Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?
If so, do you keep them?
If you don’t, then you’re in good company. Only 15% of people who make New Year’s Resolutions actually keep them. We’ve all set goals + failed short of achieving them at some point — that’s part of the human experience.
But if you’re beyond ready for a real positive, lasting change + are ready to take full responsibility for your outcomes in the fresh year ahead, then it’s time to do something differently.
In this post, we’re sharing one super simple year-end goal setting strategy that we’ve found works for us + some of our 1:1 consulting clients.
Now, to be clear: goal setting is not a one-size-fits-all activity. Your systems setups + mindset both play a significant role in how you can hold yourself accountable to taking action, so if this feels overwhelming + challenging to you, that’s okay! You might be better fit for some other goal setting strategies.
If you’re interested in exploring something more custom for a productive year ahead + want to do your goal planning alongside us, then click here to check out our availability for 1:1 60-minute strategy calls.
Now, without further ado: some authentic goal setting for the upcoming year!
☑︎ Choose a word for the year.
Don’t let perfectionism get in the way. Choose the word that first comes to mind when you ask, “what do I want most this year?“
Quick, write yours down!
A few years ago for us, the word was “CLARITY”.
☑︎ Apply the word across important life pillars.
After a big move + shifting relationships between family + friends, we had been craving more transparency in our personal lives. Ask yourself, “how do I want to feel [word]?”
“How do I want to feel CLARITY?”
In our case, we wanted to feel like we could dependably find the people + things we needed when we needed them — simply + freely.
We wanted to feel spaciousness + genuine availability.
For example, Courtney wanted to be able to find her winter jackets in one simple spot, not in the 7 boxes the movers divided them into across the house.
Kevin wanted to identify the people who want to be in his life without expecting something in return. We have a family member who equates the amount of time he spends with us to the price tag value of his gift from us at Christmas. WHAAATT?
So, we set the intention that our clarity year would focus extra on decluttering our home + decluttering relationships that were no longer serving us.
☑︎ Define one-time action steps for each sub-topic.
These lists do not need to be complete, but they can get you started!
For example, our beginning action steps included:
Decluttering Our Home
- Re-read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
- Block off “Donation Day” on the family calendar this month
- Write an action plan for Donation Day (i.e., where donations are going, how + when they’ll be delivered, who will be packing them, who will be making final donation decisions, etc.)
Decluttering Relationships
- Browse through phone contacts list + delete anyone we haven’t spoken to in over a year
- Edit our “Favorites” list on our phones — are the people on the list still our favorite people?
[Related: Setting Healthy Boundaries is an Act of Love]
☑︎ Set deadlines for the one-time action steps.
Give your “step one” tasks a non-negotiable date/time appointment in your calendar.
These tasks aren’t recurring or maintenance (like taking the trash out every day would be a part of decluttering our home) — these are the singular actions you’re taking to get the jumpstart on your goal.
“The sooner you get ‘step one’ done, the sooner you reach your goal.”
☑︎ Consider how you can upkeep your goal year-round.
For decluttering our home, we’ll have maintenance-mode tasks like taking out the trash daily, keeping a donation box at the garage door for donations we find at-random after the initial purge, etc.
For decluttering our relationships, we don’t have to purge people out of our lives every week — there would soon be none left!
But we might commit to a weekly check-in text to friends + family we want to prioritize + focus our efforts on strengthening what we do want, instead of what we don’t want.
☑︎ Celebrate the milestones.
We always used to skip this step, so if you’ve stayed with us this long, don’t leave just yet!
Rewards are important to teaching our brains new patterns.
Humans are hardwired to seek pleasure, so when we reward ourselves with something pleasurable — for us, that’d be like a pizza night after Donation Day — we’re telling our brains that we did something positive.
Training your brain is a bit more complicated than that, but that’s another blog post for another day.
So, please don’t get all this way only to fail to give yourself some simple acknowledgment along the way that will push you further.
A sweet treat, an extra hour of babysitter time, a special outing with your family… The possibilities are endless + so is your potential for achieving goals that feel as good as they look.
So, tell us: how will you be goal setting for this year ahead?
What will your action steps be? What’s your favorite way to celebrate?
If one of your goals is to improve your organization, then check out The OrganicFamilyCEO Shop where we have an expanding library of masterclasses + templates for smarter family + business operating systems.
Cheers to setting fresh goals + achieving them! ????