Wow! A new decade starts tomorrow. And even though it may be just another day, there’s something magical about the turn of a year or a decade. It feels so promising, so hopeful, so exciting! At the turn of 2010, I was gearing up for an exciting year: I would leave my corporate job, move from Miami to Chicago, get married, go on an amazing 40-day honeymoon, and start my MBA. Now that was a year! And I’m just as hopeful and excited for 2020. I hope you are, too!
If you’re taking today or tomorrow to reflect upon goals for 2020 (see this post for why I have mixed feelings on Resolutions, so I just call them goals), you’ll want to make sure you do these 3 things before making them official. I promise, they’ll increase your chance of success!
Do These Three Things Before Setting Your 2020 Goals:
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- Reflect on your 2019 goals. What happened? Regardless of the outcome, you can learn from your 2019 goals! If you achieved them, great! What went right? What set you up for success? Be sure to replicate that! And check out this post for the power of positive reflection!If you don’t remember your 2019 goals, that’s a lesson in itself! That means you didn’t keep them top of mind with constant reminders, recommitments, and small steps. See step #3 in this post!If you didn’t achieve your 2019 goals, ask why, and apply that lesson to your 2020 goals. Here are a few possibilities:
- The goals you set were too lofty. Did you get swept up in the New Year rush and set unrealistic goals? Dial them back just a tad this year to set yourself up for success!
- You weren’t truly passionate about your goals. If there was a “should” in your goals (e.g. “I really should get to the gym more often), there’s a good chance you didn’t develop a deep enough WHY to really put in the work when it got tough.
- You made great progress, but didn’t quite get across the line. This is great! It means you really stretched yourself! Want to reaffirm your commitment by keeping this as a 2020 goal?
- You didn’t have support. If you’re looking for coaching support to maximize your energy, health, and happiness, check out my coaching programs!
- You didn’t believe in yourself, or you got negative along the way. I can’t possibly over- emphasize the importance of believing in yourself when you set health goals. Just think of a kid learning to ride a bike. When she believes in herself, she’s far more likely to go further without her training wheels before falling, right? But the poor girl who lacks self-belief keeps turning around to see if you’re still hanging on, and the turning itself causes her to topple over. Don’t turn around … just believe in yourself!
- Make sure they’re DREAM goals. I used to use the common term “SMART” goals, but it seemed to be lacking something …
passion! So, I created a new acronym: DREAM goals. DREAM stands for:- Dated: Having a deadline, and interim time benchmarks, is critical!
- Realistic: Take what you think is realistic … then stretch it just a bit further. We want to set you up for success, but we also want you to reach your potential!
- Energizing: This is the important one! Does your goal make you feel excited, a bit nervous, empowered, and alive? If so, it’s a good one!
- Action-focused: A goal of winning the lottery is just a wish. We need your goals to be action-focused, so you can do something about achieving them.
- Measureable: Find a way to measure your progress and ultimate completion. Track it along the way!
- Reflect on your 2019 goals. What happened? Regardless of the outcome, you can learn from your 2019 goals! If you achieved them, great! What went right? What set you up for success? Be sure to replicate that! And check out this post for the power of positive reflection!If you don’t remember your 2019 goals, that’s a lesson in itself! That means you didn’t keep them top of mind with constant reminders, recommitments, and small steps. See step #3 in this post!If you didn’t achieve your 2019 goals, ask why, and apply that lesson to your 2020 goals. Here are a few possibilities:
If you want more about how to set goals (and make them DREAM goals!) check out my goal setting webinar here.
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- Plan every step of success. This post has all you need to know about planning out your goals, but here’s the short version: when you set a lofty goal without interim steps to guide you there, you’re far less likely to succeed. Let’s say you’ve never run a step, but want to run a marathon by December 2020. That’s great! Totally doable. But you don’t just go run 26.2 miles tomorrow. You’re probably going to want to start running in 1 minute intervals, a few times per week, and build up very, very gradually until, eventually, you can complete that marathon confidently!The same applies to any lofty goal you set for yourself … if you are overwhelmed by the thought of it, you’re likely to not start. But if you have it all mapped out in front of you, you simply have to take one small step. And then the next. You can do that! A little bit of effort in the planning stage goes a long way towards success.
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Now it’s your turn … What is one goal you’re committed to accomplishing in 2020? What did you learn from your 2019 goals?
I have loved the concept of DREAM goals since whenever you shared it … that passion is so critical in everything, and yet can remain unmentioned and then people wonder why different teams perform differently or individuals do better or worse in certain areas.
Happy new year to you and your family! 🙂