Setting Goals in the New Year

The beginning of the year is a great time to set goals. It marks the end of one year and the start of another, making it a perfect time to reset and decide what we want to accomplish in the upcoming year. 

Where do you begin when you aren’t in the habit of setting yearly goals?

A good way to start is by cultivating self-knowledge and self-awareness using that foundation to set realistic goals. Deciding how and when you will track your progress is key when you set goals because it creates accountability measures around what you are trying to attain.

Know Your Priorities

When I am working with a client who’s at a crossroad and unsure of what to do, I use an exercise in which I have them think about what they hold dearest and then make a decision based on their priorities at that moment. 

This exercise is similarly helpful when you begin the year unsure of which goals you want to set.

Start with a simple exercise where you take a few minutes to create a list of what is important to you this year, in priority order, and remember that you can only have a single No. 1 priority. 
Once you determine your top priorities, use them as a guidepost around what you want to work on this year.

For example, if your health is really important to you, make sure you set some goals related to your health. Even if the goal is simply maintaining your current good health, you can include something related to that.

How to Set the Right Goals

One way to build confidence in life is by setting small, achievable goals and continuing to accomplish them. This is a simple method to tackle monumental life achievements. Take things one day at a time and do what you have to do next towards your dreams.

I’ve seen people lose hope simply because they tried to achieve something extraordinary overnight. There is no such thing as an overnight success; most people, even companies, who have achieved fame and success seemingly overnight have, in fact, worked hard for many years.

Set goals that challenge you a little bit, but feel realistic to achieve. They shouldn’t be easy, but if they are too lofty or unrealistic, you will lose the motivation to work hard towards them. You will know when it’s the right goal because of how motivated you’ll feel to achieve it, rather than feeling stressed by the thought of working on it. If you feel anxious and overwhelmed by the goal you set, you should break it down into smaller pieces until it feels challenging but pragmatic to achieve. 

Also, this is where self-awareness and knowing your priorities is key. I have seen people set a goal to get to the next level at work because they felt they were ‘supposed’ to do that when what they really wanted was to spend more time with their growing children. This incongruence leads to unhappiness because even if you achieve your goal, you will likely be going in the opposite direction of what you truly wanted, which was to spend more time with your kids. Sometimes, we don’t work towards our goals because it’s not what we really want.

Take the time to develop the right goals for you and what you truly desire.

Decide How You Will Assess Success

Personally, I have quarterly check-ins with my goals, although some people prefer doing so every six months, and others once a year. The right answer is whichever one works for you.

Whatever you decide, make sure you have some accountability measure built into your goal-setting program that ensures you review where you are with your goals during the year. You can even put a calendar reminder on the day(s) you want to check in on your goals to help you remember to review.

Without this crucial step of checking in, you aren’t really holding yourself accountable to achieve results and to hit your goals. 

If you avoid reviewing your goals because you never achieve them, start with small goals, ones you know you can reach, and then go from there. 

Also, it’s ok if you fall behind on your goals and struggle with achieving them. When you review where you are, you can also use that as an opportunity to update your goals into something more realistic that’s based on what you have learned. 

Setting goals regularly can have tremendous results and is a tool that highly successful people use to achieve their dreams. You have to know what you are trying to accomplish in order to achieve success.