A new year means a new start, and many people use this as a time to establish new personal life goals. Taking the right steps now will help propel you to achieve your goals throughout the year.
While there’s no time like the present to begin setting and working toward goals, it can be helpful to use January 1 as a “start date” for making your dreams a reality. To that end, we asked the members of Forbes Coaches Council what to do to set yourself up for success over the next 12 months. They recommend doing these 13 things come January to make 2020 your best year yet.
Set time aside—not just in January, but once a week—to just work on your business. Revisit your goals, accomplishments, that to-do list that is yet to be completed and prioritize what is directly related to your goals. Then, in January, set up your goals for the next 12 months with precise deadlines, action steps to complete each goal and rewards when you do. – Galit Ventura-Rozen, Empowering U
2. Know The Long-Term Goal
So often, we come up with vague New Year’s goals—I want to lose weight, I want to eat healthier, I want to improve my business. But what does that actually look like? In five years, what weight do you want to be at? What types of food are you consistently eating? How large is your business, your team, your revenue? Until you know this, you can’t create an actionable plan to achieve it. – Cody Dakota Wooten, The Leadership Guide
3. Celebrate Your Successes
I recommend that, each January, everyone celebrates what they accomplished in the previous year. Reflection clears a path for celebration and paves the way to creating a successful new year. Begin by answering the following questions: What did I accomplish? What did I intend to accomplish but did not? Where did I have breakthroughs and took inspired action? End with, what do I want to celebrate? – Gina Lavery, Gina Lavery Inc.
4. Create A Habit Inventory
Starting out a new year often means taking on new and healthier habits. Consider creating a “habit inventory” with three categories, so you can choose a habit to start each month with. Start simply; mind, body and health make great categories, and as you think up habits to consider, just add them to your lists. You’ll always have a choice at the beginning of each month, and you’ll make progress. – John Hittler, Evoking Genius
5. Review Your Vision
Life can change quickly and if you do not have a vision or focus point, it can be very easy to move very quickly in the wrong direction. Set a five- to 10-year vision and then back your way into what you need to accomplish over the next three years, one year, six months, one month, etc. Once you have the plan, schedule time to work the plan and view choices through the lens of your vision. – Brad Elson, Palmer OSG
6. Commit To A Quarterly Check-In
So many times people set goals in January and then by March they’re out the window. Every three months it is important to stop and to assess how your time is running. Every three months, assess, recalibrate and move forward. After all, there are many missions (goals) to any great vision. – Shellie Hunt, Success is by Design LLC and Women of Global Change
7. Conduct A Personal SWOT Analysis
Take the time to pause, reflect and reset in this new year. Conduct your own personal SWOT analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats as they relate to your personal life goals. Awareness is the first step to making a change that will impact your life for the positive, and the deep-dive analysis will allow you to prioritize and make moves to support your ultimate life goals. – Debbie Ince, Executive Talent Finders, Inc
8. Identify The Experiential ‘Why’ Behind The Goals
You don’t want the goal. You want the experience you think the goal will create. Ask yourself this question over and over, “What’s important about that?” Keep asking that question about each successive answer until you reach the ultimate experience you are trying to create—for example, to feel joy, be happy, feel secure or be celebrated. Focus on creating that experience in the year ahead. – Matthew Ferry, Matthew Ferry International
9. Take Time For Self-Discovery
What personal or professional priority did I put on hold, deflect or just simply took no action to resolve the problem for? Often, we avoid the critical problems or pressing priorities because of apprehension, fear and complacency. When there is no action, reactions or purpose-driven focus, life continues. Decisions are made for you and likely you will not be happy with the yielded outcomes. – Eugene Frazier, EF Choice & Associates, LLC
10. Determine The Right Mix Of Goals
Our goals focus our time and energy. Establish the results you want to achieve, and then decide if you need to set goals that change how you behave, improve a skill or that meet an outcome. Your challenge is to determine the right mix of goals for the results you want. Then create the actions and measures that will help you grow and map your progress toward realization of your goals. – Jonathan Silk, Bridge 3 LLC
11. Understand What Is Holding You Back
Select a mindset that is holding you back. Define the associated thoughts, emotions and physical reactions. Note behaviors that coincide with the mindset, and the ultimate outcome(s) of that mindset. Shift to new, empowered beliefs aligned to the new, desired state. Write the new belief down and affirm with conviction multiple times a day. Experience a new state of empowered being. – Lori Harris, Harris Whitesell Consulting
12. Re-Evaluate Your Values
Your values guide your decisions, and they change as your life circumstances and career path does. The start of a new year is a great time to assess if what you are doing now both in your professional and personal life is truly aligned with your core values. Get clear on what matters most to you and you’ll get a great start to reaching your goals in 2020. – Lizette Ojeda, Dr. Lizette LLC
13. Don’t Wait Until January
No need to wait for the busy holiday season to revamp your goals and set new ones for 2020. Start now. No better time than today to craft some new goals or work on those goals that have been sitting on the back burner. The time is now. Make it happen. Make this the year that you are ahead of your own game. – Adriana Rosales, Adriana & Company™ LLC
As Seen On Forbes Coaches Council –
Debbie Kassebaum-Ince
Founder & President of Executive Talent Finders
