December is the ideal time to set your goals for the upcoming year. It gives you enough time to be intentional about what you want and, more importantly, what you don’t want in your future. December also provides you with time away from work and time for your family and friends, providing the mindset to do the work of identifying what is most important now.
This straightforward method for setting your goals will help ensure you have the appropriate goals before you commit to each outcome you want or need to produce in the next year. There's no need to make a New Year’s resolution when you have a comprehensive plan for the year.
Start with the Areas of Your Life
You may have a larger list of areas than you might imagine. Identifying these areas will ensure you cover all the important parts of your life. The Big Three are typically:
- Health: Your health is of critical importance. Without it, you will struggle to produce the results you want in the other areas of your life. Your goals may revolve around improving your sleep, reducing your intake of unhealthy foods, getting more activity, or working toward some fitness goal.
- Wealth: After your health, wealth is critically important. You need money to take care of yourself and your people. You also must invest money for your future. Your goals may be around what you earn, starting a side hustle, or investing in some vehicle that will help you improve your financial game.
- Relationships: You may not prefer relationships in the third place, but I put it here because the first two are really about the people in your life. You may need to work harder on this one than I do, as my large family gets together every month for birthdays and holidays. Your goal might be to spend more time with your family and friends.
The Work Areas of Your Life
You may have a single role at work, or you may juggle a dozen each day. No matter which of these is true, you need goals to ensure you get the right work done and that you reach your goals. For some, the goal is revenue. For others, it might be hiring the talent the company needs to succeed now and in the future.
You will likely require a set of goals for each of your roles. Strive to select the two or three goals that are most crucial. You can't do everything, but you can do something.
List Your Projects
Those goals you wrote down now need a project or, for some, multiple projects. Everything is a project, and even if it isn't, treating it as such will help ensure you reach the goal associated with the project.
Your personal areas need projects, as do your work areas. Under each area, list projects you believe are necessary to bring the goal to life.
- Health: Maintain a Keto Diet: This project requires creating a shopping list and preparing meals on Sunday to maintain a nutrition plan.
- Wealth: Find a High-Return Investment Vehicle: This project might start with exploring the available options and studying each vehicle, including real estate, stocks, or a startup you know enough about to be confident about investing. It could also be as simple as maxing out your 401(k).
Identify the Tasks
Inside each area, you have projects, and inside the projects are tasks. When setting your goals, you may have a large list of tasks. That is okay, but prioritize the tasks to focus on the ones that will produce the result you are after. You may not need to do everything you write down.
You may also find you tend to overestimate what you can accomplish in a day or that you missed some tasks you need to reach your goal. You need not get things right on the first attempt. Move on to Plan B if Plan A fails.
Calendar
This is where most people fail to pursue their goals. They identify the areas, projects, and tasks without adding the tasks to their calendar. If tasks aren't scheduled on your calendar, all may be lost.
You should regard your calendar as the most vital tool at your disposal. If something is important, it goes on the calendar. If your goals aren't on your calendar, they will elude you. You must also understand that performing one task well each day will progress you toward your goals. If you tend to overestimate what you can accomplish in a day, know that you will feel stressed and anxious, looking at what you didn't get done.
The Art of Goal Setting
The art of goal setting starts with a list of the areas of your life. You should have as many areas as you need and, but as few as you can focus on. There is no reward for having more areas than you need. You need to apply this concept to projects as well. More projects are not better than a few projects that will bring you to your goal.
Your tasks need to ensure the project is completed. If you want to reach your goals, only add the task you intend to do during that day, even if you make this plan during your weekly review. Don't stress if you don't get a task done on the day it showed up on your calendar. You have 365 days, and you have time to get the task done. You want the goal, and one day won't make a significant difference at the end of the year.
Leaving this post on the art of goal setting, sketch out your areas, projects, tasks, and add tasks to your calendar to go back through this post and do the work to make next year your best year.
