because I can't really procrastinate if I have something little to work on every day.

I try to never put myself in a position where I working on something last minute and overwhelming myself with the amount of stuff I have to get done. 

I make daily goal lists or to-do lists, and I write pretty much everything in my planner- spreading my workload out across a period of days whenever I can. Sure, I could get a lot of things done in one day, but I find that I am a lot more satisfied with my work or my process when I plan it out and give myself some down time. I don't think I would be able to survive college if I was still the type of person who tried to do everything at once, all in one day. I would probably be bald by now.
On a broader scale, realistic goal setting just comes down to knowing yourself and knowing what you  want or need to accomplish. It's important to have an understanding of what you all you can take on without pushing yourself to the edge. It's important to gauge how big your goals are and what they're going to require of you. You are capable of accomplishing just about anything you set your sights on, and it'll be a much smoother road if you are realistic with your planning. Don't force yourself to knock that wall down in one day if you have the time and the ability to break it down little by little. Take advantage of every opportunity to save yourself from stressing out.