STRESS!!! Am I right? Sometimes while lying awake at night –not scrolling through social media on my phone…. of course– I have a hard time trying to escape the churning of life’s chaos in my head.

• “How do we make ends meet?”
• “How do I deal with [this] difficult person or situation?”
• “Am I setting my kids up for success or failure?”

These are some of the top hits on my mental spiral playlist. What are some of your favorites? How do you deal with them? I find that setting healthy goals and boundaries can be incredibly helpful in turning down the volume on my stress playlist.

Where do we start?

First, we must identify the areas of stress that our minds are so focused on. Some top resultsfor most of us Earthlings are:● Budgeting● Establishing work boundaries● Physical fitness/Health● Social life

Now that we’ve identified a problem area or two, we need to make a plan. Just remember to beS.M.A.R.T.:

• Specific- State your objective clearly. Make sure anybody reading it could understand your end goal.
• Measurable- How will you evaluate your progress? Regular check ins/ follow ups will help keep you motivated and on track.
• Achievable- Be realistic! Unless you have the rocket thruster-grade resources to actually reach the moon, you may need to aim a little lower. Often shooting for even 1% bettercan yield incredible results! **Watch this short video about the British cycling team: Their coach improved everything by 1% This is the remarkable difference it made.

Atomic Habits 1% everyday, British cycling team – YouTube

• Relevant- Does it make sense? Is it worth your time and effort right now? How so? Jot down your thoughts to remind yourself of your
• Time- Give yourself a deadline. Be sure to give yourself enough time to properly accomplish your objective while still pushing yourself to remain in motion.

Once we’ve created our S.M.A.R.T. plan, we need to make sure we don’t forget to remember it! I do this every year: I lay out the best most awesome plans on a napkin or in the note’s app on my phone, then never look at it again! Ugh. This year, though, I’m going to try something new:● Make it visible– put it somewhere I’ll see it every day● Make it attractive– if it’s ugly, I’ll hide it. I put mine in a pretty template and frame it.● Make it easy– if your goal is to exercise in the mornings, lay out your clothes and shoes, roll out your yoga mat and cue up that exercise video, and promise your doggy you’ll be back in a few hours for a walk then give him a big kiss and drink of water to make sure you will get out the door on time! In short, try to make it as easy to do then to not do.● Make it satisfying– reward yourself for a job well done! Don’t sabotage your fitness goals by binging, or your successful budgeting with a shopping spree, though. Find rewards that continue to support your efforts. It doesn’t even have to be big. I may be kind of weird but checking off a list is immensely satisfying to me.● Make yourself accountable– circle your deadline on a calendar (and even micro deadlines for your ultimate deadline). Perhaps rope someone along into your goals with you or just find someone to report to and celebrate your milestones with. Be understanding when they hammer down or get tough on you. They’re trying to help, and you want them to keep helping!

Ready…Set…GO!!