New Year Goals Setting

New Year’s resolutions are traditional declarations or promises we make at the beginning of the year, usually about bettering ourselves in some way. Sounds great, right?

The problem is that less than 10% of people are still sticking to their resolutions come December.

It’s suggested that up to 80% have given up by February. One month.

I’m not a gambler, but those odds do not seem great to me.

Let’s just skip all of the resolving and try new year goals setting instead.

 
 

Clarify Why

You probably already have an idea of what goals you want to achieve next year.

But why?

Why do you want to achieve these goals, what is your vision for the future?

How do you want yourself and your life to feel?
 

 
If you find yourself struggling to come up with a clear vision of what you want your life to look like in the future – try doing the opposite.

What don’t you want your life to look like in the future?

Then work backwards from there.

 

Umbrella Theme

Come up with an umbrella word – or theme – for your year.

Come up with two if you want to separate your personal and work goals.

Having a theme will help you find your north star when you start to feel unmotivated – which is inevitable.
 

 
For example, your umbrella theme could be Health and under that theme there could be exercising, eating clean, cooking and regulating your sleep schedule.

 
 

Write Them Down

So now that you know what your goals are going to be, time to write them.

Maybe you’ve heard that a study showed you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.

You may know this already, but knowing something is very different than actually doing something.
 

 
It sounds so simple, yet so many people skip this step.

But when you’re new year goals setting you really need to write those goals down.

In fact you should rewrite them daily.

Alternatively, write them down and put them up somewhere you will see them frequently.

No, typing doesn’t count.

 
 

Break Them Down

I’m willing to bet that you probably have some big goals and big things that you want to get done in the next year.

That’s great!

But you need to break your big goals into smaller goals.

Then break your small goals down even smaller.
 

 
Make sure to set less outcome based goals.

Hear me out, so many thing can happen and change in the length of a year.

Life doesn’t always look or work exactly as we planned.

There are a thousand different roads to happiness and success.

For example, if you were starting a blog – you can’t control how many people subscribe to your newsletter.

All you can do is consistently post quality content.

Focus on what you can control.

 
 

Make a Plan

When you’re new year goals setting, increase your chances of success by creating a plan.

This will be a guide or map to show you exactly how you’re going to get there.

Just like you broke down your goals, you want to break down these steps.

Your plan should go by little baby steps.
 

 
It’s important to not only plan but to also stay flexible.

Life often takes turns we weren’t expecting.

Don’t let one mistake or mishap derail your progress!

Give yourself grace when life gets tough.

 
 

Keep Track

Tracking equals accountability.

You want to build habits to support your goals and check in on these habits frequently.

The easiest way to do this is through a habit tracker (who’d have guessed?)

Tracking your habits allows you to see an actual record of your consistency.

 

 

Keeping a habit tracker is like keeping a reminder to do your habits.

Checking off a habit each day can also be rewarding in itself.

You want to have proof that you can do these things.

Keep the promises that you make to yourself.

 
 

Celebrate

Stop to celebrate the tiny wins.

Big goals can take a long time to achieve.

It’s also very likely that once you achieve your big goal, you’ll already have another even bigger goal that you want to hit!

That’s why you need to be intentional about celebrating your progress along the way.

Do not skip this step, it’s important!
 

 

 
 

Start Now

This is a post about new year goals setting but don’t wait until the new year to get started!

Just start right now instead of waiting to make all the changes on January 1st.

Of course you want to plan, but you don’t want to fall into Analysis Paralysis.

The timing will never be perfect and you may never feel ready. Action leads to motivation – start now.
 

 

 

Summary

  

 

 

Like what you read? Want to follow along on the journey?
I would love it if you signed up for my mailing list!
I’ll send you a new e-mail every week when I release a new post!
You’ll also be given access to my printables vault and won’t be sent any spam.
Just enter your e-mail address below ↴