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Hey {{ first name | there }}! Welcome back to The Flow by Flocus. If you’re new around here, welcome! 👋 You can catch up on our previous editions right here.
With 2024 just around the corner, let's talk goal setting – but not the usual New Year’s resolutions that often fizzle out by February. Let’s make it practical and impactful with micro planning.
🧑🔬 Let’s Rethink Your Resolutions
Yearly resolutions are great, but they’re also overwhelming and lack urgency. Let’s shift our focus to shorter, more manageable timeframes.
📅 Why Monthly & Quarterly Goals Work Better
Immediate Focus: Shorter goals mean shorter deadlines. This creates a sense of urgency and keeps you focused.
Adaptable: Things naturally come up — and so much can change across the weeks and months. It’s way easier to adjust your approach every month or quarter to stay on track or pivot as needed.
Achievable Milestones: Smaller goals are more attainable, which means more frequent wins and motivation boosts!
🥍 Implementing This Strategy
This doesn’t mean you can’t have New Year’s resolutions! Let’s take your big annual goals and break them down. Here’s the roadmap:
Lay Out Your 2024 Vision: Here’s where the big picture thinking happens. Start with the end in mind. What do you want to achieve by the end of 2024? Write it down (even bullets are great).
Break It Down: Dissect this vision into quarters, and then into months. What needs to happen in these smaller timeframes to reach your yearly goal?
Set Specific, Measurable Targets: Vague goals lead to vague results. Set monthly and quarterly goals that are specific, measurable, and realistic. Make your monthly and quarterly goals clear and quantifiable.
Regular Review & Adaptation: At the end of each month and quarter, review your progress. Celebrate the wins and learn from the misses. Adjust your trajectory as needed, keeping in mind the bigger goal.
Stay Adaptable: Life’s unpredictability needs flexibility! Be open to recalibrating your goals to stay on track without burning out.
Scroll on for a full example of this approach in action 👀
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🍏 Example Resolution: “Eat healthier”
At the start of each month, set specific goals to gradually build a foundation for healthy eating.
Rather than planning the entire year at once, focus on creating achievable monthly goals. If you want to go macro, set out a high level goal at the start of each quarter.
Here's a full, retrospective look at how a year of micro-planned goals could unfold:
Q1: Lay the Foundation
January
“Watch YouTube videos about nutrition”
“Add two vegetable servings to dinner every night”
February
“Cut out sugary drinks”
“Drink 8 glasses of water daily”
March
”Get 120g of protein in every day”
“Introduce a fruit snack every afternoon”
Q2: Build Consistency
April
“Keep a weekly food diary”
“Prepare a weekly balanced meal plan every Sunday”
May
“Experiment with a new method of healthy cooking (e.g. air frying or slow cooking)”
“Introduce two new healthy snacks in my rotation”
June
“Start Sunday meal prepping”
“Analyze food diary for unhealthy patterns”
Q3: Refine
July
“Cook with a new healthy ingredient weekly”
“Try 2 new international healthy dishes”
August
“Integrate a new superfood each week”
“Replace one meal a day with a salad or vegetable-rich dish”
September
“Choose whole grains over refined grains in my meals”
“Explore healthy dessert options”
Q4: Integrate into Your Lifestyle
October
“Reflect on dietary changes”
”Make healthy choices when dining out”
November
“Host a healthy meal night for friends”
“Avoid processed foods all month”
December
“Plan a healthy holiday menu”
“Set new goals for the next year and quarter”
🪅 Flocus Picks
A curated list of things worth sharing.
Study Music Recos — @karthitsa shares study music faves to get in the zone or zen out (Wii Music is our personal fave)
Study ASMR — From keyboard clicks to paper flipping, follow @katgilmore along to a soothing study session at the library
Atomic Habits — With practical strategies for forming lasting habits, this is a perfect read as we step into 2024. Pick it up at your local library, Amazon, or anywhere you get your books!
POLL: Which part of goal-setting do you find the toughest?
🖥️ Use Flocus to stay on task with your bite-sized goals! It’s our free, browser-based dashboard for focus and ambience, with aesthetic backgrounds, a custom Pomodoro timer, encouraging greetings, and lots more.
As we get ready to ring in 2024, let’s approach resolutions with a fresh perspective.
Breaking down your resolutions into achievable, bite-sized goals is the difference between a forgotten resolution, and milestones that actually get reached.
Until next Sunday,
Flocus Team
PS: As the holidays approach, it's the perfect time to gather around for some cozy family game nights.
Check out "Search Party: Chaos at the Park" for a fun 3D adventure that's sure to bring laughs to your holiday gatherings! Made by the creators of the beloved “What Do You Meme?” card game.
By checking it out, you're also supporting our tiny team at The Flow and Flocus 💜
The game’s available on Amazon and can ship just in time for the holiday season.
Search Party: Chaos at the Park
Your search for the perfect family game is over. Search Party: Chaos at the Park is an epic 3-D pop-up search-and-find adventure.
The people of Chaos City amusement park are in trouble and it's up to you to follow the characters around the park to help answer questions and solve mysteries!
Over the course of 15 missions, you'll sabotage mad scientists, help parkgoers find love, and more. With fun pop-up structures and a highly intricate board packed with hidden objects and kooky characters, including 300 hidden items, the whole family will have a blast.
The game is perfect for players 8+, so parents, siblings, cousins, and friends can all get searching together. Find it at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Relatable.com.
Brought to you by What Do You Meme? Family, a Relatable brand.
