I hope your 2014 is off to a good start!
Based on my goal setting post from last year, some of you may know I have a great resistance to being another source of “New Year’s Resolution Noise.” Quite a few of you, though, contacted me to ask for coaching support as you work through the outline of my goal planning process that I shared last year.
So I’ve waited to dust off that post about setting meaningful goals any time of the year but want to share it now as I’m in the process of mapping out my own plan for the next 12 months.
The following is taken from last year’s post. I hope it helps you get on the right path. Enjoy…
Starting in early December and continuing through January, I was bombarded with email messages pushing me on how to “reinvent myself” or “start the new year with a new you” or ”make it the best year ever,” blah, blah, blah. These messages seem too contrived to me. I feel under attack, so I tune out.
I really believe it’s important to create goals (I am a financial planner after all) but you need to do it on your own terms if you want them to stick. And frankly, between the holidays and year-end deadlines for my financial planning clients, January 1st is a lousy time for me to try to take this on. I prefer late January as a time lay out my thoughts.
Jump Start Your Goal Planning
Right now, though, I thought I would give you the framework that I used to jump start my goal planning. If you struggle in setting meaningful life or business goals, try using these questions to help you focus on what is truly important to you.
And of course, start with whatever date is right for you.
Take each question and write down your answers. Narrative form is great but use bullet points if you just want to get ideas down quickly. The important part is to WRITE IT DOWN. Go with your first thoughts and gut feelings for the best insight. If you get stuck, find a partner to help you work through it or post your questions in the comments.
- Your Vision: What is the feeling or state of being that you want to experience this coming year. Find the one word that best describes this. Think of this as your theme for the year. Fill in the blank: This is your Year of____________.
- Your Mission: Why is this vision so important to you? What is the impact this will make?
- Your Goals: What are the top dreams you have for this coming year? Do these dreams fit with what you said is your vision and mission? How do they connect? If they don’t, why are they on the list? What goals do you need to support the vision and mission you created? Do you have an “impact” goal? That’s a goal that once achieved will create a foundation for all of your other goals to take shape.
- Your Framework: Ask yourself…How do I feel about where I am now? How about compared to a year ago? What has worked well? What hasn’t worked well? What do I know now that I didn’t know a year ago? Am I being realistic with my goals? Am I expecting too much or too little to happen? How should I prioritize these goals? What might get in the way of my goals? How will I handle roadblocks or setbacks? What do I need to be successful? How will I monitor progress? How will I celebrate milestones?
- Your Objectives: What are realistic targets/milestone of your goals that can be measured? Put these on your calendar.
- Your Action Steps: What specifically needs to happen to reach the above objectives and in what order? Put these on your calendar.
I’d love to hear from you. If you want to share some of YOUR answers to these questions, please add them to the comments below.