My 2018 Oola Goals...Wait, What's an Oola Goal?

To know me is to love me...and to accept my weird obsession with resolutions and goals and betterment-seeking.

I sent this picture to my dear friend Wendy the other day.

Here's our text conversation that followed:

Me: Do you think I have a New Years resolution planning problem?
Wendy: Yes! But I appreciate your attempt at organizing your life, self, etc.
Me: Are you questioning our friendship right now? Because I'm working on my personal mission/vision/values*...and I'm using colored pens.
Wendy: No, I am rooting for you...and your pens.
Me: I love my pens.

That's the love of a true friend, yo.

I am one of those life-long leaner types. I am a seeker. I am always looking for ways to broaden my horizons, deepen my understanding, and better myself and my life. I am always on a path of enlightenment of one sort or another. And the beginning of a new year has a tendency to really amplify this characteristic in me...so does getting older, I think.

I know this because it's January 30th and I'm still working on "this New Year's stuff." Not just still committed to my goals, but still working out those goals. I have some very straight-forward goals for this year, like "Improve my flexibility" and "Attend a writer's conference." But even those seemingly straight-forward goals are all tied up in more complex "life vision" goals, like "Live my life's mission every day." Which, if you stop and think about it, is pretty deep stuff.

One of the tools that I discovered this year, and have found really helpful, is Oola.

What is Oola? You ask. Oola is a state of awesomeness. It is about finding balance in an unbalanced world. Whatever rocks it for you, Oola means living life firing on all cylinders--joyful, wholehearted, and ready to take advantage whenever good times and opportunity appear. To live Oola means to pursue your dreams; to seek balance and growth; and to live a dream lifestyle of simplicity, tranquility, abundance, and opportunity. It means to live an extraordinary life linked to your purpose and future goals.

Sounds pretty great, right?

The Oola movement was started by two guys, Dave Braun and Troy Amdahl. You can learn more about it on their website, here: https://www.oolalife.com. You can also check out their books, Oola: Find Balance in an Unbalanced World and Oola for Women. I checked Oola for Woman out of the local library to do a little further investigation beyond the Oola website and videos. I'm not done with it, but I haven't yet actually found the book to be all that great or to really add anything more to what I'd learned on the website. I even found a few points in the "for women" book a little patronizing (kinda like two dudes trying to talk about "women stuff"), but that's just me. (And I think their intentions are good, so I just brushed it off.)

I also participated in their 21 Days of Oola. You sign up on their website and for three weeks they'll send you an email each day with a specific Oola Challenge. For example: Give someone a compliment that's specific, genuine and unique to them. Or, Take 30 minutes to do something for your soul. The idea is to get you thinking more about an Oola way of living. I thought it was nice as a daily reminder to "live more Oola."

Mainly, though, there are two things I love about Oola. First is the general concept of Oola. The paragraph above about What is Oola...I dig that definition. What a great thing, to strive to exist in a state of awesomeness; to live life firing on all cylinders and pursuing your dreams. That just sounds good and right to me.

The other thing I love about Oola is their identification of 7 key areas of life. The idea is that when you are both BALANCED and GROWING in all 7 key areas, you are living Oola (and when you're striving for this balance and growth, you are seeking Oola). So, they ask you to look at these 7 key areas of your life and assess where you are and where you want to be and then chart a course to get from point A (where you are) to point B (where you want to be). This is such a helpful idea!!

And this is the part of Oola that took hold for me. So what are the 7 key areas? They're the 7 F's: Fitness, Finance, Family, Field (career), Faith, Friends, and Fun. The Oola Guys ask you to look at each of these areas and honestly assess: Where am I now in this area? What's my big dream/ultimate vision for this area? What are three goals that will lead me toward that dream? They ask you to make these SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic, Time-linked). On their website, they even give you a worksheet! Just scroll to the bottom of the site's home page and click on the link under Oola Plan to download the worksheets.

So I did it. Here's what my worksheet looks like:

For each of the 7 areas, I thought about what my ultimate goal would be...if I could have this thing in each area, life would be a dream! Then I came up with 3 goals for 2018 that I felt would get me closer to that big dream, and were in line with the other goals/resolutions that I'd been working on for the year.

Here are some examples of what I did:

So, for Oola Family, my dream is To grow a connected, close, happy, supported, loving family. My three goals for 2018 are: 1) Daily family connection (real conversation, reading together, family dinnertime), 2) Weekly family fun (game night, movie night, family date night, outings), and 3) Monthly family adventures and traditions (trips, geocaching, holiday celebrations).

For Oola Fitness, my dream is To feel and look amazing; to be pain-free; and to be able to, physically, do whatever I want (no physical limitations). My three goals for 2018 are: 1) To improve my flexibility (do more stretching throughout the day, have nightly family stretch time, take yoga classes), 2) To exercise/move everyday (to keep up with my Danette May workouts, to walk the dog daily, to take any opportunity to move more), and 3) To seek outside support for my physical wellbeing (massage therapist, chiropractor, doctor, naturopath, whole foods, supplements, essential oils, etc.)

Taking the time to look at all of these areas of my life was a big help and forced me to widen my view for my goals for the year. And thinking about the big picture vision for my life-- where do I really want to be-- made me honestly assess what was important and where I want to spend my time and energy. For this focus and shift in thinking, I thank the Oola Guys. I love what they're doing.

Until next time, take a look at the 7 key areas of your life and think about your BIG DREAMS; strive for both balance and growth; and live in a state of awesomeness.


*P.S. I'll tell you more about this mission/vision/values stuff in an upcoming post.