18 months ago (June 2018) we officially set off on our mission to help people “stress less and smile more”. Honestly speaking, we didn’t really know what that would look like, and we certainly couldn’t have envisioned where we would be today (December 2020).
But we were clear on one thing… and that was that we wanted to focus on helping people to manage their overall mental, physical and emotional health and wellbeing better – by finding a better balance between stress and happiness, and work and life.
Over the past 18 months, we’ve tried and tested many different things, we’ve listened to the market, and we’ve responded by developing a series of products that hopefully address the needs of people – everyday people who are juggling many responsibilities – at home and at work, as well as trying to satisfy their own sense of purpose in life.
The power of goals
And it all started with our simple goal/mission. And then we created a plan. Which developed and changed over time, and continues to develop and change over time, as life and the needs of people change.
One of our workshops is Goal-Setting For Success, and as we near the end of 2019, and approach a new year… we thought we’d take the time to review the year from our own personal perspectives and to take a moment to think ahead to 2020, and what our 2020 vision might be.
If you have a few minutes to spare, read on to find out what the founders of POINT3 Wellbeing have learned in 2019 from their (non) goals…
2019, WHAT I’VE LEARNED BY CO-FOUNDER SARAH MAYO
“When it comes to my goals for 2019, I achieved one, missed out on one and the other is on-going…
Naturally, I set three goals for myself this year… as we all know the best things come in threes 😉 Whilst all very different goals, they have all played a major role in maintaining my mental, physical and emotional wellbeing this year.
But success doesn’t solely come from achieving goals… in fact, I think we learn the most about ourselves when we don’t achieve our goals the first-time round. When things don’t quite go to plan, we build resilience, which helps us to cope with new challenges as they arise.
Also, priorities change over time… we need to be flexible to change, and to know when we need to adapt our goals or direction depending on what opportunities life presents to us. The best measure of our success comes from how we feel, not what we’ve achieved.
So, what I’ve learned so far in 2019 can be summed up in three points (obviously ;-)) as follows:
- 2019 – a year of walking, rather than running. Those who know me, know I have a (healthy) obsession with getting my daily steps in… previously solely through running, but now mostly through walking. So, sometimes we need to slow down to speed up. A great metaphor for life.
- 2019 – a year of meeting many incredible people. There is no such thing as coincidences. People are sent to us for a reason. Notice the signs. Surrender to the flow of what happens and when.
- 2019 – a year of learning about myself and others, as well as helping others to learn more about themselves and others. Long may this yearn to learn continue!”
2019, WHAT I’VE LEARNED BY CO-FOUNDER NICKY MORGAN
“Given one of our workshops – especially popular in the month of January – is “Goal Setting for Success”, I know then that setting and working towards a goal can, and does, have a positive impact on my wellbeing.
But at the beginning of 2019 I purposefully turned my back on setting a tangible goal for the year. In past years running a marathon (tick), creating a regular mindfulness practice (half tick), starting a regular yoga practice (still no tick) have been goals that I’ve set. At times with those goals have come pressure – to keep at it, to achieve, to succeed. So in 2019 – knowing I would be entering a year already filled with high hopes (and pressure) of establishing our business – my one wish, (if not a goal), for myself was to find peace of mind more often than not.
And this began for me by NOT setting myself a goal. Not tying myself to something rigid that I may or may not achieve. Not asking anything of myself that could inadvertently pile on the pressure.
Interestingly for me, the more I’ve surrendered to life as it’s shown up for me day by day… without the “pressure” of having a goal in mind, the more I’ve organically grown into those goals that have always nagged at me. In 2019, mindfulness has grown to become a practice and towards a lifestyle, I ran alongside my friend and awesome co-founder Sarah as she trained for her marathon picking off the long runs for nothing other than the (loose!) joy of it, and slowly but surely yoga is becoming a familiar friend. The net result of this? More peace of mind day to day – bingo!
I wouldn’t ever argue the virtues of goal setting – I’m a firm believer in the power of a goal. But 2019 has also taught me that sometimes letting go of that one big goal can result in the collateral beauty of a multitude of mini victories along the way.”
2019, WHAT I’VE LEARNED BY CO-FOUNDER SION STANSFIELD
“I’ve got goals in all areas of my life. I’m regularly jotting them down, updating them, at times simply removing them because they are no longer important to me or the direction I’m going in my life.
In 2019, two clear physical (triathlon) goals I had this year were to finish the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii and to qualify for and then perform well at the Ironman 70.3 (half distance) World Championships in Nice, France.
I wanted to make sure that these were going to ladder positively into other areas of my life – having fun (sense of enjoyment) and lots of social interaction with friends and family (relationships).
I love how a goal can then start to simply affect everything else in life. Decision making has become seemingly so much easier. Does it support my goals or not?
When you have a clear direction in life suddenly so many exciting doors start to open, you meet brilliant people and you feel the challenge and sense of purpose that comes with working towards something that is taking you out of your comfort zone.
Most importantly, I have learnt along the way that goals are there to push you, but when the chips are down, it’s the journey that’s the most important part of it all. If you don’t quite meet your expectations or the exact goal then that really doesn’t matter, because the build up has been exactly what you needed in your life.
This realisation has meant that suddenly I’m putting less pressure on myself, having more fun along the way, but with a clear rudder steering my ship.”
Do you have a 2020 vision? If the answer is yes or no, take the time now to consider what it is that matters most to you… that’s a really important starting point to setting goals or intentions. Afterall you have to really want something, and for it to hold true meaning and value to you, for you to then make the necessary changes or trade-offs necessary to achieve it.