Three strategic things you can do to set yourself up for a killer year

I’ll admit: I’m a self-help junkie. I love reading inspiring memoirs, articles and social media posts focused on self-improvement—and I’m pretty sure it all started when I was growing my business, Small Coffee, nearly a decade ago and started participating in leadership-focused activities. In 2014, I had a life-changing encounter with my mentor ?? Maura Nevel Thomas, CSP friend, Jen Spencer , founder, CEO, and President of The Creative Executive . Maura told me about a goal-setting retreat Jen was hosting for entrepreneurs, which sounded incredible but was out of my budget. Maybe she’d let me volunteer to be a part of it? I reached out to Jen and, while she didn’t need a volunteer, she offered to meet for coffee. She shared a lot of gold nuggets with me, but one piece of advice stuck with me: just pick only two or three goals for the year, that’s it. We accomplish so much more when we put on our blinders, saying “no” to the things that didn’t line up with our goals.

Since that fortuitous meeting, I started designing years that focused on three goals, ranging from physical (running a half marathon) to community-focused (raising thousands of dollars for charity). I end up accomplishing a lot; at least, that’s what my friends tell me. When I don’t have a clear roadmap in front of me, I feel rudderless, as if I’m entering a grocery store without a list and will let the store decide what my cart is going to look like. Now, maybe you are that person who is satisfied without having a plan. That’s fine; no judgment from me. But if you are curious about how to design a prolific, satisfying year, read on.?

Goal setting: Get choosy and start saying ‘no’

Last month, I was meeting with a new friend who was impressed when I pulled out my phone to read my top three goals for 2023. Below each goal, I listed the obstacles that prevented me from getting to my goals and my plan. “You just have them in your phone?!?” my friend said. “I want to do that.” But how do you figure out the goals you want to focus on? Some tools can help you get your juices flowing, such as completing a Wheel of Life exercise or answering a variety of prompts (see here, here, and here), but ultimately you need to be picky and just choose one to three juicy, meaningful, and maybe even audacious goals. Whether you jot them down in a journal or share them on social media, you need to write them down to crystallize them.?

I make sure my goals aren't just focused on one aspect of my life. For example, this year I picked a physical, educational and creative goal to work on. I don’t follow the SMART goals criteria, although I don’t think it’s a bad idea. If I have similar goals that bubble up to the top, I note that they can be mini-goals that fit under those umbrellas (ex. Running a 5k fits under completing a triathlon, so why not knock out two birds with one stone?), but the biggest thing is to focus on your blockers. What is preventing you from achieving a goal? Is it money or time? Once you can identify those blockers, you can then build your route to your goal, whether it’s saving a percentage of your salary to pay for the Spanish classes you want to take or substituting one of your weekly happy hours for a Toastmaster meeting or a walk-and-talk with a friend. The idea shouldn’t be that you are adding more to your plate; it’s that you are finding creative ways to compromise your time and incorporate habits in your life so the steps add up to something. While you might have to say “no” to the last-minute invitation to a party or an impulse to purchase something outside of your budget, you will get closer to where you want to be by the end of the year.?

In early 2018, I set my mind on completing a century bicycle ride and raising $3,000 for a nonprofit I supported. I announced this goal to everyone. The only way I could build up miles was by clearing every Sunday for a long bicycle ride for three months. I needed to be able to cycle over 60 miles in a day and the only way I could do it was by saying no to a lot of fun hangouts my friends were inviting me to. One friend said something like, “Wow, you must be committed to this!” I was, but I know I was probably missing out on making some memories with my friends. Because I didn’t have a lot of free time, I decided to host a monthly article club, knowing I’d be able to see my friends during those meetings. By the end of the year, not only had I completed the century ride, I made new friends through the article club.

The last important piece of getting to your goals is having accountability. I’m all in favor of getting a mentor, a coach or joining a mastermind group. In my case, I’m lucky that I have a friend who is equally committed to goal-setting, so we hold each other accountable. When times are particularly tough, we’ll call daily to check in and give each other a morning pep talk. At the end of the day, you’re the one behind the wheel, so it’s important to remember why you want to achieve these goals. And if you can’t achieve your goal after trying year after year, maybe it’s time to think about why and reassess.??

Intention setting: Discover your intention(s) by creating something concrete

What comes first: goals or intentions… or does it even matter? I like to identify a common theme around the goals I’m creating for myself and then design a vision board that encompasses how I want to feel. Others might want to take a different approach—or just come up with an intention for their year or the next few years. Maybe the intention is “flexibility” and it manifests by you compromising your usual routine and saying yes to things you dismissed in the past. In any case, having a yearly intention can be a smart way to frame your decision-making. I find that it helps to have something to remember what that intention is.

Enter the vision board. I’ve been hosting an annual vision board party since 2018 and it’s something my friends look forward to all year. There are several ways to do it; here’s how I do mine:

• Ask your friends to bring a pair of scissors and a poster board
• Collect a variety of magazines and provide glue sticks, snacks, and beverages
• Tell your friends to cut our words and images they’re emotionally drawn to, not items they want to buy

It’s pretty simple. In the end, you’ll notice that everyone’s boards will have a different style. The first time I hosted a vision board party, a friend filled her board with images of babies, pregnancy, and marriage. She was 40 and single at the time. By the end of the year, she was both pregnant and married! Another friend filled her board with images that represented material wealth. Upon rediscovering her board, smashed up in her garage more than a year later, she realized she’d spent the year hustling to make the most amount of money she’d ever earned in her career.?

This year I’m going to start my party by leading people through a visioning exercise, where I ask them to close their eyes and imagine how their future looks. My friend Annie Ray (Photographer) just hosted her vision board party and had a station where people could make a beaded bracelet with their word for the year, as an alternative to making a poster, and she ended the party with a tarot card reading. There are no rules to this; just remind people to go with their gut.?

The anti-should list: Bring more soul into your year by remembering to try new things

I was listening to a podcast several years ago that talked about creating lofty desires every quarter that was just fun. For example, going apple-picking during the fall or planning a destination birthday party. I started making quarterly lists that were not necessarily goals but just one-off things I wanted to experience. One year I tallied up all of the checkmarks and learned I accomplished 60 percent of what I wanted to do!?

Like my annual goals, I keep these indulgent lists in the notes section of my phone so I can look at them every few weeks and track my progress. Sometimes I’ll keep things on the list, carrying them over into the next season, but if I find that I’m never going to do that big hike or finish those dang sewing projects, I take them off. They probably weren’t as important to me as I thought!?

How do you plan your year? I’d love to hear about your rituals. Leave me a comment!