It’s the first week of the year!
Have you set your 2022 goals yet?
In a recent poll, roughly 70% of my audience had not set their goals.
So if you haven’t finished planning for next year, you are not alone.
The good news is that you can easily do your yearly goal setting today!
But before you start, make sure to:
- Reflect on the past year by reading What to Do Before Planning 2022 or watching the Live Training Here.
- Visualize Your Success by reading Visualizing Success in 2022 or watching the Live Training Here.
- Download this Free Planner Here to help you go from stuck to getting sh*t done.
Now, Let’s get started!
Step 1: Write it down
The first step to goal setting is putting pen to paper. It is good practice to free-write without any filter in the visualization stage.
Why?
Free-writing has many benefits, including allowing your stream of consciousness to create a world of limitless potential and possibilities.
Releasing your thoughts and emotions without judgment will enable you to let go of expectations of perfection.
You will feel liberated while opening up space for creativity.
So, how do you free write?
It’s simple. Write down anything that comes into your mind without overthinking, correcting spelling, grammar, or punctuation.
You may use this prompt:
• If you celebrated your best year yet, what is your new story?
• Imagine what is happening in your life and business this year to achieve your dreams. How are you showing up?
Here are some categories you may also want to consider:
• Body & Health
• Family
• Relationships
• Environment
• Spirituality
• Connection
• Contribution
• Business
• Money
Remember, it’s essential to focus on your overall well-being and business.
Pro Tip: Try free writing first thing in the morning. When waking up, your brain switches from delta deep sleep waves to theta waves, where your creative brain is most attuned. Therefore, you can tap into your subconscious mind to best visualize your year.
Step 2: Sort ideas
Once you have your vision on paper, the next step is sorting the ideas into categories.
Why?
Imagine walking into a grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread. Oddly there are no longer signs on the aisles. Something seems off.
You walk to the usual bread aisle, and instead of bread, you see an array of cans, boxes, chips, and drinks strewn all over each shelf and even the floor. It is a total mess!
You ask the manager to point you in the direction of the bread, and he waves towards the shelf, “It should be there.”
You spend about thirty minutes sorting through the shelf when finally you find a loaf of bread. It’s not the bread you were looking for, but you grab it anyway.
Grouping goals into categories allows you to understand, simplify, and navigate to find what you are looking for more efficiently.
It will enable you to interpret new information while simplifying your thinking process, allowing for more effective decision-making.
If the aisles were labeled and the products were in the correct places in this bread example, you would have found the bread you were looking for much more quickly and easily.
So how do you categorize?
Creating categories for your vision statement is dependent on your main areas of focus.
First, choose your categories.
As a suggestion, use the same categories as Step 1:
• Body & Health • Family • Relationships • Environment • Spirituality • Connection • Contribution • Business • Money
Next, place the relevant information from your freewriting into each category.
You can work either physically or digitally. If on paper, leave ample room to write. There is no “right” way. Whatever works for you is perfect.
Here is a rough example:
Business:
I will be successful in my business. I will achieve everything I imagine. I will have a lot of clients and will be making money consistently.
Step 3: Break it down
Break down your goals even further than you think you need to. Take your general paragraphs under each category and add more detail.
Why?
It’s essential to understand what this goal means and what steps you need to take to get there. This will also help clarify whether this is tangible or worthwhile.
If you are craving a sandwich, but there is no bread available, and you have to drive fifty miles to the nearest store, you may decide that perhaps it’s not worth it, and maybe you can eat something else today.
So let’s break it down. Ask yourself what is needed to accomplish each item on the list. How will you know when you are successful? What is required to achieve each goal?
Example:
I will be successful.
Ask: What do I need to be successful? What does that entail? How will I know when I am successful?
Revision Example: I am successful when:
• I am consistently hitting $10K months.
• I have hired a VA to have more time to work in my business.
• I have a successful client attraction strategy.
• I have an offer that clients want that sells quickly.
Next, ask yourself what is needed to accomplish each new item on the list?
Example:
How will I hit $10K months?
What is necessary to get this done?
Keep going until you feel you have thoroughly outlined what needs to happen.
Step 4: Be specific!
Once you have your list of what is needed, make it more specific. If you have been following me for a while, you will know that being specific is essential.
Why?
Being specific sets you up for success by helping you become crystal clear on what your goals are.
Imagine your friend had sent you to the store to buy bread but forgets to specify gluten-free.
Not knowing what was needed, you purchase a regular loaf.
Was that a successful purchase?
The answer is no. Your friend was not specific enough, and therefore, you did not know the correct measure of success. In the end, the grocery shop was a failure.
So can you be more specific?
A great way to be specific and measure your success is to craft SMART Goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based.
An overall good question to ask yourself is how I will know that I have accomplished this?
See the breakdown below.
Step 5: Plan and Shift
Once you have created a specific idea of what you would like to accomplish and how to achieve it, you need to plan when it will happen.
You wouldn’t make all of the sandwiches for the entire year in one day, would you?
First, assess your year and create a yearly plan with a general idea of what will happen during each of the twelve months.
Be mindful of any fixed dates, such as holidays, deadlines, or other important events.
Remember that this does not need to be perfect. It is a framework that will likely shift as you evaluate and move forward.
Go through all of the tasks on your list and think about the best time for each to happen. Ask yourself, what needs to occur first to make something else happen?
A few examples:
If you are planning to launch a group coaching program but don’t have any leads, perhaps you need to get your client attraction plan in place first.
If you need to finish a certification before teaching a specific methodology, you need to plan backward.
If you need to secure a great vendor for a new product and iron out the shipping, you must do this before selling large orders.
Also, ask, when is the best time to do something?
If you plan to launch a yearly coaching program when you know most people are on vacation or not signing up, is this the best time?
Pro Tip: For financial goals, always keep in mind that as your skills grow and your audience grows, your ability to make more money grows as well. If you are making $2K a month now and want to have a $100K year, your goal in January should not be $10K. You can build up as the year progresses to hit your target.
Adjust as you go.
The key to goal setting is consistency.
You will consistently review your plan quarterly, monthly, and weekly to enable you to revise your strategy and shift your gears to stay on track.
Find a consistent time to do this and make it happen. This is key!
Recap:
Creating your yearly goals is crucial to success in your life and business. By following the steps below, you will know what you want to achieve and have a great system to achieve it.
Step 1: Write it down: Put your pen to paper and free-write
Step 2: Sort ideas: Sort ideas into categories.
Step 3: Break it down: Break it down more than you want to.
Step 4: Be specific: Create SMART goals.
Step 5: Plan and shift: Plan when it will happen and make revisions.
If you need help crafting your 2022 goals, I would love to help you achieve your vision. Book a Free Discovery Call Here.
Cheers to a successful 2022!
Michele x
