Turn New Year’s Resolutions into Achievable Goals

SMART-goals

Has this happened to you before? You set a few great new year’s resolutions, feel empowered into the first two weeks of the year and then seem to lose momentum by the end of the month. By February you’ve forgotten you even set any resolutions.

Why does this happen? Many of us lose focus and motivation, get distracted by other daily issues or don’t commit to follow through and take action. This can happen both with personal and professional goals.

Whether your goal is to finally follow your passion and mission, gain more clients, write a book, turn a hobby into a business, or any other personal or professional goal, the following tips can help you become more successful in fulfilling your goals this year:

  1. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals For The Year! Visualize your ideal life in all areas, including Mission, Business, Finances, Health and Lifestyle. I challenge my clients to choose one or two stretchhhhh goals over the next year and make it their mission to accomplish them. The trick is to make your goals S.M.A.R.T.: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. For example, a S.M.A.R.T. goal for your business may be to earn $10,000 more per month in revenue by December 31st. Vague goals are harder to carry through to completion.
  2. Write Down Your Goals! Playing off of that old saying, think “In sight, in mind!” Write down your goals on your fridge, computer, flash cards, journal, vision board, or some other written or visual format that works for you. Make sure to review your goals at least once every day! For example, write down your ideal client or account you’d like to land and make sure you see it every day. Keeping your goals top of mind will help you to reach them.
  3. Create a Plan for Action For Major Goals! Write down your plan for action, broken down into major task items along with deadlines. If this feels overwhelming, start with just the first month or week. Schedule these deadlines in your calendar or agenda in advance. For example, suppose you’d like to obtain 5 new recurring clients this month. Write down the major tasks to accomplish this such as: Week 1, research and make a list of potential leads; Week 2, contact each lead; Week 3, set up follow-up calls or meetings; Week 4, provide quotes to interested leads, etc. Then of course, make sure you actually do each action item, or refine the plan as necessary.
  4. Find Support or Accountability Partners: Share your major goals with a mentor, friend, Master Mind group, your partner or family members you trust. Tell only those people who won’t be judgmental, who will hold you accountable for your actions, who will keep you on track and support you when you start to lose motivation. Having accountability partners provides you the support you need, making it easier to follow through on your goals.
  5. Work On Mindset: A very important part of ensuring you actually follow through on all your goals is to work on your mindset. That means that you become aware of any self-limiting beliefs, thoughts, habits, decisions, patterns and actions and make sure you have empowering ones. We usually need to ELEVATE our mindset to reach these goals, especially the stretch goals. It takes a lot of self awareness to identify our self-limiting beliefs and patterns (clues including procrastination, anxiety, sickness) and to act in spite of them. The best accountability partners can also help you spot these disempowering beliefs and help you move past them. If you need extra help or want to do it faster, hire a coach trained to help you with all of these steps to accomplish your goals.

Setting goals that are S.M.A.R.T., writing them down and reviewing them every day, following a plan for action, finding others to support you, and identifying self-limiting patterns, are all powerful ways to accomplish your goals.

If you wish to gain more clarity, direction and work toward a plan for action to accomplish your goals in 2020, I can help; sign up for a Clarity Call. 

May this be your best year yet! Here’s to your success in 2020!

*For more guidance discovering your mission, getting unstuck, feeling more passion and joy, or whatever your soul is desiring at this time, I’m offering new year coaching specials through the end of the month. If you or anyone you know needs that extra push, now is a great time to start! You can also set up a complimentary Clarity Call where we’ll help you gain clarity and put you on the right path to achieving your goals. Either way, you’ll find a ton of value in this call. 

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