Goal Setting and Planning for the New Year

It’s that time again. Time to start goal setting and planning for 2018.

These goals I speak of have nothing to do with new year’s resolutions. New Year’s resolutions are often impersonal and inflexible, making it easy to fail. Who wants to set themselves up for failure?

Instead, I set intentional goals that are flexible and get at the heart of what truly matters in my life. Putting these intentions together gives me an idea of what I have ahead of me in the new year, but I know I can change directions if needed.

There is no right or wrong way to plan and set goals, as Dannie Fountain and Reina Pomeroy share in their amazing book, Big Plan for the Creative Mind. The book features the goal setting tactics and habits of 11 different creative entrepreneurs. Everyone featured in the book sets their goals differently, but are highly successful.

It’s time to reach your goals!

I did a little research to find out what we can do to reach our goals. If you want to be successful, here are few things to think about as you create your 2018 plan.

Write your goals down. –  When you write them down, they can remind you daily of what you hope to achieve. And you can go back at any time and revise a goal if it doesn’t fit in your life.

Make your goals fun. – If your goal is something that you dread, how will you ever get the motivation to achieve it? If you want to workout more, pick an exercise you enjoy. Don’t decide to train for a marathon if you hate running.

Share your goals with a friend or two. – Sharing them in public makes you more accountable to your goals, but if you ask a friend to check in on you weekly, that will make you even more likely to meet your goals. No one wants to tell their friend week after week they haven’t made any progress.

Goal Setting Tips

1. Break down your goals into bite-size pieces. You won’t feel as overwhelmed when you can attack your goals piece by piece.

2. Make your goals fun and celebrate along the way. Think about creating a reward or celebration with your accountability buddy.

3. Don’t base new goals on past goals you didn’t achieve. Instead, how can you come at something differently so you can achieve your goal.

4. You already have a busy life. You can’t just add a bunch of new things on. Instead, determine where you can free yourself up to find space for what you want to achieve.

5. Life can change quickly and there’s nothing you can do about it. Create flexible goals that can change and shift if life throws you a curveball.

Goal Setting Tools

To be honest, you don’t need anything more than a pen and paper to set goals, but there are some amazing tools on the market to help you dig deep and figure out what truly matters.

I’m a huge fan of PowerSheets and the thought process they take you through to help determine your goals for the year. I use the yearly dated sheets, but I’ve heard they are sold out for 2018 already. (Use code BESTYEAR for 15% off your entire order until 12/31!)

When determining my business goals, I turned to the Fresh Start Workbook. Amber McCue makes you get honest with yourself so you can figure out what’s working and what isn’t working.

I’m a paper planner kinda girl and I’ve been loving the J.Lynn Designer Weekly Planner. I write my weekly focus at the beginning of each week, always keeping my goals in mind.

I’m also a huge fan of notebooks. You can never have too many, right? My fave notebook is the May Designs Notebooks. I love that I can customize the cover (so many pretty choices!) and the inside pages (I love the dot grid.).

And my latest pen obsession has to be PaperMate Flair Tip Pens. I love how these babies write and there are so many pretty colors! They take me back to my middle school days when I had a big North Face fanny pack filled with every color of gel pen imaginable. (It still cracks me up that I used a North Face fanny pack as my pencil case. And in case you were wondering, I didn’t wear it, I just slung it over my shoulder.)

My 2018 Intentions

My word for 2018 is abundance. I don’t want to live life feeling like I’m lacking. I want an abundance of happiness, love, money, joy. I want abundance in my relationships, in my business, in my health. When I live in abundance, I can do so much good.

Here are my goals for my business:

> Serve well. I want to create helpful, useful content, and create an amazing client experience.

> Be strategic. Create a flexible plan for 2018 and stick to it.

> Foster relationships. Take time for monthly coffee chats. Reconnect with past clients.

> Grow a team. Get help where I need it so I can do my best work and shine!

Those are just the short and sweet version of each goal. I did a lot of work to support each goal in my Fresh Start Workbook. I’m excited about what I have coming up in 2018 and beyond!

As you work on your plan for 2018, take what you like and leave the rest. If something doesn’t work for you, don’t keep going back to it. Set it aside and keep on going.

PS – Thanks to my friend, Madison Short, for taking of the beautiful photos in this blog post.

PPS – Wondering what research I looked at? Read more about goal setting strategies and achieving goals.

PPPS – Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. I have used the products above and recommend them without the affiliate.