New Year, New Opportunities: Looking Back to the Past and Ahead to the Future.

I love this time of year! A new year always seems to bring a renewed sense of hope for the future and we find ourselves making plans for all the things we want to accomplish over the next twelve months both personally and professionally. For many, these plans come in the form of New Year’s Resolutions, but truth be told, even though almost half of us set new year’s resolutions, only 9% of us successfully keep and achieve our resolutions! So what’s up with that?

Well, in my opinion, the first mistake we make is in setting resolutions instead of goals. What’s the difference, you ask? While some might argue that there isn’t a difference, to me, the biggest difference between the two is the mindset and motivation behind the intention. New Year’s Resolutions seem like a popular bandwagon many of us hop on at the end of a year because our friends are doing it and we don’t want to be left out, but we haven’t really thought about WHY we want to do the thing or HOW we’re going to make it happen. On the other hand, setting goals feels very intentional and typically involves some prep work and soul searching to determine what we want to achieve, and developing a game plan for how we’re going to achieve it.

Resolutions and Goals are two things that sound very similar, but in reality, are extremely different. What camp have you traditionally fallen into?

No matter what you’ve done in the past, if this is the year you want to be intentional (that’s my word of the year, by the way!) about setting and achieving your goals, I’d like to share some information that will help you get started. One of the first things you’ll want to do before you set goals for the coming year is to take a look back at the past year and make note of what went right, what went wrong, and consider what you could have done differently to have changed the outcome. Taking this time to step back and evaluate can be a fantastic opportunity to help you set yourself up for success in the new year. Whether your goals are personal or business-related, the questions below will help you gather the information you need to set the right goals and develop a plan of action to crush them!

Here goes… As you think about the areas of your life or business that you want to set goals for, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What were my top accomplishments last year? Take a look at what you contributed to that success and use it to give you a sense of what you’re capable of going forward.
2. What were my biggest challenges last year? Think about what caused those things to be challenging, and consider how you could have prevented them.
3. What were the biggest lessons I learned during the past year? Taking the time to stop and think about what you learned can help you grow personally and professionally and give you the confidence to pursue new things this year.
4. Did I meet my goals? What did I want to accomplish at this time last year? Reflect on your progress, then determine if you met, exceeded or fell short of your goals, and why. The why is as important as the what. Doing an autopsy on the process will give you incredible information to help you move forward this year.
5. What changes should I make for next year? What new habits, processes, or strategies will I need to implement to make them happen?
6. Why do I want to make these changes? This is where you’ll want to do some soul-searching. What is the bigger reason? For example, if you say you want to lose weight…why? You might say it’s because you want to look and feel better, but the real reason may be because you want to live a longer, healthier life, and watch your grandkids grow up. Do your best to get to the root of your why because once you know that, you’ll have a much easier time staying motivated.
7. How can I stay motivated and on track? Be realistic about what you need to stay on track, whether that’s an accountability partner, rewarding yourself for hitting small goals on the way to the big goal, or something else. Only you know what will motivate you, but this is a key component, so think about what has worked for you in the past, and do your best to set yourself up for success right from the start.

As you consider your answers to these questions, please be honest with yourself about the challenges you faced in the past. You’ll find some valuable lessons in there that will help you create a better plan for the coming year. I know we’re not all big goal-setters here, but if there are things you want to accomplish this year, I encourage you to consider more than just the WHAT and WHY – do the work to figure out the HOW. It will be the difference maker!

I’d love to hear what you think about this topic and any other goal-setting tips you might like to share! Let me know in the comments below.