2020 is a year that most people would dread in the years to come. However, on a personal level, this was one of the most successful years for me. I was able to accomplish all my goals that I had set in the beginning of 2020. Irrespective of the lockdown and the Covid pandemic, I was able to ACCOMPLISH my goals. In fact my WOTY (word of the year) was Accomplish for 2020 and I am glad, grateful and proud that I could fulfill my mission.
Every year, I write down the list of things that I wish to achieve or accomplish in that year. In most years, I am able to achieve only a few of the things from the list. However, in 2020, I achieved all of them and some extra also. For example, my target for 2020 was to conduct three workshops for my patients, however, I ended up conducting 11 workshops (online). One of them was in alliance with the Dutch patient group. I also started yoga, finished writing my 40k words of my second book, took part in April A-Z Blogging Challenge and NaNO Wrimo. The question is how I could do this. This year, I had taken an extremely different approach and that helped me achieve my goals. Let me explain how I did it.
Write a To-Do-List: It is extremely important to know what you want to achieve in the particular year. Without a specific goal it is difficult to pursue anything. Therefore, the first step is to write down the goals. You can use an app or use paper and pen. I myself prefer paper and pen. Goals can be big or small. For some a goal can be 100 billion dollars income in one year, for the other it could be able to watch the sunrise every morning in one year.
Writing a goal is easy but achieving it is hard. If all your goals are push goals then chances are high that many of them would remain unaccomplished, unless you have high resilience and perseverance. However, if your goals are pull goals then chances are you would achieve them easily and joyfully.
What are Push Goal?
These are goals that we have to push ourselves to achieve. In other words, a push goal is when you have an objective and design a structured plan to achieve it. You push yourself to achieve this goal. Society pressures us to choose push goals. We’re taught to pick an ambitious objective, to design a foolproof plan to achieve it, and to keep pushing. It is not easy to achieve Push Goals, as it requires hard work, perseverance and resilience. It is often exhausting to achieve these goals. Many people are actually not able to achieve.
A simple example would be, every year lots of people take gym membership and they keep a push goal of losing 20kgs of weight. They go to the gym in the initial days with full enthusiasm, however, as days progress they lose interest and after February, they stop going to the gym.
What are Pull Goals?
A pull goal is something that you feel naturally drawn towards. This is something you are passionate about and do not mind pursuing. It never gets exhausting or boring. For me writing is something that I feel naturally drawn towards and it is always fun to have goals regarding writing.
How to convert Push Goals into Pull Goals?
Push goals are difficult but without these goals it is difficult to proceed in life. The trick therefore is to convert Push Goals into Pull Goals. It is easier said than done. Converting Push Goals into Pull Goals is difficult but not impossible. This is where Mini or Micro Habits. I achieved my goals by converting them into pull goals and micro habits. In the following table, there are a few examples of how to convert Push goals into Pull goals and microhabits.
| Push Goal | Pull Goal |
| Start new Business | Start a business that involves something that you are passionate about. It could be baking, designing, networking, writing etc. |
| To Change Job | Apply to 10 new jobs everyday (micro habit) |
| To Lose Weight | Walk everyday for 30 minutes while listening to my favorite podcast/audiobook/music/talking to a friend on the phone |
In the above table, you could see how one can convert a Push Goal into a Pull Goal. If you wish to start a new business, look at the things that you are passionate about and align your goal with it. If you wish to change a job, try to consistently keep applying for a new job. If you want to lose weight choose a workout that you enjoy, it could be yoga, swimming, cycling, walking, running or kickboxing. Try to make it fun by going to the gym with your partner or a friend. I used to find walking extremely boring, but now I try to listen to an audiobook while walking and that has turned walking into such an enjoyable activity for me.
Often we are not able to achieve our targets because we are unable to create habits. That is when micro habits turn helpful. That is doing things in a micro level. For example if you want to read more books but not finding enough time then instead of trying to finish an entire book, try to read one page of a book everyday. Instead of sweating out for 2 hours in the gym, do stretches only for 2minutes. This would help you develop a habit and soon you would see that you are doing everything that you wanted to do.
Word of the Year
This year, I realised that “health is wealth” in every sense of the term. My word for this year is HEALTHY. It includes healthy body, healthy mind, healthy relationships, healthy environment and healthy living. I wish to invest more time and energy to cultivate a healthy body and mind. 2020 made all of us realize that health is the only important things and we shouldn’t take it for granted. I hope you also start taking care of your health.
Wish you a healthy 2021!!!
Trina Looks Back 
Wow! Congratulations and well done, Tina for achieving so much in 2020! That sounds like a dream to me!! Thanks for sharing some great tips for making resolutions work. I’ve stopped making them and now instead focus on setting intentions instead (my #woty post is all about it). This year, I’m renewing my commitment to focus on my own well-being—something that I tend to overlook whilst caring for others. No targets or goals to pursue anymore. I’m all for setting up gentle reminders to make small changes in my life-style that will add up to something bigger and better (hopefully!!:))
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s great that you achieved your goals in 2020 and even exceeded some! Congrats. Thanks for explaining about push and pull goals. Makes a lot of sense.
LikeLike
Great that you achieved all your goals..
Yes the desires have to be converted into calls to achieve them….it is always easier to achieve what you love doing..
Stay healthy..stay blessed 🙏🌹
LikeLike
Congratulations on achieving your goals for 2020. I loved your approach and how you explained the difference between push and pull goal. I’m going to follow this strategy. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations on exceeding your goals! And thank you for this breakdown of converting push goals to pull goals – I’m going to try and apply it to my exercise related goals – the one goal I consistently fail at!.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve hit the nail on the head . Most resolutions die out by February. I love the way you have converted goals into push and pull and making baby steps to complete a long journey.
I do wish you a healthful 2021.
https://mumbaionahigh.wordpress.com/2020/12/22/embrace-my-word-for-2021/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations on having a fulfilling year and thank you so much for sharing your insights into how to make working towards goals doable. Healthy is a great choice for the coming year! wishing you all the best for the coming year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations! I am happy the resolutions work for you, they never have for me!
I discovered micro habits this year too. That and a whole lot of Journalling and making lists has helped me accomplish a lot this year too. I guess having too much free time in hand has helped me. 🙂
Thank you for introducing me to Push and Pull goals. I am in the “Pull Goals” category now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Balaka for explaining the whole procedure of achieving goals in such an easy way. I have also shifted from Push goals to pull goals but I didn’t know these terms until I read you today.
Also, Healthy is the best word for the year 2021 where we need to healthy in all aspects.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is really well written. I specially loved the conversion of push goals to pull goals. It’s something I need to work on!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t know the difference between push and pull goals, this puts things into perspective. Wish you a very healthy 20201!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Balaka, what a fantastic post! Converting push goals into pull goals is such a wonderful concept. Never heard of something like this, I am certainly going to try it. And congratulations for the fantastic year that you had. Wishing you the very best for 2021 as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like to make SMART goals – they tend to lead to what you call “pull goals” by making me focus on the specific, the measurable, the aspirational, the reasonable, and the time-bound aspect of my goals. If I can’t get through all that, there’s no real drive or motivation behind the thing, or it’s just a baby step towards a bigger goal, and I need to reframe it.
I guess it’s time I get on that. Funny thing – I started to write resolutions earlier today, and popped out a short story instead. Which actually fit with my #OneWord365: “Imagine” anyway!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very interesting, Balaka. I’ve broken my goals down too.
Wishing you a healthy year in every way! ♥
LikeLiked by 1 person