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Do you set goals each New Year? In the past few years, it’s something I’ve been doing and I love it.

I  like to write  goals and intentions for the year instead as opposed to resolutions. I feel when I’m intentional about something it means I’m consciously striving for it, whereas with resolutions, they can be broken and I’m not as committed to them. Writing your own goals and intentions doesn’t have to be complicated so to help get started I have written a quick guide to writing your own 2017 goals and intentions!

Pick a theme

I like to choose a few themes for the year to remember and live by. For example, for 2016 my themes were:

• Commitment
• Love
• Adventure & Travel

I stayed true to these when making everyday decisions and when choosing my goals.

For example, for commitment, I committed to San Diego by choosing to show up and commit to people in my community and life and to be open to a committed loving relationship (which ties in with the love theme).

Love,  to give and receive love in the relationships I already have and the ones I want.

Adventure and travel, I  wanted to travel internationally and really take a trip for ME this year! And I sure did!! I went on a solo trip (first of my life) to Italy and I called it my “Solomoon” (I’ll be writing a blog about it at a later date)! And this week I’m headed to Thailand, so my themes are alive this year!

Theme Ideas to Choose from (but not limited to):
Abundance

Adventure

Commitment

Connection

Fun

Growth

Happiness

Honesty

Integrity

Laughter

Love

Positivity

Relationships

Surrender

Trust

Write Down Your goals, YES I Mean with a Pen and Paper!

Then for writing my goals, I choose 1-3 goals for my personal life (health/wellness/family/relationships), 1-3 for my professional goals (career/professional/network/development),  and then anything else that’s been on my mind that I’ve been striving for to add.

I then write them following the SMART guide for each one, below:

Create Your Goals the SMART Way!

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Achievable (agreed, attainable).
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

I also recommend adding at least ONE SCARY GOAL to your list.  What is ONE thing, one dream that has been in your heart that you keep avoiding, disregarding or putting off? WRITE IT DOWN!! Write a smart goal around it to do a few things this year to achieve it!

Here is an example of one of my SMART goals I wrote for last year when I wanted to achieve a personal record in my half marathon time.

• I will PR a half marathon in December 2015. I will work with a coach on a 3 month training program to achieve this goal. During that 3 months I will run 4x a week, including 2x speedwork days to get faster, following the plan from my coach. I will achieve a finish time under 2 hours, 1:59.

And guess WHAT? My time was better than I expected! I ran my 7th half  marathon in 1:53:59 and after 7 half marathons this was the first time I wrote it down to get my best time! With a written plan, dedication and action, it happened!!

• My scary goal for this year was to start this fashion and travel blog and instagram and I DID IT!! (It had been on my list for several years) and, I actually did it, finally! And SO CAN YOU! Write it down, and see what comes this year!

Here’s the thing, as you know, because I’ve already mentioned above several times….so you know what’s coming… the secret is WRITING IT DOWN. And it doesn’t hurt to say them out loud! I am a believer in intentions, law of attraction and energy. I choose to have thoughts that match my intentions in hopes of drawing that energy/intention to me! (It takes work and practice so don’t worry about it happening over night).  I have also read that people who write down their goals (not just think about them) are 90% more effective in achieving them than those who don’t write them down and just think about them!!  *I also have a vision board and spiritual mantel and will talk about those in a later post if you’re interested in making your own!?

After you’ve completed WRITING down your goals, keep them in close proximity, somewhere you can  look at them and read them every three months to see how you’re doing! (I keep them in my notebook and carry them around with me wherever I go)!

Good Luck, friends and know that I am setting the intention for all of you to have 2017 be your BEST YEAR YET!

Here’s your Bicoastal Beauty Tip of the week: Because beauty is not just on the outside, but also within us, take a few moments this week to bring your beauty from the inside out and give two people you either know or don’t know a compliment or kind word. You can make someone’s day and you will feel good too:)

For goal writing, here is my most favorite moleskine notebook:

I have also linked a few super cute notebook ideas for your goals!

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment, was this helpful? What else do you want to read about? What are some of your goals and intentions you wrote down? I want to hear from you!! Ask for a happy surprise today and set positive intentions for your day and YEAR!