Last week, I shared the importance of reviewing your previous year and how you might do this before catapulting yourself forward into 2020. So now you’ve taken some learning from what has gone before, it is time to look ahead to what you want to be, do and have and how you can maximise your chances of achieving this positive change.
1. Have a vision
The first step to creating a goal is to spend time dreaming about what your ideal for this area of your life would look like! Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it! Without being clear though on what you want for yourself and how you want to show up, you can’t possibly know what you need to do to achieve it.
Giver yourself permission to muse over your 10/10 ... use all your senses to make it real and really crank up your motivation. What will you be doing? What will you be hearing? How will it feel? As Stephen Covey said ‘Begin with the end in mind’.
2. Set yourself SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound)
Be clear on your goal(s) so that you know that defining moment when you have achieved them.
If they don’t excite you now, it isn’t likely they will further down the line. Check in with yourself – are you focusing on the things that are important to you? Do you know what this goal will give you and how you will benefit from it?
Make your goal(s) stretching yet achievable. Give yourself a deadline to work to so that you don’t get stuck on ‘Someday Isle’, which is certainly not the best place to be! Goals aren’t set in stone and you can revisit this date if you need to but a goal without a date is just a dream.
3. Break it down
Break your goal down into key stepping stones to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. Then break these down again into manageable chunks of activity so that you can design your own action plan to move you forward. This helps you to make progress and experience a sense of accomplishment whilst avoiding that awful sense of overwhelm, which can be debilitating.
4. Write it down
It may sound like a cliché but writing down your goals is really powerful! It requires more clarity than just thinking about them does. You are actually 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down on a regular basis.
Writing them down means that you can see them and when we see something, it affects how we act. You’re more likely to shift your focus onto this throughout the day thus being productive. You will also be more aware and open to opportunities.
5. Review your goal
Make sure you review your goals so that they remain relevant and motivate you. Decide how often you are going to do this depending on the life of the goal and whether it is short, long or medium term. Remember it is okay to tweak or change your goal as you grow or external circumstances change. We are of course all continually evolving.
6. There is no failure, just learning
Things don’t always go to plan even if we have preempted and planned for hiccups along the way. What is important though is our resilience or ‘bounce back ability’ and the learning we take from this to further our onward journey.
7. Remember to celebrate!
We often move at such a fast pace that we forget to stop, even just for a moment, to reflect on, share and celebrate our successes. This celebration doesn’t have to just be when you achieve your end goal. It can also be great at keeping you on track. How you choose to celebrate is up to you. After all … this is going to be YOUR year!
Here’s to your Life, Your Success!