Easy Ways to Stay On Top of Your Goals While Traveling This Summer

Trying to stay on top of your goals is never an easy task, especially during the summer! With weekend getaways, family vacations, and evenings spent outside, you might be thinking, what goals? Like most things in life, it’s all about balance. You can enjoy your travels while also making steady progress with your goals and dreams. It just takes a little bit of planning and a healthy dose of flexibility.

Here are some easy peasy tips for staying on top of your goals while traveling this summer.

Have Realistic Expectations

If you want to stick to your goals, make sure that you are starting with realistic expectations. Since the summer months are extra busy, you might not want to keep the same goals that you had during the spring or winter months. For example, if you just can’t find the time to work on your side hustle for an hour each day, shoot for 10-15 minutes a day instead. Tiny micro goals that you can actually stick to are better than lofty goals that you always break.

Think of Travel Friendly Tasks

You might need to tweak some of your tasks or goals to make them “travel friendly.” This might look like breaking up goals into bite size tasks that can be done in 5-10 minute chunks of time. This might be something like, write one Instagram caption, write 5 possible headlines for a blog post, or do a 5 minute HIIT workout. The easier and more specific you make your goals or tasks, the more likely you will be to follow through with them.

Use a Planner

Along the lines of having travel friendly tasks, I’d also recommend using a planner. When I write something down in my planner, I'm much more likely to follow through with it. Plus, having a digital planner means that you can even take it with you when you travel, without the additional bulk of a paper planner. While traveling can be so much fun, it can also create extra stress as well. You probably have a million details in your mind. Do yourself a favor and write it all down. This will keep you organized and will also give your brain a much needed break.

Adopt the Motto That a Little Is Better Than Nothing

I don’t know about you, but I used to be an all or nothing type of girl. If I couldn’t do a full hour workout, then I wouldn’t do it at all. Realize that anything is better than nothing. If you’re out sightseeing all day, then be ok skipping your daily workout and instead shoot for hitting those 10,000 steps. Or, if you have a goal to read, try to do it while you’re on the airplane or while you’re between activities.

Gamify Your Goals

Another great way to keep yourself motivated is to gamify your goals. If you’re learning a language, apps like Duolingo do a great job of this, where they track your streak for you. Then, the more days in a row that you practice, the more digital badges and rewards you receive. You can also do this yourself by using your own habit trackers. You might even find it helpful to set a reminder on your phone first thing in the morning or right before bed to work on a particular task or goal. This way, you’re less likely to interrupt your trip.

Involve Your Travel Companions

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of coming home from a trip and realizing that all of our daily goals and habits are gone. You forgot to take your vitamins, didn’t do your morning run, never opened the 5 books that you brought along, and forgot that you even have a side hustle. It’s ok, it happens. But, a better way is to share your goals with the people you’re traveling with and try to hold each other accountable. You don’t have to go overboard and have a perfectly structured routine like you would at home. But, think of 1-2 habits or goals that you really want to follow through with and share them with your friends and family. If it’s something you can all do together, you’ll be more likely to make it happen. This could be a daily walk together after dinner, or 30 minutes for everyone to read in the afternoon.

Lastly, be kind to yourself and have fun! Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves that we forget to let loose and remember why we set our goals in the first place! If it seems overwhelming, just stick to 1-2 goals for the summer, and allow yourself to resume the rest of your goals once your summer travel has finished. So, think about which of these tips you can implement, and see yourself flourish!

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