Goal setting for beginners felt like rocket science til i was sweating on venice beach boardwalk, sand in my flip flops, watching skaters wipe out while i scribbled “figure life out” on a taco wrapper. that was me two years ago, broke and clueless in this la rental that smelled like old weed and dreams. tried apps, fancy journals, lost em all in ikea bags. then i dumbed it down to crayon level and shit started moving, kinda.
goal setting for beginners step 1: stop overthinking (my brain explosion)
first rule i broke: “make it perfect” – spent hours color coding, ended up with anxiety and zero goals, pacific waves crashing like they were mocking. goal setting for beginners means start ugly, i wrote “drink water” on a post-it, stuck it to my cracked phone, actually did it. mindtools says start simple – no duh. but i still catch myself planning for hours instead of doing, contradiction city.
goal setting for beginners step 2: pick one dumb thing
confession: chose “walk 10 mins daily” – day 3 got lost chasing an ice cream truck, ended up 2 miles away eating churro regrets. but kept the streak cuz it was so small, felt the salty ocean air burn my lungs in a good way. harvard health says tiny habits stick – felt that buying a 99 cent sticker for every 7 days. still overcomplicate sometimes tho.
goal setting for beginners steps 3-5 (the messy middle)
- step 3: track like a toddler – gold stars on fridge, neighbors probably think im five
- step 4: tell one human – texted my mom, she sent emojis, accountability weirdly works
- step 5: forgive the skip – missed a day, ate feelings in in-n-out, started again next morning
tried “read 30 pages” crashed hard, switched to “one page before tiktok” – finished three books.
when goal setting for beginners went full clown show
set “save $100” – spent $120 on vintage tees at melrose, cried in fitting room mirror. learned make the goal “check bank app daily” first, numbers stopped scaring me. surprised myself hitting “cook once weekly” after burning rice so bad smoke alarm sang, now i got three recipes down. la hustle screams big, my beginner brain needs baby steps.
wrapping goal setting for beginners yap
from this sunny la chaos, palm fronds scratching window, empty churro bag judging – goal setting for beginners aint pretty but starts somewhere. still skip, still crayon, but further than napkin days.
