Goals, Goals, Goals!

Hey, y'all, it's Hannah Slater, your host of Girl Chat! Welcome to this week's blog! In the last two blogs, we talked a bit about my goals for 2025; today, I want to discuss what a goal is and the different types of goals! So, let's jump into it.

Let's start with the definition of goals and talk about the different types of goals.

According to the dictionary, "The object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result." The intention of a plan and/or activity.

There are many different types of goals, which can be overwhelming at first, but let's break down a few.

• Short-term goals

  • You want to achieve this objective soon, typically within a few months to a year.

    • This could look like daily goals, and/or weekly goals, and/or monthly goals.

    • Typically, short-term goals are stepping stones that work toward bigger goals, such as long-term goals.

      • Example: Read two books in a month

• Long-term goals

  • Long-term goals often take months, years, or even decades to achieve.

    • Example: Travel the world by the age of 50.

• Career goals

  • Career goals can also look like a roadmap and be short-term or long-term.

    • Examples: Receive a promotion within 3 years.

• Academic goals

  • Academic goals are objectives to help the student succeed in their education.

    • Example: Receive an A on the student's midterms.

• Financial goals

  • Financial goals could be short-term and/or long-term. They could include saving money, spending money, and/or investing.

    • Example: Saving X amount of money for a downpayment on a house.

One of the most important parts of setting goals is making sure they are SMART goals. I spent a lot of time in college learning about SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Achievable

R - Relevant

T - Time-bound

Why are these important? SMART goals will keep you accountable and on track! Let's break each word down a little bit more...

Specific:

• Identify what resources are needed.

• Identify who is needed.

• Answers the 5 "W"s: who, what, when, where, why.

• Clearly define what YOU want to achieve.

Measurable:

Sometimes, I struggle with this one, but EVERYTHING is measurable!

• This is important to track your progress.

• Make sure you are staying on track as well

Achievable:

• Is your goal realistic?

• Are you setting yourself up for success?

Relevant:

• Understanding why your goal is important and valuable to you is essential.

Time-bound:

• Short-term or long-term

• Set deadlines

• Deadlines will motivate you to keep working to achieve your goals!

Each goal you set should include each of these letters. So instead of " I want to read two books," it should look like " I want to read two books in a month, so every night, I will read 30 pages before I go to bed."

So here are my 2025 SMART Goals!

• Be more present / Soak in every moment.

  • During our Sunday night dinners, I will actively listen to and engage in each conversation with each family member.

• Move my body each day.

  • Each morning, I will walk one mile on my treadmill (until it gets nice out), followed by yoga. I will track each workout by adding a positive affirmation to my wall in my workout room.

• Read a devotional every day.

  • I will set aside 10 minutes after my workout each day to read a page from my devotionals.

• Improve time management by following my agenda.

  • This one is a real struggle for me...

  • Each morning, I will spend 15 minutes creating and prioritizing a task list/schedule with the goal of completing 90% of them by the end of the day.

• Launch a website for SSM.

  • I want to spend 6 hours each week working on building and branding for SSM website and launch the website by 2026.

• Continue to fight hunger in all 50 states.

  • A biiiigggggg goal!

  • I don't have a time frame for this goal, but I would LOVE to achieve it before November 2025.

  • I want to keep working diligently with my team to pack boxes with nonperishable food items and send them to the states in need. We are currently in the stages of planning to pack and ship 200 boxes in April.

Comment down below a goal you have for 2025! Thanks so much for reading today's post!

XOXO,

Hannah Slater