My Messy Start With Those Virgo Goals
Okay, confession time. January 2018 rolled around, and I was full of that “new year, new me” juice, ya know? Saw that astrology post buzzing about Virgo career success and thought, “Heck yeah, that’s me! Time to nail it!” So I cracked open a fancy new notebook – still smelled like the store – and just started scribbling down every single ambition bouncing in my head. “Learn Python! Get promotion! Start side hustle! Network more! Workout daily!” It covered two whole pages. Felt good… for about a week.
Then life happened. Deadlines slammed, the fridge died, my cat got weirdly clingy – basically, chaos. Opened that notebook maybe mid-February and stared at that overwhelming list. Felt like a punch in the gut. Zero progress on like… 90% of it. Total paralysis. One Thursday, I actually just sat in my car after work, staring into my lukewarm coffee, thinking, “What even is the point? I suck at this resolution thing.” Classic Virgo overthinking spiral commenced.
Tearing It Down & Starting Ugly
Gimme a break! That meltdown forced a reset. I needed brutal honesty. Went back to that notebook. Pulled out the pages with my wild wishlist. Literally tore them up. Felt kinda savage, kinda cathartic. Grabbed a single, plain sticky note. Tiny, right? Limited real estate. This meant brutal choices.
I sat my butt down at the kitchen table, no distractions, and asked myself just one question: “What ONE career thing, if I actually pulled it off this year, would make me feel like I didn’t waste the next 10 months?” Not what sounded impressive, not what my Virgo brain should want – what did I genuinely, desperately want? Took serious quiet time. Wrote stuff down, scratched it out. Realized all the noise was hiding the real target.
The winner? Actually getting visible recognition for my project work within my company. Forget promotions for now, forget side hustles for now. Just… being seen for what I already do well. That was the gut-punch goal.
Building My Honest-to-God Tracker
Still had that sticky note. Wrote the big goal at the top: “Get genuine recognition for project leadership at work by Dec 2018.” Underneath? No vague fluff. Broke it into stupidly simple steps, actions I could physically DO, not just wish for:
- Identify 3 key projects where my role is major. (Write them down!)
- For each project, list ONE specific outcome I directly influenced. (Track weekly.)
- Schedule monthly 1-on-1 with boss. Prepare ONE project update to share each time.
- Find ONE opportunity per quarter to present project results to team/department.
- End of year: Ask boss for specific feedback on my impact. Document it.
Saw my messy Virgo brain needs structure, but simple structure. This sticky lived on my laptop lid. Every. Single. Morning. Couldn’t escape it.
The Grind & The Win (Mostly Grind)
Lemme tell ya, sticking to that stupid sticky note was work. Scheduling that first meeting with my boss? Took me two days just to hit ‘send’ on the calendar invite, nervous as heck. Preparing for those monthly updates? Sometimes meant scrambling the night before, feeling like I hadn’t done enough. Presenting? Practiced in my bathroom mirror like a weirdo. Not pretty.
But here’s the Virgo magic trick: doing the simple things consistently. Logged outcomes weekly – even when it felt pointless. Showed up prepared for every meeting, even the ones I dreaded. Focused ONLY on those sticky-note actions. Didn’t let the “learn Python!” ghost distract me (that stayed ripped up!).
Slowly, slowly… stuff shifted. Boss mentioned my thorough updates in a team meeting. Someone from another department actually emailed me asking about a process I presented. Small wins, but they stacked up. Come December? Got called into my boss’s office. Thought it was about deadlines. Nope. Got specific praise for my work on Project X and Y – namedropped my contributions – and surprise, a modest but awesome recognition award at the team holiday party. Didn’t get a huge promotion, didn’t become CEO. But that recognition? Felt solid. Earned. Real.
The Lesson Stuck (Unlike Most Resolutions)
So yeah, the big Virgo lesson I pounded into my own skull in 2018? Success ain’t about the grand, sweeping list. It’s about picking one real fight. Just one. And then getting down into the dirt with the simplest, most actionable steps you can think of. Write it down. Stick it where you can’t ignore it. Do the damn things, even when you feel dumb doing them. The fancy planners, the 40-step goals… they just become wallpaper. My crumpled sticky note though? That ugly little thing delivered. Go figure.
