New Year; New Goals
Each new year brings an opportunity to reflect and set goals for the upcoming year. Rather than thinking about them as resolutions, I approach it the same way I do any project at work with S.M.A.R.T. Goals in all areas of life. In case you are not familiar with the acronym, S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Based. Here is an example of one of my 2020 personal S.M.A.R.T. goals: To complete the Chicago Marathon in October of 2020. This is a very specific goal, that has a date associated with, is relevant to my fitness goals and can be measured whether or not it is completed yet. It is still to be determined if this is attainable. However, with my mini-goals that lead up to it, I am going to say YES it is.
Because I am a very visual person, I am doing this exercise through vision boards. I have included 3 templates with how to use them below to set up your own vision board for 2020.
Goal Template: This template is designed for you to come up with two goals for each category of your life. While it is often easy to think about career goals, a lot of time we leave out the important goals in the other parts of our life. Where do you want to vacation? What expenses are you saving up for? What health goals do you have? Are there things you want to do more of with your friends, spouse, children? If you want to see it happen in the next year, add it to this list!
Detailed Goal Worksheet: Now that you have your big picture goals down, how are you going to get there? This example is a template that I used for the Marathon example. My big goal is to complete the race in October, but there are several things that need to happen throughout the year to get there. I will need to adjust my diet and sleep routines. I will need specific training. I will need motivation along the way. You can take this same format idea and apply it to any of your larger S.M.A.R.T. goals that you have identified.
Habits Worksheet: This template is to help you identify what Habits should be part of your 2020 goal plan and what habits are going to prevent you from achieving them. The habits are categorized into 3 buckets: Keep, Start, Stop. What are 2 habits that you have worked hard on developing that you want to continue into the next year to help achieve your goals? What are 2 habits that you are not currently doing but that you need to start doing in order to achieve your goals? What are 2 habits that you currently do that are preventing you from reaching your goals? Using my marathon example, a habit that I will KEEP is exercising 5 days a week. A habit I will START is waking up at 4:30 AM to get my run in before the work day. A habit I will STOP is staying up late binge watching Netflix.
Once you have your vision boards complete, post them some where you look at them daily. Goals should not be set once and forgotten about. I have them all around my office as a regular reminder of what I am working towards. Good luck during your quest to make 2020 your BEST YEAR YET!