How I Set My Goals for the New Year

There are two things I know about myself. Firstly, I am a planner. It gives me a sense of control and clarity. When I am stressed, I plan my way to calm. Secondly, I am achievement driven. I get deep satisfaction and a sense of self-worth from being productive and accomplishing big goals.

It’s probably no surprise then that I LOVE to set goals for the new year. I thought it would be nice to walk you through the process I use to narrow my focus and ensure that I put my time an energy into the goals that really matter to me. Here is the process in a nutshell.

Make a List

The first step is to make a big list of things you want to do, skills you want to learn, or habits you want to develop. Don’t be afraid to dream a little. Goals should be aspirational. I had travel on my list for several years, even when I was a very poor barista and couldn’t afford it. You may not work on your goal this year, but you might work toward a goal that supports your more aspirational accomplishments for the future. Regardless, it’s important to identify the things that are important to you.

Here is my list for this year.

Categorize Your Goals

I like to categorize my goals because it helps make sure I’m moving all parts of my life forward, even if I am more focused on one aspect in a given year. Categorizing also helps me think about how different goals relate to and build on one another. I generally use five categories, but you might group yours differently

Be sure you are taking a holistic approach. It’s easy to focus on health, finance, or careers but not always as easy to think about what we want to accomplish in our relationships. I think we often assume our relationships are just going to organically mature and grow, but they need sustained attention too. Make sure you identify goals for all aspects of your life.

Analyzes & Prioritize

After I’ve grouped my goals I check to see if anything is time sensitive, dependent on another goal, or can be achieved as a natural consequence of working toward a different goal. Once I understand how my goals relate to one another I can prioritize which ones to focus on first to efficiently move them all forward.

As an example, in the finance category I have four goals. I know that in order to set aside savings I first need to set up the necessary accounts. I also know that by working with a financial adviser I will be able to more effectively understand and structure my budget, savings, and investments. Clearly my priority needs to be finding a financial adviser who can help me accomplish the other financial goals I identified for 2021.

I’ll take the same approach to each category and identify the one or two priority goals I need to give my attention to. If I think two goals overlap, I’ll combine them or delete one. I like to keep an orderly list, so I usually rank my goals in their categories to make sure I remember what follows what.

Even this slimed down list is more than I can realistically accomplish without further prioritization. I need to decide what my time frame for each goal is before I can develop a plan.

Now I can look at my list and see where and when I need to bring my effort. I made daily and weekly to-do lists my top priority because I believe that by planning consistently and realistically, I will be able to keep my goals at the front of my mind and accomplish more. I assigned random dates to the other goals based on my own expectations and their impact on other goals. I pushed my ongoing goals to the top of my priority list because they are important to lower priority goals or because their position reflects the value I place on them. It is up to you to determine what matters most, but I strongly recommend limiting yourself to three top priorities at any given time.

Create a Plan

Once you have a clear vision of what you need to focus on first you can determine how best to accomplish your goal. As an example, I picked up a day planner to help keep me organized and I’ve set aside time each day to create my to-do lists. The planner happens to include space for weekly gratitude journaling, so I will be able to move that goal forward as a consequence of giving my time and energy to my top priority. For the goal of completing the Whole30 I am building a recipe collection in advance, I’ll make weekly meal plans and do as much advanced meal prep as possible.

Check Your Progress

The final part of all this is to set up regular check-ins. Because of my focus on planning, I will be check on my immediate goals each week. I am also setting aside time each month to evaluate my entire list and add, drop, or rearrange goals as necessary. Life changes quickly and your goals for the year might change as well. Check-ins keep you mindful of what your priorities are.

If you get off track, don’t give up. Decide if the goal is still a priority and either start working on it again or drop it and refocus on the goals you believe are still important.

What are Your 2021 Goals?

Planning isn’t always fun, or sexy, or a natural talent everyone possesses, but it’s SO important for setting yourself up to succeed. I hope you found some inspiration in my process. It’s nothing fancy, but it helps bring me clarity.

I’d love to know what you’re goals for 2021 are and how you decided on them. Please leave me a comment and let me know.

Thanks for reading!