7 Fun and Easy Steps to Setting Goals That Are Right For You This Year

Aaah! Are you feeling it? The new fresh energy of the New Year that has just started!

Not sure if it’s just me, but I always feel this urge to create a new plan for myself when a new year begins.

Maybe it’s the holidays and having a well-deserved break, but to me New Year feels like a fresh clean slate for evaluating where I am and where I would like to end up in another 365 days. It is time for making some changes and starting something new!

This year I’m doing my personal and business planning differently.

Why? Because…

Some of my goals in the past have been uninspiring.

Some have created more stress than anything else.

And some made sense for my mind, but it turned out that my heart wasn’t heading in the same direction as my mind was.

Instead of simply listing my goals like I have so many times before, this time I want to make sure they are the right ones.

So, this year NOT just any goals will do!

This year I want to HAVE FUN with everything that I do while achieving all those outcomes that I want!

This doesn’t mean that I have decided to become lazy or avoid anything that isn’t fun for me. Far from it!

I’ll probably get more done because it is more fun! Right?

I love that feeling of being in the zone of creating something new and exciting in my own business or my clients’ businesses knowing that what I do matters and is (hopefully!) offering huge value to my clients.

I simply want to harness this fun energy more intentionally and work with it more often than I have in the past.

So here are the 7 fun and easy steps! Enjoy!

Don’t spend a lot of time in any of the steps. Keep moving quickly. Just write down whatever comes to your mind first. The first thought is usually the right one!

1. List your 3 biggest accomplishments in the last year

(and do a little happy dance to celebrate! Yay! Go on, I won’t tell anyone…)

What’s the point in planning new goals if you haven’t acknowledged and celebrated your achievements so far!

2. List 3-5 of your strengths and natural talents

Remember this year you want to have fun. So, anything that isn’t one of your strength or feels like too much work will be left to the experts in that area. Focus on leveraging these strengths in the rest of the goal creation process.

3. Evaluate all areas of your life by rating them from 0 -10 (0 being ‘help!’ and 10 being excellent) and write down why you chose that number.

I have listed both personal and business here, because all these goals in different areas of your life must be in alignment in your overall plan. If e.g. your health or family needs more of your time this year, this will have on impact on how much you will be able to contribute in other areas.

• Finances
• Business/Career
• Spiritual
• Health
• Relationships
• Contribution

4.  Now that you have a baseline for the start of the year, what kind of changes would you like to see in each of these areas of your life and WHY is this important.

Go into the “Space-of-anything-is-possible” (very scientific term!) and don’t worry HOW you are going to do it just yet. Just focus on WHAT is it that you want. The HOW will come once you know WHAT you are looking for.

5. Now coordinate this wishlist into the most inspiring story of your year.

Write it down like you were writing it in the end of the year and all these things had already happened. It doesn’t have to be long story. It just needs to paint a picture of what your year will look and feel like.

Make it exciting! This is what you are working towards this year, so make sure it’s worth another year of your life!

6. Now you turn this story into a list of goals for each area of your life and prioritise them.

Make sure your goals FEEL exciting, inspiring and motivating! If they don’t, you haven’t found the right goals. Keep digging deeper: What would be an even more exciting version of the same outcome?

7. And finally list some simple action steps for the next 3o days, 60 days and 90 days for your 3-5 top priority goals and keep reviewing monthly.

Again these need to be fun too. If not, then find a way of making them fun by finding another (even more fun!) way of achieving the same outcome!

Planning for the New Year…. DONE!

Lastly, make a commitment to follow this plan (important!). Paste it on the wall near your desk. If you like you can add some images as extra inspiration and visual reminders… and then: take action!

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway….

Without taking action, even the best plan isn’t going to change much….

Most of all HAVE FUN this year!

 

Blog post by:

Minna Salmesvuo

Owner & Social Media and Online Marketing Consultant @ Social Media Tribe