Every year, early December, I host goal setting and planning workshops for my clients. Together, we explore what awareness they’ve created for themselves in the past year and we work together to find ways to leverage these learnings into actions in the new year. After two hours of exercises, reflections and fruitful exchanges with like-minded professionals, they leave with a first draft of their roadmap to navigate upcoming months. 

If you haven’t had the chance to attend one of my workshops this year or if you are planning to make time this month to design your own roadmap to 2021, here are 5 important tips for effective goal setting:

 1. Make sure your goals are “S.M.A.R.T”

Each time you set a goal for 2021 and you pick a deadline to complete it, ask yourself: “Is my goal S.M.A.R.T?” In other words, is it Specific? Measurable? Attainable? Relevant? Time-bound? 

Each of these questions also relate to your “WHY” – your purpose or your vision – and to why these goals should be your priority in the new year. Knowing your “why” is essential to your success: there will be times when you lack the motivation or energy to do what needs to be done, but if you have a strong connection to your purpose, chances are that you will not lose focus and will become more resourceful to move forward. Individual coaching is often the best approach to support you as you explore your “why” and stay accountable. However, making sure your objectives are S.M.A.R.T is a great way to at least start this process on your own.

2. Practice Goal setting one bite at a time

Getting started on a big project or on big goals can seem pretty daunting, but the reason why many people fall short of turning their dreams into reality often is related to the fact that they try to eat the whole elephant in a single bite. When setting goals, it is important that you make a habit of breaking down your objectives into smaller steps and assess how much time it will take you to complete each task. 

3. Keep 20% to 30% of your time as “unplanned” in your calendar

The secret to effective planning is to remain flexible and adapt to the unexpected! In other words, planning does not mean booking every hour of the day in your calendar. Look back at the last couple of months and observe if you have had a tendency to overbook yourself – if that is the case, maybe it’s time to establish a new relationship with planning in 2021. When you proceed to plan for the week, remember to aim for 70% to 80% of “planned” or “scheduled” activities but keep 20% to 30% for free and “unplanned” time in your calendar. 

4. Seek the alignment of your “Head”, “Heart” and “Body”

Your goals should be aligned with the three centers of intelligence that help you fully thrive as a human being. All three ‘brains’ need to be accessed and integrated into goal setting:

1.     Head: What stimulates you intellectually, your work, analytical thinking, finding solutions, strategic thinking. 

2.     Heart: What matters to you, what moves you, what you feel, connections with your emotional intelligence. 

3.     Body: Your gut intuition, respecting your physical and mental health, listening to your body. 

Before you proceed with goal setting for the new year, start by reflecting on your ability to seek this alignment in the past year. Ask yourself the following questions: “How did my goals and actions align with my three brains? What obstacles were there to reach this alignment? What strategies could I design to move forward with more synergy between my heart, head and body in the new year?”

 5. Remember to practice self-compassion!

When you look back on 2020, you will reflect on what worked (“wins”) and what did not (“failures”). For each event that you consider to be a “failure”, it will be tempting to be tough with yourself. What if there was another way? What if you could be kinder to yourself, the same as you would with the person you care the most about? To practice self-compassion, ask yourself (with the same kindness, as if you were addressing a friend): What were external factors that influenced these outcomes? What did this experience or this event teach me about myself and/or about my work? What will I do differently in the future? 

Be so bold as to congratulate yourself for taking action and trying something new (even if it did not work out the way you expected it to be!) 

 Some final remarks…

I am going to share what I usually tell my clients when the goal setting workshop ends, in order to make their plan successful:

·       Bring your plan to life and keep it present in your mind (and physical place!)

It can be tempting to neatly file away the table you produced after your strategic planning exercise, but it will be no use to you if it’s collecting dust! Print it, enlarge it, post it visibly in your office space, read it often and make sure you are reminded of it every single day. 

·       Create more opportunities to revise and adapt your plan as you go

Scheduling time for goal setting on a frequent basis (either quarterly or monthly – my recommendation) will be key to maintain clarity, direction and focus, in the next months. It will also help stay flexible and review strategies to move forward as needed, especially in a context of uncertainty or crisis. Block off some time right away in your calendar for these frequent revisions.

Don’t hesitate to share in the comments below your own strategies or thoughts on what works for you when you do goal setting or planning!

Coach Virginie