We’re already on day five of the 31 Days of Goal-Setting challenge! Sick about thinking of last year’s goals yet? We’ve got one last round to go. Today, let’s think about: What unspoken/unwritten goals do you have for yourself? And why do you have them?

What do I mean by “unspoken” or “unwritten” goals? They’re they ones that you don’t record, or even necessarily plan around, but that “of course” you want to make progress on.

These types of goals can be really tricky. They may reflect things that are deeply important to you but that you aren’t focused on. Conversely, they can be things that you don’t care much about but that you are still semi-consciously expending time and energy trying to achieve. (If you are curious about this concept, I strongly recommend Mastering the Art of Quitting – a review is coming, but spoiler alert, I think it’s great.)

The why here is even more important than in days 1 and 3 – why are you pursuing these goals, or at least keeping them around as goals that you should pursue?

You could probably spend an entire month simply rooting out and evaluating your own subconscious goals. For the sake of time, we’re compressing it into a day. I had three big ones that popped into my head almost instantly.

Eating well – which to me means eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer salty and sugary things.

Why? To be healthy, mostly. I am pretty healthy in general, but maintaining health is a priority for me. There’s also some social capital in being seen as someone who eats healthfully (especially as a fat woman, which I am – the good fatty/bad fatty dichotomy is alive and well, as much as we’d like to destroy it).

Keeping my apartment clean and neat

Why? It’s embarrassing, and kind of stressful, to be surrounded by clutter, dusty shelves, etc.

Have a “reasonable” sleep schedule – to me, this means going to bed fairly early and getting up fairly early, and having a consistent sleep schedule.

Why? I suffer from insomnia which presents as, and is exacerbated by, a wildly irregular sleep schedule. I consistently feel like I’m at risk of oversleeping, I am often tired at work, my moods are out of kilter due to lack of sleep, and I generally wake up at the last possible moment (meaning that a calm and regular morning routine is basically impossible for me). I really, really want to change all of these things.