Next to Christmas, the start of a new year is my FAVORITE time of year. Why? Because it’s a time of hope, opportunity, and (one of my other favorites) – planning! The start of a New Year gives us a chance to make slight positive adjustments to our lives, or even give us a fully blank slate to color with our hopes, dreams, and goals for the year ahead!

Goal-setting is one of the cornerstones of my coaching business. And with good reason! In many ways, being able to set goals (and break them down into action plans) is the determiner of all success in life. 

So – if you’re sitting down to set some goals for the New Year, good for you! You are already taking some major positive steps towards the successful outcome of whatever you are hoping to achieve. 

However, there are two MAJOR mistakes I often see friends, colleagues and clients make during this yearly goal setting time period. Today I want to share them with you so you can proactively avoid them. Here are two biggest mistakes to avoid when you are setting yearly goals.

Mistake #1 – Rushing the Process

One of the keys to creating yearly goals that will stand the test of time (because let’s face it, 365 days is a LONG time), is not rushing the process. On average, I advise clients to take at least 2 weeks to brainstorm and solidify their yearly goals, if not the entire month of January! 

Here’s why: like all important decisions, deciding upon your yearly goals takes time. When you create yearly goals, you are – in essence- making the promise to yourself, “Here’s what I am committed to working on this year.” So it’s imperative that you take the time you need to thoughtfully construct those promises! 

Plus, the brain is an incredible and complex organ that needs time to do its best work. If you were to write down 3 yearly goals right now, I guarantee you that within 24 hours, you would find yourself reflecting more deeply and maybe adding some more ideas to the mix. This is because once we “turn on” the goal-setting part of our brain, we are giving ourselves permission to envision a successful future for ourselves and exactly what it looks like. Maybe one of the initial yearly goals that you have is “get healthier.” Within a week of putting that goal out there, you may find yourself coming up with ideas for how to achieve that goal, or more specificity (see Mistake #2 below) on WHAT “get healthier” actually means to you, OR maybe you’ll realize that you don’t really care about that goal and there are others that are more important to do. This is why giving yourself time is so important.

Essentially, once you start the yearly goal-planning process, you are in a brainstorming period, and you need to give your brain time to run its course thinking through EVERY possible manifestation of success for you. 

More importantly, you also need to give your heart time to sit with these goal ideas to determine what really has meaning for you — what really matters. Creating goals that really matter to you is the only way to ensure they will hold up over the course of a year. (This is also why I challenge my clients to clarify the WHY of their yearly goals – because you need to know why this goal matters to you if you really want to prioritize it in your thoughts and actions). 

So, rule of thumb: give yourself at least 2 weeks (if not more) to brainstorm, specify, and finalize your yearly goals. You will be very happy you did! 

Mistake #2 – Not Getting Specific Enough

The other most common mistake I see people make when setting yearly goals is not getting specific enough on:

• WHAT the goal actually is (what specifically you want to accomplish)
• WHY the goal matters to you
• WHEN you will achieve it by
• HOW you will achieve it (what actions will you take?)

So, going back to the above example with the yearly goal of “get healthier” – you can see why this goal is not going to be very effective. What exactly does “get healthier” mean to you? Is it weight loss/gain? Starting and maintaining a fitness routine? Making significant diet changes? Quitting a bad habit? There are SO many different ways that “health” can be measured, so it would be imperative (in this hypothetical example) to specific exactly what “health” means to you. 

Applying the “WHAT WHY WHEN HOW” specification process to an initial yearly goal idea is a GREAT way to not only make it more specific, but also to validate that this goal has enough clout for you to commit to. If you go through this 4-part specification process with a goal and find that the “WHY” is not meaningful for you, then maybe it’s not a great goal to commit to for the year ahead. This could be because your “WHY” isn’t deep enough (and maybe you just need to go deeper with it!), or maybe it’s because your “WHY” is attached to someone else’s desires for your life. This happens all too often with goal setting (and with chasing success in general, I’m afraid). 

So with that in mind, here’s another important thing I want you to remember  in the yearly goal setting process: what you want to accomplish in 2022 needs to be something that YOU want to accomplish. Something you’re doing because YOU want to do it. Because it’s important to YOU. No one else. If you set goals and intentions with someone else’s expectations or judgment  in mind – whether it’s the expectations of your parents, your friends, your spouse, your coworkers or ANYONE else – then you are not only setting yourself up for goal failure, you’re setting yourself up for a lack of fulfillment. (And – you guessed it – giving yourself enough time to think through this is one of the best ways to make sure you’re being true to your own authentic needs and desires in your goals).

Applying this 4-step specification framework to your goals will help take them from “initial goal idea” to “promise I am making to myself” – and that’s exactly where you want to be at the end of your yearly goal setting journey: Ready to launch into the year ahead with a set of specific, actionable, well-thought out, meaningful goals that fire you up every time you read through them. 

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to sit down and set some goals for the year ahead, and with awareness of these 2 common yearly goal setting mistakes, you’ll be able to set the most meaningful, specific, and effective yearly goals possible.

Need Some Help Setting Yearly Goals? 

If you still feel like you could use some help with setting yearly goals, then I encourage you to schedule a free Discovery Call with me! I’d love to get to know you and strategize yearly goals together. Schedule a free Discovery Call here.