A quick guide for life goal setting.
How to Set Up Your Yearly Goals in 8 Steps.
Think about it as a milestone to recalibrate your life.
As a marketer, you need to analyse the yearly results, evaluate your performance and define the marketing plan to scale your business each year. You define the goals, strategies and actions to implement along the year to achieve maximum results for any brand business.
Two years ago inspired by my marketing experience, I started defining my year resolutions like a business.
Around this time, I always take time to make a retrospection and introspection. I identify my achievements and analyse my failures. And I recalibrate my goals to achieve balance in the different dimensions of my life the next year.
But, I don’t see the new year as an opportunity to start new habits, change my life or commit to new goals. I prefer to see the new year as a milestone to rethink and continue pursuing my long-term goals.
To make sure I don’t lose track of anything, I make the following steps that you can follow too.
Steps to define your new year goals:
1 — Revisit your last year goals:
As your life is a continuous event, each year is the perfect milestone to stop and think about what you want to achieve in life.
Pick up your last year goals list. Read it attentively. Identify what you’ve accomplished, what you failed to achieve and think about all your learnings. Select the ones you feel you should transit for the new year.
If you don’t have one list, note down your mental goals of the last year.
2 — Note down or define your mission:
Your long term achievements demand a clear north star. Define in one sentence what is your mission. If you feel you need to rewrite or reframe it — just do it.
This one sentence will work as a filter to guarantee that any goals, achievement or action you make will feed your core mission. It will keep you focused, motivated and help you drive your energy towards it.
3 — Define or remind your values.
Values are the guiding principles you rule your life by — a set of characteristics that guide your behaviours and decisions.
Think about what is most important in your life and note it down. Don’t get too long. Prioritize and limit your list your values.
Now, use them to guide everything you do and your goals definition process.
For myself, the mission and values are amazing filters to define what I want to achieve without corrupting my personality.
4 — Set professional and personal goals.
To guarantee life balance, define specific goals for your career and for your personal life.
Set a list of goals you want to achieve in your professional life. Think about what you can improve, empower or change. Let your mind flow about skills you want to improve, things you want to learn and what you want to achieve in your career this year.
To make sure you don’t live to work, define your personal goals having in your mind your health, family, friends and hobbies. You can think about what new experiences you want to live, books you want to read and moments you want to enjoy with your beloved ones.
I advise you to limit your goals. Otherwise, you won’t get enough energy, time and motivation to accomplish any of them.
Focus on the three most important ones in each area.
5 — Write down your execution plan.
With your goals setter up, it’s time to create the execution plan.
Below each goal, write down the subgoals, tactics and tasks you need to do. Focus on defining what actions you can do today, next week, this months or this trimester. By doing it, you will create small doable tasks that will lead you towards success.
Every little step will make you closer to your objectives.
6 — Define a timeframe for each goal.
Starting everything at once will drain your energy and kill your enthusiasm. Remember, the year is long to accomplish your goals — using deadlines by month might help you achieve each one. That’s what I do.
Or you can define the month you will start to pursue a determined goal to focus all your energy and motivation onwards.
It will help you progress faster and increment it in your routine smoothly.
7 — Declutter your daily routine.
Your daily routine might be cluttered with non-essential tasks.
Examine your daily routine. Think about the importance of each daily task and the impact on your goals. Highlight what tasks are essential and pinpoint the ones that don’t help you achieve what you are committed to. Eliminating non-essential tasks is crucial to make room for the ones that lead you to your goals.
Substitute the non-essential ones for goal-oriented actions.
8 — Keep tracking your path.
Block an hour each month and revisit your new year goals document. Take time to check if you are on the right path and evaluate your performance. Each moment will work as a checkpoint to mark your achievements, refine your process or change your goals.
As your context might change during the year (recalling the coronavirus pandemic in 2020), keep evaluating if the goals or plan still make sense to you. Think about this as a work in progress and you can always fine-tune it to live your life the way you want.
In sum, make sure you do something every single day that will make you closer to your yearly goals.
Hope you accomplish all your wishes.
