I love setting yearly goals. But, if I am totally honest, I am not historically great at meeting them. That said, in 2023 I did a much better job of making progress on my goals than I have in years past, and I am all about progress over perfection.
Here are some things I did differently in 2023 that helped keep me on track (mostly) and how I will use them in 2024 to do even better.
Make It Personal
I think one of the big pitfalls people have when they set goals is not truly understanding what they want and why. They default to goals like losing weight, saving money, and spending more time with friends…generic goals that they feel they should want to do. But to set goals that keep you motivated and make a meaningful impact on your life, they must be personal. You must be clear on what matters to you and why.
To do this you need to understand a few things about yourself. What do you value? What is your vision for your life? What brings you joy? What do you want life to look like in 1, 3, 5, and 10 years? These questions will help you understand what matters to you and what you need to prioritize.
Here is a personal example. A handful of my friends had kids in 2023 and that means we see each other less. Instead of letting those friendships go because we are now in different life stages, or because they can’t meet me for drinks as frequently, I made the goal of cooking dinner for my “new parent” friends once a quarter in 2024. This goal aligns with my core value of community, it speaks to my vision of a life filled with long-lasting friendships, and I find a lot of joy in cooking for others. I’m genuinely excited to invest my time and energy into meeting this goal because it’s very personal to me, my life, and my values.
If you struggle to set goals that resonate with you in this way, it’s probably because you are not clear on what you value and what you want. Before you do anything else, spend some time thinking about that.
TIP: Many planners have a “self-discovery” section to help you build clarity around the what and the why. This year, I am using the Clever Fox Pro Weekly Planner, 2nd Edition to help me stay focused and on track.
Be Realistic
Being real with ourselves is hard and this is the sin I commit most often with goal setting. I believe that I am a capable person who can do anything I set my mind to….so I take on too much, expect to build new habits right away, and I don’t really understand what‘s involved in the goals I set. Being realistic with myself is very VERY hard for me. Here are a few things I keep in mind to help me take a realistic approach to my goals.
Set Flexible Goals – I read the book Elastic Habits in 2023 and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to build a new habit. Essentially the book argues that you should adopt a matrix framework for meeting your goals. If your goal is to be active every day your minimum effort could be 5 sit-ups or a walk around the block. Your average effort might be to walk/run 3 miles, and your max effort is a 60-minute boot camp class at the gym. On days you want to do nothing, you know you can do the minimum and keep your streak going, and on days you feel great you can go above and beyond. Building flexibility into your goal setting will help you maintain momentum and acknowledge that what you can give to your goals changes daily.
Limit Yourself to Three – As a chronic overestimate of my abilities, I have found that limiting my priorities to 3 each day helps keep me focused and moving forward. Every day I will look at my to-do list and identify the 3 things I can do that day to move forward. Not every goal will get my attention every day, but that’s ok. If I get everything done, I can add another item to the list and it’s a great day. The key is to avoid taking on too much, getting overwhelmed, feeling defeated, and giving up.
Ramp Up Your Efforts – When you get excited about a goal it’s easy to think you can jump right into it. For example, say you are someone who eats a lot of processed food and you set the goal of eating whole foods. That’s great, but if suddenly cut out all your normal food and just eat salads you will likely get frustrated, bored, and demotivated. Making big lifestyle changes is best done in baby steps (unless medically necessary) because a lot of our habits are tied to our emotions and current skill sets. Instead of throwing out all the processed food, try a phased plan. Start by introducing fruit as a snack instead of a cookie. Set yourself the challenge of trying a new recipe each week to build your cooking skills and decrease your reliance on prepared foods. With time and a phased approach, it gets a lot easier to make the big lifestyle changes.
Make It Measurable
I live in Seattle and if there is one thing I have had pounded into my head by the tech industry it is that goals must be measurable. This helps with a few things.
- It brings clarity to the goal. Setting a goal to workout 5 days a week is much clearer than “I will work out more”.
- It helps you level set. If you consistently miss your mark, you know you need to adjust your goal or change your behavior. If you don’t measure you won’t have this information to check yourself against.
- It helps motivate you. Gamification of your goals is a powerful motivator. Create a scorecard or some form of tracking tool to measure your progress and reward yourself for hitting milestones.
Tip: Think about leading vs lagging indicators. If your goal is to drop 20 LBS, a lagging indicator or an outcome, you need to think about how you will accomplish that. Working out 5 days a week will help you move towards your goal, so that is your leading indicator or your input, and the main thing you should focus on.
Make It Bite-Sized
Not to be confused with the “Be Realistic”, this is focused on taking your big goals, which you should have, and making them approachable and manageable.
If you want to pay off $50,000 in debt, break your debt into smaller chunks and tackle it systematically. The snowball or avalanche methods are good options, but do whatever will keep you focused and motivated.
Whatever it is, most big goals can and should be broken down into smaller goals.
Be Accountable
This is the game changer. In 2023 I asked my friend to have weekly calls with me to review our priorities from the previous week, discuss what worked and what needed to be changed, and set priorities for the next week. Sometimes the calls were short check-ins, but often they were brainstorming sessions where we could create or adapt strategies to meet our goals. Occasionally, we threw out a goal or set a new one because life changed. Not every goal you set yourself in January makes sense come June..
The accountability of reporting to my friend each week helped keep me on track and focused on my priorities. Her insights and ideas helped keep me motivated and moving forward when I felt stuck. And her support to make changes when they were needed helped me feel at ease about the choices I was making.
We lost the habit of chacking in halfway through 2023 and my progress on my goals lost steam. We’ve both said we want to do it in 2024 because we see how much it helps.
No matter what your goals are for the coming year, I hope these tips have given you some fresh ideas and motivation to tackle them. I’d love to hear any of your tips on how to set better goals and stay on track to meet them. What are you working toward in the new year?
Thanks for reading!
Rainy Day Rags 