Goal Setting and Intentional Action

Well, it is that time of year again. All of the productivity gurus have launched their programs to help us work toward the cleared to-do list. The fitness coaches have reminded us that everyone else will fall off their goals but we can go hard for 75 days to make sure we are not like them. And of course the business coaches have been talking about 2026 strategic plans and Q1 goals. All of that brute force toward goals works for some people, but it has only left me feeling defeated and wondering if I have what it takes to actually make the changes I want to see in my life.

Like many of you, I have spent the last month reflecting on what behaviors I want to carry on, leave behind, and start anew for this year. I kept coming across 75 Hard, 75 Medium, 75 Soft, and the winter is not for new goals content all over social media. I had decided that I would do my own version of a 75 Medium Challenge. I had blocked the time on my calendar and started shifting my plans to accommodate this change. 

I am working on a workbook to share with you all, hopefully this spring. This workbook walks through how to figure out what parts of your life you actually want to change. It helps you center your own passions, values, and desires and block out the noise of cultural influences and family expectations. With a clear vision for your life and understanding of your current tolerance for change, we work through what action makes the most sense for you. 

It was in a writing session for that workbook that I realized that I would not be doing 75 any level and definitely not starting on January first. This is what I have decided for 2026:

1. To hold my understanding of myself with compassion: planning time for targeted action, recovery, adjustment, and inspiration.

2. To take grounded, scary action toward the life I have imagined: releasing the belief that it must be perfect to launch. 

But don’t mistake me, I still am a girl who doesn’t move without a system in place. I know this isn’t what everyone needs, but it has brought me great joy to put it together for myself. 

I feel confident in saying that God knew exactly what they were doing when they placed my birthday in October. Before all the talk of running your whole person like a business, I have always run my life in quarters. Thinking of October - December as a time of celebration and reflection, January - March the time to plan, April - June is about execution, and July - August is for recalibration and fine tuning. And of course this has implications for the work I do, but it has always been more about holding myself accountable to the person I want to be.

My birthday is October 8th, so this year I will be doing four 75-day sprints of intentional action beginning on the eighth day of the first month of each quarter. I don’t know the specifics of what April, July, and October will be focusing on yet, but there are four pillars for my intentional actions. 

This is the plan for January 8 - March 24. If you are following me (@aerintaylor) or Bloom Fiercely (@bloomfiercely) on instagram you may see some glimpses of me working through this sprint.

But the point of this is not to share with you all how to become “something.” And you may notice that there is nothing related to business, work, career…making money at all. This is because I know that it does not matter how much revenue I generate if I am not someone I can trust to act in accordance with my values. I am not taking these actions because of some business goal. I am doing it because I want to be the kind of person who takes care of myself and others. 

It is my hope for all of you that you find a system, a way of being, that empowers you to joyfully reach for a more authentic version of yourself. I hope that you look around and feel the support you need to take the next step. 

If this framework is resonating as helpful to you, please reach out. I would love the opportunity to help you build a plan for intentional action toward the person you want to be.

October Thoughts

I have so many thoughts upon the relaunch of Bloom Fiercely. It is surreal to be sitting in this moment in my life. I don’t think I ever really believed this would happen. Looking around at the political landscape it seems a little strange to start a new business venture. I want to share a bit about why Bloom Fiercely and why now.

There is truly only one thing I care about…Black women having every resource and support they need to build the life they want for themselves. I have worked in women’s and children’s retail, built programming for seventh to twelfth grade girls, and customized systems for small and midsize nonprofits. Through all those experiences I have seen how deeply these systems were never built to support Black women. These systems will always extract as much labor for as little reward as possible. They will require Black women to shave off pieces of themselves to accept the constant dehumanization. This is what happened to me and my peers. After almost a decade of trying to make peace with the war of existing within these systems, I realized that there is no argument that you can present to the people in power to convince them of your inherent dignity. 

I, of course, did not arrive at this conclusion in isolation. It was in conversation with other women IRL as well as sitting in the writings of those who have walked before me. In this process, the only encouragement I have found has been in the community of women. Bloom Fiercely exists to connect Black women with other Black women. Since we do not have to prove our worthiness to each other, we get to pour our energy into the work. In creating this network of support, we get to focus on what we are actually good at. Let’s circulate resources within the community for the areas in which we do not excel and double down in our zone of genius.