How to set better goals you'll actually achieve this year

The ringing of a new year comes with it a new blank page brimming with possibility.

You know I love a good new year, but I don’t think you should save your goals and start them because of a specific day on the calendar. But if you do choose to set goals this new year here are a few tips to help you actually achieve them!

I want to set goals that are S.I.M.P.L.E. Let’s break down what I mean.

Strategic

Have a plan for how you’re going to achieve your goal. Don’t just say “I am going to lose weight.” Instead say, “I am going to make healthier choices by prepping healthy meals, and walking with a friend after work three days a week.”

If you want to write a book, run a marathon or organize your kitchen you need to have an action plan in place. Set aside time to write, schedule in time to train, take an inventory of what you have in your kitchen and decide what you’re going to keep.

Goal setting isn’t slinging spaghetti noodles at a wall to see what sticks. It’s deciding what you want your life to look like and then determine the steps you have to take to get there.

Intentional

Don’t just set goals because they sound good or because you heard someone else mention wanting to do something.

Think of the life you have NOW and how you can optimize and improve various aspects of it.

Maybe your family is busy with sports and extracurriculars and one of the ways you could spend more time together and save money is by planning to cook three meals at home each week.

This is a strategic goal that will improve your existing schedule.

I remember in the fourth grade my teacher would write our objectives for the day. These were tasks that we would complete as a class.

In my adult life, I have begun having objectives for my days (it’s called a to-do list, let’s not be fancy).

Goals are the same way. They have an intentional outcome. They are set with an objective in mind and aren’t just arbitrarily written on a list at the end of December to make me feel better.

They have a set beginning and a set end and I set small intentions that will support me in those goals.

Manageable

I have four kids and a business and I am busy. And I bet you’re busy too. That’s why the goals you set need to be things you can break up into chunks and manage.

One of the reasons programs like Couch to 5K and Dave Ramsey’s baby steps work is because they are broken into small, easy to follow steps.

They are vastly different programs, one helps you go from a sedentary lifestyle to running a 5K and the other teaches you how to manage your finances. But they are also the same. You are given an action that you fit into your daily life. And that action changes your overall behavior.

The actions are manageable and the change comes slowly.

That is how effective goals are too. You need to make small, incremental steps that lead to your big goal.

Practical

Set goals based on who you are, not your ideal self. You’re not going to wake up on New Year’s Day a new person. If you went to bed as Pig Pen don’t expect to wakeup at Marie Kondo.

Don’t set yourself up for failure by idealizing who you are not. Instead, focus on some areas you can improve upon, hobbies you can fit into your schedule.

Livable 

I have been writing a book. And that process has taken me a while because I had a baby, manage the schedule for my special needs child and I work. I set the goal of writing a book, but I knew I couldn’t lock myself in a cabin for a weekend and just write. I had to set aside 15 minutes a day to work on it. Some days I failed at this. Some days I used that 15 minutes drafting one paragraph. Some days I wrote several pages.

But 15 minutes was what I could make time for in my life.

This is where the livable part comes in. We have to make time for our goals, but we have to make a realistic time. You would be amazed at what you can accomplish in fifteen minutes a day. You can’t give up your day to day obligations in favor of a goal (wouldn’t that be the life?). So your goals have to fit into your life, but don’t use that as an excuse not to do things.

Make the time.

End focused 

Begin with the end in mind. I like to use something called a goal pyramid to create a strategy for my goals.

This helps me create a daily, weekly or monthly list of things I need to do in order to support my goal. We start with what’s the most important, the actual goal itself and then create a workflow from there.

Remember that goaltending takes practice. And just because you didn’t achieve all the things you wanted doesn’t make you a failure, if you achieved every single goal it would mean you didn't challenge yourself enough.

What are your goals for 2020? Leave me a comment and tell me!