A Simple Guide To Goal Setting For 2021

We all have goals and dreams. But in order to make your wildest dreams come true (and with work they can), you need to have a detailed roadmap. This 5 step guide to goal setting will help you discover what goals you should work on and outline the exact steps you need to take to reach them.

Related reading: 10 Goal Setting Mistakes You Are Making

Visioning/Self Exploration

You will be tempted to skip this first step. You make think it isn’t relevant or that you already know what you want. I challenge you to do it anyway. You may be surprised at the results. I know I certainly was. Asking yourself these questions will help you come up with goals to work towards.

• What would you like to change?
• How can you make those changes?
• If you could do anything, what would it be?
• What is keeping you from that thing? What is stopping you?

Recommended Reading: End of Year Life Audit

Year Overview

In the next step, you will be paving a road map for your year. Go through the months and write down major events, holidays, trips, and seasonal items.

Go through each month and write down tentative deadlines and events.

Example

• January Whole 30
• February Ski Trip
• March Birthday Celebration
• and so on….

Quarterly Focus

Now that you have a basic road map, the year is going to be divided another way. Sometimes it takes longer than a month to make headway. However, by diving your year into quarters and focusing on one thing, you can make real progress.

Break your year down into quarter segments. I do mine with the season, but you could do 90-day segments if that works better for you.

For each quarter focus on one thing.

Projects and Tasks

Here is where things start to get a bit more specific. You will take each of the quarterly goals and come up with projects to support those goals. Then you will break it down father into tasks for each project.

• What projects do you need to do to complete these goals?
• What tasks are needed to complete the project?

Commitment

Make a commitment to yourself and your goals. You can’t achieve your goals if you are not all in.

If you have a hard time keeping promises to yourself, try to find another way to keep yourself accountable. Tell your partner, find a group, hang out with other goal-driven people, or find a mentor.

Recommended reading: Inspiring Quotes To Help You Reach Your Dreams

Final Thoughts

This five-step goal planning process can be used for more than personal goals. It is great for work goals, project management, and event planning.

You will also want to check out this post on how to reevaluate and revive your goals. It will give you action steps to get back on track to achieving your goals if you are not making any headway.

To Help With Your Goal Planning