Setting Goals and Staying Positive During the Pandemic

In this article, I wanted to talk about something that has affected an immense number of people during the pandemic – setting goals and staying positive about our future. I am a recent graduate, believe me when I say I know the struggle. I had my graduation cancelled and the fact that we have been stuck like this for about a year now makes it all the more disheartening. It’s incredibly challenging to keep pushing during these hard times, but now, we would like to share with you some helpful tips, lessons and resources that may help you in the area of setting goals and your future outlook.

Let’s begin with the idea of a “future”. I know this concept has been ever so fluid recently – there is unemployment, people are changing careers, travel regulations are making it difficult to think beyond the place where we are currently living and it seems like this is never going to end.

Change is the only constant.

- HERACLITUS

I can’t emphasize enough how much peace the famous Greek philosopher’s words have brought to my life. It’s painfully difficult to accept change. Whether it’s a relationship, job or travelling with your friends – we spend a lot of time getting attached to these situations. Ultimately, it’s important to learn to be resilient. Everyone talks about getting good grades, a degree and trying to be perfect at everything. But I say it’s resilience and being able to adapt to change that will truly make you happy and bring you peace. We have to learn to accept change because often it turns out to be for the best.

Why am I saying all of this in an article about setting goals and staying positive during the pandemic? Because really and truly it’s the people that adapt to the world changing that will come out the most successful. You might be feeling like there is no point in advancing in your career, learning or bettering yourself – why bother when we are stuck like this, right? Wrong. I say you still have to lift your head up high because some people will come out of this pandemic stronger than ever and you can be one of those people.

Let’s start with the basics:

Do NOT bother comparing yourself to others.

The most damaging of all mentalities has persisted even in this pandemic. People posting on LinkedIn about their new job, or sharing photos of their holiday on Instagram (that’s a no no! Follow safety regulations!) can make us all feel like failures. However, there isn’t a better time than now to remind yourself that every journey is different.

You are not living their life and they are not living yours, so learn to detach yourself from others’ journeys and instead put all your energy into yours.

It’s okay to take it slowly.

This doesn’t need a reminder and yet people are rushing to get to where they want to be and end up feeling like a failure, asking themselves why their business is not yet thriving and why their career isn’t at that stage yet. We are amidst a global health emergency. Your health and the health of everyone else is the most important thing. There is no rushing. As long as you wake up healthy and alive tomorrow, you will keep going. Give yourself a break. One simple trick: start journaling about the small successes and steps that you achieve each week. That way you can look back on it at the end of the week and see for yourself that you are moving. The pace doesn’t matter so much right now.

Redirection is okay.

Your career might be taking a completely different turn right now. You may be getting back to something you used to do before or trying out something completely new because employment in your field is limited. Now, that won’t necessarily happen, but the key lesson is that redirection is okay. Change is okay. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’re being redirected to new opportunities.

Keep an open mind about the situation. The world is too vast of a place for you to feel like not following that career path is the end of it all.

Now, I want to walk you through the techniques that have transformed my life since I was young and continue to do so even during these challenging times:

Vision boards are still a thing.

Yes, believe it or not they are not out of fashion just yet. There is now a whole influx of different software that can help you to create your own videos with music, but I still like the old-fashioned collage of photos.

Vision boards have worked wonders for me. I know people can be quite sceptical of them, thinking that they promote the idea of dreams “magically” coming true simply because you stare at a photo for 10 minutes a day. In reality, it goes a lot deeper than that. Vision boards allow you to vividly visualize your goals. You can’t achieve something if you don’t have a clear picture of it in your mind and therefore, a clear path towards it.

Journaling.

This comes as no surprise. Journaling has a wide range of benefits and can be used in a variety of ways. Whether it’s to release negative emotions, write out your goals or simply share your feelings on paper – journaling has it all.

Many people swear by this method for helping them to keep positive about their goals. You will be surprised at how powerful it is to put your life objectives on paper. When you write something out, it creates so much clarity. It becomes that much more real and it helps people to really take that step forward and make changes in their life in order to achieve that specific goal.

Meditation.

Some of the most successful people in the history of humanity have used meditation. Need I say more? I think the biggest misconception that keeps people away from meditation is the fact that most envision an uncomfortable position on the floor, chanting for hours and getting bored quickly.

The truth is meditation is what you make it. Meditation often refers to training your awareness and attention. That means it can take any shape – sitting in a lotus position and breathing, closing your eyes and visualizing a natural landscape, or simply focusing on your breath for a few minutes. Yes, all of these fall under the practice of meditation. Find one that you like and it will change you forever.

Start small and maybe do 5 minutes a day for a week.

The mental diet.

The term “mental diet” sounds odd, but it actually refers to the diet of your mind. Yes, your mind has a diet. We constantly think about what we eat and we forget that consuming information mentally also has positive and negative effects.

Choose what you consume on a daily basis wisely. Firstly, limit the amount of news that you watch (especially now) and stick to reliable sources. If you are surrounded by negative people, be careful not to absorb their negativity. In the same way that you can select healthier foods, try to take care of your thoughts. Whether they come from someone else or from within you, don’t entertain negative ideas. You have the power to replace them with something positive.  

Also, know that you can’t always choose what happens to you but you can choose how you react. Remember, you have the right to enjoy good mental wellbeing and refusing to entertain others’ negative thoughts is not selfish – it’s self-care.

Lastly, try to keep positive and have an open mind about life right now. It is daunting to think about all that we have missed out on, but keep setting goals – no matter how small they are. Envision your objectives, put them down on paper or create a vision board with your favourite photos.

Life doesn’t stop and neither should you!