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Overwhelmed Setting New Year’s Goals?
Here’s How You Can Prioritize
Happy 2024! It’s the season for setting goals, so I want to share some valuable insights on effective goal setting. Keep reading for practical tips and actionable advice so you can improve your goal-setting skills and achieve personal and professional growth in the New Year. Let’s get started!
How to Start Setting Goals? Draft Your Long-Term Vision
Embarking on a journey of setting goals is similar to embarking on a journey with an actual map – you must know where you want to go in order to create a plan of action for how you’re going to get there. In other words, you need to know your final destination which, when it comes to setting goals, is your long-term vision. Your long-term vision provides a clear description of exactly what you want – the more specific the better! Drafting your long-term vision starts by asking the right questions – Why am I setting goals? What’s my expected outcome?
I think many of us are intimidated by the concept of a long-term vision because we think once we draft it, it’s final and we have to stick to it. It can be freeing to realize that this vision is not set in stone, it’s simply a sketched out first draft that, just like us, can grow and evolve over time.
If you’re looking for additional reflection questions to aid you in drafting your long-term vision, click here to download my Visions Prompts.
Keep Your Goals Realistic
To be clear, setting realistic goals doesn’t mean you are playing it safe, limiting your ambition, or working from a place of fear. Rather, it’s about setting goals that are actionable and that can be achieved within your projected timeframe. Realistic goals help drive motivation and prevent the discouragement that comes from repeatedly falling short of reaching goals that were unattainable to begin with.
It’s also important to note – don’t blur the lines between your goals and your vision! While a long-term vision may include more aspirational and visionary ideals, goals are the actionable steps that will lead you there. To keep your goals realistic, ensure they are:
- Actionable and achievable within a set timeframe – Evaluate if the goal is feasible to focus on in the next year – consider the resources, time, and effort that are going to be required to achieve it. Prioritize the goals that are realistic and achievable within the given timeframe.
- Focused and fewer – Focusing on fewer goals increases your likelihood of achievement. Identify categories of significance related to your long-term vision and set one or two goals in each category.
- Prioritized and considered in relation to one another – Be mindful of conflicting goals and ensure they support, not distract, from one another. Reflect on why your goals are important and how they relate to your long-term vision, prioritizing those that are most closely aligned to it.
Write Down and Reflect on Your Goals
Once you’ve drafted your long-term vision and made note that the goals you set should be realistic, smaller in number (but still large in impact!), and well-prioritized – make sure you write them down! This is one of my simplest yet most effective pieces of advice when it comes to setting the best goals. Why? Writing down your goals gives them life and more easily allows for the creation of an execution plan, tracking your progress, and sharing your goals with others, all of which lead to a more serious pursuit of your goals.
Moreover, writing down your goals will allow you to more easily revisit and reflect upon them, which is a crucial element of effective goal setting and achieving. Reflecting on why goals are important can help you prioritize and choose which ones to work on.
Goal Setting Success Course
If you’re looking for additional support setting your goals for the New Year, consider registering for my Goal Setting Success Course here or at the link below. In this course I offer a framework for effective goal setting and achieving that will help you set meaningful and achievable goals.
Whether you’re new to goal setting or simply looking to refine your approach, I hope this article offers valuable insight on your journey to achieving your goals. Here’s to 2024 and making a HUGE impact, together, all year long!
