Process for Setting & Achieving 2020 Goals
The 1st week of the year is the best time, if you haven’t already, to set your goals and direction for the following 51 weeks. If we choose, 2020 may be our best year yet.
Without goals, we’re drifting without direction; imagine playing a sport and not knowing how to score points or running without ever being told how far you have still to run. We need objectives, we need progress updates, and we need to be held accountable if we want to maintain our drive and sense of purpose.
So for 2020, let’s challenge ourselves personally and professionally by setting large goals that are still achievable.
Have you wanted to learn a new skill or pick up a new habit but never gotten around to it? Move to a new city or launch a new project? Change your job or career? Wanted to run a marathon for the last 3 years? Lose 30lbs and start working out again? Go back to school?
Why not. Make 2020 the year it happens. Below is a step-by-step breakdown of a process for setting goals, measuring progress, and holding yourself accountable.
Step 1: Bucket your goals
We have different areas in our lives that require goal-setting:
1. Health & Fitness
2. Relationships
3. Career
4. Personal Finances
5. Personal/Other
6. Faith & Spirituality
Within each of these “life buckets”, we’ll be setting unique goals for 2020.
Step 2: Brainstorm 5 ideas for top goals in each bucket
What is most important for us to achieve in these different areas of our lives in 2020? List your top 5 ideas.
Step 3: Prioritize your top goals
Now, ask yourself: Is it realistic to achieve all of these goals in the next 51 weeks? If not, begin to eliminate the least important goals and prioritize the remaining goals for each bucket.
Continue whittling down your 2020 goals until you’ve prioritized your top goals for each bucket AND believe it’s realistic — perhaps not easy but realistic — to achieve the remaining goals. Take into account the time commitment for each goal.
Step 4: Determine successful outcomes for each goal
Each goal must have a measure of success for you to achieve it.
For example, “losing weight” or “making more money” are not goals, they are desires. Instead, you need a measurable outcome to determine your success, such as “lose 30lbs by December 15, 2020” or “earn an additional $10,000 pre-tax in 2020.”
Some goals may be time-based daily or weekly. For example, “meditate for 10 minutes per day, 6x per week”. In this case, your success measures are 1) did you meditate that day, and 2) did you meditate for at least 10 minutes? If yes to both, keep a tally of your successful days and weeks (once you have a success streak you won’t want to break it, so it’s helpful to be able to visualize your progress).
Step 5: Determine how to measure and record progress
If you don’t know how far you’ve come, it is 100x more difficult to maintain your motivation and discipline. Small wins, success updates, and looking back on your progress will make you want to continue working toward achieving your goals.
How will you measure your progress? If you’re saving money, track money saved in a separate savings account. If you’re losing weight, log your weight every morning at the same time. If you’re trying to learn a new skill, set mini-challenges, projects, or objectives for yourself to test and prove your progress.
Keep a journal. It may be physical or digital (I prefer and recommend physical). Update it every day. Always have it with you. Review your goals and progress 3x per day, even if it’s only for 1 minute each. Constantly remind yourself what you're working toward.
Step 6: Break your goals down into sub-goals
If you look at your end of year goals from where you stand now, it may sometimes seem impossible. Do NOT allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the size of the goal because you’re looking at the final result.
Break down your annual goals into quarterly and monthly chunks — set sub-goals. By looking at smaller, bite-sized goals throughout the year, you’ll focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Consistent daily progress in the right direction is how you’ll achieve all of your goals.
Step 7: Choose your accountability partner(s)
As we’ve all heard many times, it’s easier to lie to ourselves than to others. If you set goals and don’t tell anyone about them, you’re missing a key accountability pressure: the possibility of failing and having someone else know about it.
Without the possibility of failure, there’s no fear. No pressure. No risk. There’s nothing on the line. We need pressure to achieve our goals, otherwise, we’ll give up when the going gets tough.
Determine the frequency you’ll update your accountability partner(s), whether daily, weekly, or bi-weekly, and stick to it. If they don’t hear from you, ask them to message/remind you (if they’re willing to) and send them $5 for coffee every time you miss.
Step 8: Set a schedule and stick to it
Take as much variability and decision-making out of your schedule as possible. By maintaining consistency, you’ll get into your “groove”. You’ll begin to build momentum and it will be too hard for you to stop. You won’t want to stop.
Wake up and go to bed at the same time. Workout at the same time. Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time. If you want to set 1-2 days where you’re allowed to break your schedule (e.g. Sat & Sun), plan for that. Set a schedule, create your routines, and stick to it. If you need to adjust your schedule, do it immediately and be done with it. Keeping your schedule will help you build strong self-discipline.
It takes time to brainstorm, prioritize, set, and plan your goals. But it’s always worth it. The feeling of self-fulfillment, excitement, and self-confidence that comes with the achievement of personal goals is second to none.
If it takes 4 hours this weekend, it’s worth it. Find the time to prioritize what’s most important to you in life, develop your strategy to make it happen, and set your success schedule to achieve your goals.
If we crush 2020, it’s that much more exciting to think about what could be possible in 2021… happy New Year!