New year’s coming and with that a whole new goal-setting session, but the truth is that not everybody has a plan for achieving their goals, as a matter of fact, some may have some goals, but they never write them down, achieve them and worst yet they don’t have a plan so they are clear on the steps they need to take action to checkmark those goals. It is a fact that when creating goals for the new year, for personal growth, career growth, and whatever you set goals for you need to:
Write them down
Read them daily
Create a plan
But if you don’t know how to do any of these steps keep reading because I am about to guide you on how to set goals and create a plan, plus, I am giving you a FREE goal mapper to make your goal-setting even easier.
Step 1: Reflect
If you are serious about your goals, you must start by reflecting on your past, your present and then create your future. Take a moment to assess your weaknesses, your strengths, your leanings, your mistakes, your wins, your environment, your feelings, your emotions, your why, etc. Why do you want to achieve that goal? What makes you want it? How are you feeling right now? Why are you feeling that way? What happened that you feel like you need a change? What can you do differently, keep, add and eliminate?
Sometimes we say we want something but we don’t even know why we want it, but you really need to know your current situation so you can be clear on your why and what is the next step to take. Doing this step will give you clarity, will give you a better understanding of your current situation and what you want, will help you to get motivated, and will give you a clear action plan on what you need to accomplish to improve your actual situation.
Step 2: Write and Read
One big mistake that people do when setting a goal is that they keep it in their minds and never write them down. It has been proven that about 95% of the people that don’t write down their goals quit before 90 days of setting that goal, as a matter of a fact more than half quit before the next 30 days. It is very important to write your goals down, but what it is most important is to read them DAILY and write them down DAILY as well, and that 5% of the people who wrote them down, only 1-2% of them read them and write them daily, and those are the ones that achieve their goals.
I know, shocking! But effective AF! Go ahead and grab a notebook just for your daily goal writing. Every morning when I wake up I grab my notebook, write my ultimate 5-year goal at least five times, and then, to be more effective yet, I write them again before bedtime. But it is very important to read them after you finish writing them. If you feel like five is too much, first of all, reaching our goals is priceless, and writing is free, and second, if you still feel meh about it, then start writing it one or two times and go up as time passes by. I actually read once about a very successful author that he writes his goals 15 times morning and night.
Step 3: Be Specific AF
Now that we know what we want it is time to be specific about it. One thing that people do (I was the first one) is that write general goals, by example I wanted to be my own boss, but… never write a boss about what business? Oh yeah, fitness! But what exactly do I want to focus on? Gym workouts, home workouts, or both? I want to also share recipes! But… which recipes? Keto diet, vegan diet, paleo diet, etc? Do I want to focus on females alone or both? Okay only females, but, what age range do I want to focus on?
It is important that as we start setting a goal, we also start to write it down to very specific things. I call this the triangle effect, where we see the very top pick as the ultimate goal, but we break it down into more specific levels on the way down.
Do you want to lose weight? Then how much you want to lose? By when you want to lose it? What diet do you want to follow? How many times a day you will eat? Are you working out at home or the gym? Are you paying a personal trainer? Downloading an app or just exercise as you go? … again, be specific and write down as many details as you can.
Step 4: Brainstorm
Now that you are very clear and specific on what you want it is time to brainstorm. Grab a paper and write down what things you need to do, implement, eliminate, how you want to feel, etc, then start measuring. What you need to do to track your progress, what are your numbers, your statistics, targets, etc?
An example will be; – Okay I want to be my own boss so that one goes on the top. – Then what I need to be my boss? Well, start a blog! – What do I need to start my blog? Create a website. – What platforms I can use for my website? WordPress. – What do I do after creating my website? Pay an expert to do it? or don’t have the budget? So take tutorials on YouTube (they also provide tutorials, they are very helpful, I did my websites alone.) – How can I promote my website? Using social media. – Okay, do you have social media? Want to use your personal one or create a business one? – How many times do I want to post? Once a day – What theme do I want to use for my branding? Minimalism with white, black, and gold colors. See what I did? I started to go down and specific as fuck!
Step 5: Create Your Map
Now that you know what you need to do, organize your ideas and set a time for them. How you do this? Well, start with the ultimate 3-year goal so you can know where are you going, then go down to the one-year goal, what is the most important thing you must have to achieve one year from now? In my case is to have my website up with at least 60 blogs and an email list.
So what you need to do in the first quarter? Top 3 goals I need to open my website. I need to open social media pages. I need to load all the app that will help me to make content creation appalling and easy.
Okay, what you need to do in month one? Top 3 goals – Open the website and design it (because opening and designing a website takes time I will not add more things to add, I am being realistic about my time frame, and one month to build a website is okay for me since I have no idea of what I am going to do or get started)
What do I need to do in month two? Top 3 goals – Create my first three blogs! – Download Canva to create social media templates. – Open social media pages and share my content.
What do I need to do in month three? Top 3 goals – Create three new blogs. – Create my first freebie and promote it on FB ads. – Do a Q&A to know if my content is helping my audience.
Now do the same for the second and third quarter of the year. Remember to be specific and realistic, don’t do something if you know it is way too extreme for that timeline but also feel free to challenge yourself.
Now I have given you examples of my career-wise but this can be for as many things you want such as your health, weight goals, wellness goals, etc. Some of the other things I implemented on my goals are:
Be more focused: how can I do this? by eating healthier, meditate, and working out.
Eat healthier: How can I do this? By reducing sodas and juices for water, cooking at home more often, adding more greens to my meals, etc.
Get back at my workouts: How can I do this? By working out at least three times first 1-2 weeks and then go up to four days and then to 6 days.
Be more mindful: How can I do this? By breathing, journaling, meditating, gratitude, going outside, etc.
Want to lose weight? What’s the ultimate weight loss? What do you want to achieve in the first month? The second month? etc. Again, I made a plan on how to do these things and created a timeline for each step, and go down to more and more specific points. Ask yourself:
Why do I need to do this?
How is going to help me?
What do I need to keep doing?
What do I need to eliminate?
What do I need to add?
What habits or routines I need to start?
What new character traits I need to develop? The questions list can be unlimited, it all depends on your goals and your current situation.
Step 6: Get Started!
It is time to break the ice and start being epic and get shit done. Push yourself and challenge your self but if something does not go as planned, it’s okay. The first month, quarter, and even year is a trial game, you see what works and doesn’t work and then as you go on you can make adjustments that are realistic to your specific situation. What matters here is to get started!
But please don’t forget to live in the moment, yes, we focus on your future, but don’t forget the present, it is the only thing we have secured and it’s what matters the most. Enjoy the journey you are in, enjoy the new wins, every step taken, reward yourself for them and learn from every setback (don’t judge, hate or give up). Be kind to yourself, be open-minded, stay focused and do a weekly, monthly, and yearly reflection.
Need help on how to create your map? I got you! Here is a one-year goal mapper divided by your three quarters, a reflection for each one, and then a monthly plan. It is FREE so get your copy and start planning your new year and what’s coming for you this new decade.
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