How Depression and Anxiety Hamper Goal-Setting

I've mentioned before that my depression and anxiety can severely affect many aspects of my life, from personal, to work, to my faith. Today I'm going to talk a little bit about how my depression and anxiety affect goal-setting, but especially goal-setting for larger goals and projects.

It's only been the last few months that I've seriously started working on my blog as more than a hobby, and as a potential stream of income. However, with that focus has come a lot of extra goals to work towards. Those goals are often lofty goals, and I can get easily overwhelmed just thinking about them.

The biggest goal that my mental illnesses are currently affecting is our goal to get out of debt using Dave Ramsey's debt snowball method. We currently have almost $100,000 in debt from student loans, and for two 20-somethings with low-paying jobs, that's a lot of money we're throwing away each year in payments. How do I keep myself from becoming overwhelmed with these big goals? Here are some of my tips.

1. Break the goal into smaller chunks

It's easier to tackle a lofty goal if you break it into smaller chunks. For example, we're working on paying off the smallest loan first and moving forward from there, rather than putting a lot of extra money towards all of our loans at once.

2. Set a timeline for when certain benchmarks are completed

One of my blogging goals is to continue and grow my social media and blog following. In order to keep from getting overwhelmed by all the accounts I manage, I choose one or two a month to work on, and choose a number or percentage to grow by at the end of that month. It gives me something to work towards and keeps me from working at one goal for too long.

3. Have someone to keep you accountable on working towards those goals

One of the reasons I post my monthly goals each month is not only to have it written in front of me, but also so you, my readers, can keep me accountable with my goals each month! It keeps from me slacking, as well as getting to overwhelmed with the goals I set for myself.

My depression and anxiety can really kick me in the butt when it comes to getting stuff accomplished. That doesn't mean goal-setting is impossible, it just means I have to have a plan for my goals and work towards those goals each month.

How do you tackle goals? Do you find certain techniques work for you in goal-setting?