Inside: Do you struggle with setting and following through on your goals? Check out this post to learn how to simplify goal setting so you can actually make progress on your goals this year. Download your free printables to reflect on the past, dream about the future and then articulate the goals you want to achieve this year.
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Have you ever set new year’s resolutions at the start of a year, only to find yourself at the end of January and already back to your old ways?
I know I have done that many many many times!
It’s human nature to want to stay constant and not change, even if it is a good change!
One of the keys for me to stick with a new year’s resolution is to have simple, clear goals that go along with them.
Now, before you skip right past this article thinking to yourself “not another goal-setting article,” stick with me for a minute.
In this article, I am sharing how I have simplified my goal-setting process so it doesn’t take forever and I am more likely to follow through on my goals. And, plus, it’s simple enough even the busiest mom can do it too.
This information about goal setting isn’t necessarily new, but I have pulled pieces from several blogs and resources to come up with my own reflection and goal setting ritual that simplified my life.
I hope that it resonates with you and you can take pieces of it to add to your own ritual.
Why is goal-setting important?
This article from Smart Mom Smart Ideas clearly articulates the benefits of setting goals:
- Goals define your purpose.
- Goals set your focus.
- They enable you to design an action plan.
If you have not been successful with goals in the past, I encourage you to be kind to yourself. Taking a baby step forward is way more important than taking no steps at all.
I bet if you think about the goals you set in the past you made some sort of progress, even if it was tiny. Remember that you won’t change everything overnight and that is ok!
Today, let’s talk about how to simplify goal setting so you are more likely to stick to your goals, even (especially!) if it’s by taking one baby step at a time.
When should you set goals?
The beginning of the year is the obvious time to set goals, but any time of the year is a great time to think about setting goals!
If you have the time, spending some dedicated time at a goal-setting retreat would be ideal! This retreat doesn’t have to be a long time or complicated, but the focus is to spend some time thinking about you and what you want to accomplish in your life.
So, while I recommend setting goals annually, I would also encourage you to revisit goals regularly during the year to ensure you’re making progress and to change course if needed.
3 Steps to A Simple Goal Setting Ritual
As I was researching goals and how people set them, I noticed three pieces that nearly everyone had in common. And I think it’s pretty fun that they all start with the letter R!
Here are the three steps I used to simplify goal setting this year:
- Reflect on the past
- Reach for the future
- Refine your goals
If you have time to do all three steps at one time, that is awesome! But, as busy moms, I totally know how often we get interrupted in a day! You can totally do these three steps individually as well. Each step takes about 20-30 minutes so plan this into your day whenever you can.
Step 1: Reflect on the past
The first step to simplify your goals is to reflect on where you came from.
I know I know. It’s not super exciting to reflect on the past and you probably want to skip right past this step. I know I always did! But please don’t!
Reflecting is something we do regularly in the manufacturing world. At the end of every year, I review my accomplishments with my manager and compare them to the goals I set for the year. So although I was familiar with reflecting on the past, I didn’t think about doing it for my personal goals until a few years ago.
It wasn’t until I slowed down enough to think about the ups and downs of the year, that I had a good idea of where I wanted to go.
There are several different ways to reflect on the past and I list a few below if you need a place to start. The tool I used this year is called the reflection pyramid and it’s super simple but it really helps you to get clarity on how the previous year went for you.
How to do a reflection pyramid
Set aside about 10 minutes, grab a pen and some paper, and ask yourself these five questions:
- What are five highlights from the past year?
- List four tough times from the past year?
- Name three things you are grateful for from the past year?
- What are two things you are most proud of?
- What is one difficult lesson you learned?
I love the reflection pyramid because it helps you think about both the ups and the downs and what you learned from the previous year. We can learn so much about both the positive and negative experiences so it’s important to think about both.
The end of the year (or the start of the new year) is a great time to do a reflection pyramid, but you could also do this on a more regular basis like monthly or quarterly.
You can download a free Reflection Pyramid Worksheet as part of the One Word Guide below.
Other tools to reflect on the past:
- Self-inventory – This article has a simple printable to think about where you are in various areas of your life like personal, health, work, etc.
- 100 End of the Year Reflection Questions – If you’re looking for more granularity than the reflection pyramid, this article is a great place to check out. With 100 questions I bet you can find some that resonate with you!
Step 2: Reach (for the stars)
The second step to simplify your goal setting process is to create a vision or to reach for the stars if you will. In other words, what are your big life goals? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? These are the big long term goals that kind of scare you a little bit! Nothing is too big here, but let’s keep it realistic, ok?
First I recommend thinking about the areas of your life that you consider priorities or areas of your life for setting intentional goals. These could be things like your family, marriage, health, job, friends, and spirituality.
Then think about what your hopes and dreams are in those different priority areas. Where do you want to be at the end of the year? What do you hope to achieve? What do you want to do more of? Less of? Write those ideas down!
Whatever your goal is – get a picture of what your life will be like when you reach this goal.
If you are struggling with what to write, no worries!
Here are a few tools and exercises to help identify your vision.
- Brain Dump
- Simply grab a blank sheet of paper, divide it into the number of priority areas you have and start writing anything and everything that comes to mind. The One Word Guide has space for brain dumping as well.
- One Word Guide
- This free guide walks you through the steps to decide on one word to guide you in the coming year.
- Worksheets include: reflection pyramid, journal prompts for the future, list of sample words, space to brainstorm.
- Download the One Word Guide here.
- You can read about my 2020 word here.
- Ideal Day Exercise
- I love this exercise because it lets you brainstorm how you envision your perfect day to go.
- Read more about how to do the ideal day exercise in this post and download a free worksheet there as well.
- Vision Board
- I love to create my vision board digitally with a tool like Canva, but you could also use paper and cut out images from magazines.
Here is an example of one of my past vision boards:
Having a vision will help you see the end result of your goal and give you the motivation to keep going when you really want to quit. Don’t underestimate the power of your vision!
Step 3: Refine Your Goals
Phew! Step 2 can take a while, but you did it and I’m so proud of you!
The final step in simplifying your goal setting process is to refine your goals. At this step we will put all those big ideas into actionable goals we can actually achieve.
In this section, I want to talk about how to set SMART goals, how to track those goals, and then ultimately how to break those big goals into bite-sized actionable steps.
I’m so excited, so let’s do it!
How do you set SMART goals
A SMART goal is a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
An example of a SMART goal would be, I want to write a 30,000-word ebook on decluttering by June 1, 2020.
Compared to, I want to write an ebook.
Which one is something that you can actually take action on?
Let’s break this down…this SMART goal is:
- Specific – write an ebook about decluttering
- Measurable – the ebook will be 30,000 words
- Actionable – writing an ebook is something that I can DO
- Relevant – an ebook on this topic would be relevant to my blog
- Time-bound – I set a due date of June 1, 2020
This article has tons of examples of SMART goals, explaining what makes a goal SMART or not so much.
You can also download our free SMART Goals Guide to walk you through setting up your own goals based on the vision you crafted above.
How and where to track your goals
How you track your goals is very personal and depends on how you work.
Again, I love using a digital tool like Trello to set up and track my goals. I have also used this printable planner and it’s very thorough yet easy to use. The printable planner is great to help you brainstorm and organize your goals in a meaningful way.
The key is to pick one place and stick to it.
How to break down your goals to take action
Once you have your goals clearly articulated, now it’s time to take action!
If you don’t ever take any action, you’re not going to make any progress. Simple as that!
If you are brand new to setting goals, try picking just one goal and starting really small to start with. What is one thing you can accomplish in the next 2-4 weeks? And then to break that down further, what can you do this week? What can you do today?
The key is to break it down to such a small action item, that it’s so easy to accomplish and check it off your list. This will help build momentum to keep you moving forward. Breaking down your goals also helps to eliminate the overwhelming feeling of completing a big goal.
Let’s look at an example!
So to continue my example from before about writing an ebook, I would break that down into:
Write 30,000 words in 6 months -> becomes write 5,000 words per month -> becomes write 1250 words per week -> becomes write 180 words per day
While 30,000 words may sound very daunting and like I’ll never be able to achieve that, writing 180 words per day is super easy! Some days I’ll be able to write more, some days less, but that is ok because I have the overall goal in mind as well.
Another neat way to simplify goal setting is Gretchen Rubin’s 20 for 2020 Goals list. Each year she lists a number of things she wants to do that year. These items can be easy or ambitious, one-time undertakings or habits that stretch for years, fun or…less fun.
Some of the items on Gretchen’s list will require thinking through setting SMART goals, while others will be a one-time thing that only takes a few hours to complete. There’s no one right way to make your list—just think about what you want the new year to hold.
Let’s Recap how to Simplify Goal Setting
- Step 1 – Reflect on the past using a tool like the reflection pyramid.
- Step 2 – Reach for the stars! Decide on one word, create a vision board, think about the future.
- Step 3 – Refine your goals and create an action plan.
More resources to simplify goal setting
- Goal Setting Webinar (FREE)
- HUGE roundup of free printables and courses on goal setting
- SMART Goal Guide (FREE)
Your turn: What is one goal that you are working towards this year?
I hope this post has helped you to simplify goal setting this year. Let us know in the comments ONE goal that you hope to achieve in 2020. I would love to cheer you on!
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