I love to set goals! I’ve been setting annual goals for a number of years. I love the challenge of achieving a goal. I love the focus of attention on improving myself that a goal provides. I love having a track to follow, from where I am now to where I want to be. For me, goal setting is about saying to myself, “Where I am NOW is fine, but where I CAN BE is even better.” This is my commitment to my own self-development, personal growth and continuous improvement.
I can’t imagine there will ever come a time when I won’t set goals for the year and hold myself accountable to achieving them. For that would be saying to myself “I’m as good as I’m ever going to get; I’ve learned all I can; I’ve achieved all I want to achieve; my health is perfect; my relationships don’t need improving; etc etc.”
The year I say, “I’m done with setting goals” is the year I say, “I’m done with life and living”.
My favourite goal-setting time of the year is the last few days of one year and the first few days of the next, when I reflect, ponder, and ultimately indulge myself with a few hours of time devoted to putting pen to paper, taking stock of my life and getting excited about what is to come in the future.
My personal planning session includes a reflection on the previous year. What were my biggest wins of 2021? What did I learn? How did I grow? Did I stay committed to my endeavour to be the best me that I can be? After some reflection on the year that was, I spend time putting the new year’s goals in place – what do I want to achieve in 2022? When I look ahead and see the ideal me, what characteristics do I have? How do I want to ‘feel’ at the end of each day?
I set goals within four ‘Life Pillars’: Health and Wellness, Career/Business/Finance, Relationships, and Passion and Purpose. Having a focus of attention across all areas of life ensures balance and equilibrium. A goal that cultivates your creativity in some way is equally as important as the goals that get you fitter or more financial. Arguably, the goals that improve your relationships with loved ones are the most important of all.
If you have never been a goal setter now is your time! Request the Reflections and Goal Setting Worksheet and follow the tips below to set yourself up for a fabulous 2022.
These tips will help you stay on track with your goals and ensure that they don’t become a handful of New Year’s Resolutions that get forgotten along the wayside of life.
1. Set realistic goals. Create goals that will challenge you, but not goals that are so unrealistic that you are likely to become frustrated in your results as you go. By all means, stretch yourself out of your comfort zone (that is where the growth is) but don’t set yourself up to ultimately give up because your goals are “too hard”.
2. Write them down. This cannot be stressed enough. Research shows that people who create goals and write them down are far more likely to achieve their goals and live a successful life than those who set goals and leave them in their heads to be forgotten, let alone those who never set goals at all.
3. Find a buddy who will hold you accountable. This is key to not letting yourself off the hook. If you have created a goal and gone to the effort of writing it down, then you owe it to yourself to take the next step of telling someone and asking them to help hold you accountable. Having an accountability buddy is key to my success. My buddy and I meet at the end of each month over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. We reflect on what we achieved in the previous month, celebrate our wins and look for ways to improve. Then we spend a few minutes writing down the next month’s goals and committing to hold each other accountable. Knowing that in a month I need to turn up and share what I have or haven’t achieved is one of the things that keeps me focused on my goal achievement.
4. Don’t have too many goals. Even having just one goal per ‘Life Pillar’ is likely to yield amazing results in your life. I encourage you to focus on a few great goals rather than lots of little ones. Too many goals can result in you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, and you run the risk of not achieving any.
5. Establish good habits. Establishing systems and habits are critical to support your goals. Focus on getting 1% better every day with new habits that will ensure you make your way slowly but surely to success.
Follow these tips and at the end of the year you are guaranteed to be able to say, “Wow! Look what I achieved in the last 12 months. I am awesome!”
Now it’s your turn! If you’d like a Worksheet to guide you through a Reflection and Goal Setting process. Click here and you’ll be emailed one.
Forever Fit and Fun with Jill Andrews 