New Year new you?
Everybody makes New Years resolutions but I bet very few people stick to them.
When planning your year, just like planning a project, it can be easy to get carried away and set ambitious but unrealistic goals. But planning goals, both personal and professional can be a great way to hold yourself accountable in 2020 and even to push yourself further.
Wether you’re starting a business, expanding a current business, or pushing or changing your career, or just looking for more success here are some top tips for making goals that you can stick to.
1. Write down your long term goals, no matter how vague
Writing down your long term goals is a really great way to stay focused on achievement. Even if your goal is something vague like ‘be a business owner’, having clarity over what you’re working towards is a really useful first step.
If your goal is about your career think as big as you can. Where do you want to eventually end up? If you want to become a CEO, write that down.
2. Break the long term goal down into smaller milestones
Once you’ve established you want to ‘be a business owner’ or ‘do a million sales’, you can begin to break down the steps you need to take to achieve your goal. You can break this into vague chunks, or into monthly increments.
Think of this process as a ‘if x, then y’. If I set up a website, then I can open an online shop. If I open an online shop, I can launch a marketing campaign. If I launch a marketing campaign I can make my first sale. And so on.
3. Make yourself accountable for your goals
Part of the reason we don’t stick with our goals is because we see them as ideals, rather than actionables. One easy way to change this way of thinking is hold yourself accountable for your success in achieving your goals.
You can write your goals down somewhere you will see every day, you could tell a friend or family member. You could even post on social media. The important thing is that you put your goals into the world and out of your head.
4. Have regular check ins with your goals
The point of setting a New Years resolution is to achieve it. If you set yourself a resolution to have a new job by the end of the year, for example. you should be checking in with yourself every month or so to see how you’re progressing.
These regular check in sessions mean you can have a good understanding of where you’re at in terms of progress, and to readjust your schedule to reflect your reality.
5. Be okay with less
No matter how much you plan, life will always through something throw something unexpected in your direction. And whilst it’s good to dream big, you should be prepared to be okay with less.
Not achieving your resolution isn’t a failure. Think of it like a recalibration. Maybe you didn’t quit your job, or start a new business but you might have taken steps towards those things. Or perhaps you scrapped those dreams all together because something came up. That’s okay too.
No matter what your New Year’s resolution is, these simple steps will help you stay focused.
Image from Pixabay, Infographic made using Venngage
Read more: