Creating Realistic Goals For 2022

This is the time of year when many of us reflect on what we did and did not achieve in the last year, and armed with that information, set a new set of goals for the year ahead. Here is a simple method that you can follow and complete in just an hour or so, which will give you:

• a great sense of clarity
• a feeling that you are focussing on the right things
• a confidence that you are being realistic.

The fact that you know that your new goals are achievable means that you are much less likely to be overwhelmed and give up on them as the year goes on.

Here is a simple 7-step process that I encourage my coaching clients to follow at the start of a new year:

Step 1. Decide on the Career Critical Areas of Focus. Assess and decided on the most important areas for you to develop your career. These might be things such as:

• networking internally,
• marketing yourself and the value you offer to the market more broadly,
• delivering on very well-defined goals that have been agreed with your report.

Step 2. Understand where you are now. Using a single piece of paper for each of the areas you have decided on, starting in the bottom quarter, write an honest appraisal of where you feel that you are currently in that particular area. This is not an opportunity to beat yourself up, nor is it a chance to kid yourself about where you stand. Keep it tight and perhaps use bullet points - we are not looking for an essay, just a some succinct points. Finally, just to make it a little more vivid, give this area a score 0 -10 on where you feel you are, from nowhere to ideal.

Step 3. Set a Realistic Vision for 2022 for each area. Now in the top quarter of that page, write a description of how you would like that area to look by the end of 2022. Again, use bullet points and make the vision you are creating ambitious and yet realistic. Perhaps aim to increase the score for where you are now to where you want to be by 3 points. Try to make sure that your description is tangible and in some way measurable.

Step 4. Capture any and all ideas to close the gap. You now have an assessment of where you are now, a score in the bottom quarter, and a vision of where you would like to be with an accompanying score in the top quarter. You can now write in the gap in the middle any and all ideas that you might have, which would help you to close the gap between the bottom and the top. Write quickly and keep your pen moving without filter. I have found it useful to do this with a five minute time limit. While you are in this creative mode, think about things that you have seen other successful people do and use that as inspiration.

Step 5. Create SMART Goals and a Plan for each. Looking at the ideas you have created, you are now in a position to decide on specific goals that will move you towards the achievement of your 2022 vision. Ensure that you feel that the goal is achievable and framed in a way that makes its eventual attainment clear. Put a deadline on it. You can now create a plan for each of the goals, bearing in mind that working on it needs to be integrated with the rest of your already busy work schedule.

Step 6. Balance the Goals and Plans. Let’s imagine that you have four areas of focus and each has a few goals that you want to achieve. You can now significantly increase the chances of success by putting them in an order of priority and placing them in time period: I will achieve this goal in Q2, for example. Finally, increase your level of motivation by writing a short paragraph detailing why the achievement of the goal is important, what you will gain when it is achieved, and what it will cost you should you not.

Step 7. Rubber meets the road. In order to make all of this happen, it would be great if you can re-capture the feeling of enthusiasm that you had for the visions and goals every week without fail. So when you sit down at the weekend to plan the week ahead, read the vision for each area, the smart goals that you have set yourself, and why it is important to achieve this. Celebrate every action taken and every step forward made, and then decide and schedule actions that you can take in the coming week.

52 weeks later, you will have made fantastic progress, developed real career momentum, and feel great about all that you have achieved in 2022.