How to Set and Achieve Goals for the New Year
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I am the stereotypical Enneagram 3, and an eldest daughter on top of that. I am high energy, a high achiever, and I positively thrive on setting and achieving my goals.
But I wasn’t always that way.
Growing up, I used to spend New Year’s Eve setting a ridiculous amount of goals (at least twenty) and then just forget about them. Halfway through the year, I would remember them and pick them back up again, only to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the goals I was pursuing, and quit again.
Repeat almost every year – until a few years ago.
The first few years of life as a single mom were purely in survival mode. Over half my take-home pay went to a nanny to watch my kids, I still had to pay the mortgage by myself on the house no one was living in until it sold, and my rent and the rest of my living expenses. Life was stressful and I did my best to make it through, and then my big dreams and visions returned along with my spark.
Running My Life Like a Nursing Home
Several years ago, when my babies were still actually babies, I was a Director of Nursing for nursing homes. Part of that role was running the monthly Quality meetings with every manager from every department in the nursing home, called Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (or QAPI for short).
My teammates called me the “QAPI Queen” because for some reason I loved that role. I made a QAPI binder at the beginning of the year and filled it with the handouts for every department for every month. A week before the monthly meeting, I would pull out my conveniently prepared handouts and give them out. Then at the meetings, I would go through the well-organized meeting minutes, gather up the completed handouts, and put them back in the binder. It was so smooth and efficient.
When I was thinking about how to organize my life to be consistent and efficient, I returned to my QAPI Queen habits, and made my own planner.
Choosing Goals That Work
Once I got out of survival mode and got my spark back, I had a big vision for my life. This time, I had a very clear picture of the life I want to build. Missing from my goals lists these in these more recent years are goals like “work out 5x a week” or “read 24 books a year.” Those goals are nice, but they don’t really have a purpose besides saying that I did them. The motivation is just not there to reach them.
My goals lately have all been reverse engineered from looking at my dream life and my values. For instance, my top value is the kind of mom I want to be. I always include a goal related to creating a special memory with my kids. I have specific financial goals I want to reach that will set me up for my life, so I have goals related to my finances.
Determine Your Dream Life First
The first thing I did when setting new goals was determine what my dream life would be. I allowed myself to dream big, imagining what I would do if I had no barriers. And then I thought about what aspects of my life would help me achieve that dream life. What does my dream life look like? What does Dream Me get to do if anything was possible?
I broke those aspects down into four parts: Personal, Financial, Family, and Business.
Reverse Engineering Goals
Every year I sit down and think about what goals I could set for the upcoming year that would move me closer to my dream life in the different aspects. If my dream life includes travel in my retirement, I had better be working on saving for retirement to have enough for traveling. My dream life also includes working for myself as a full-time blogger, and there are plenty of stepping stones to climb up until I make that dream a reality.
Break Them Down
With those goals in mind, I set 2-4 mini goals in every section that I can reach that year. Most of them are easily realistic for me (one of them is usually “epic spring break trip” which I plan for every year), and others are stretch goals that are mostly realistic but will take some extra effort.
Keep Them Simple
Do not plan out absolutely everything in your year. Leave space to be spontaneous. Don’t make financial stretch goals so far away that the only way to reach them is by scrimping every last penny until you are miserable. I was able to set and reach slightly unrealistic financial goals this year while being able to say yes to trips to Chicago, Kansas City (twice, including taking the boys to a Chiefs game), and a Savannah Bananas game.
Front and Center
Another reason I didn’t achieve my goals before was because I did not make them visible. I’ve changed that too, of course.
Every year after I finalize my goals for the upcoming year, I go to my Canva account and create a vision board for my lock screen on my phone. Instead of a generic “vibes” kind of vision board, this one features a picture reflecting a specific goal for the year. This has been so very helpful for me to be constantly reminded of the goals for the year.
Check In Regularly
In December 2023, inspired by my former QAPI Queen ways, I created a “Home CEO” checklist with basic things I wanted to review every month to measure my progress. I printed off 12 copies, bought a binder with 12 divider tabs, and loaded my binder.
Every month since January 2024, I prioritize sitting down on the first Saturday of the month and reviewing everything. I start by writing down my goals for the year in every category. If I’ve already met them, I add a check mark and the date they were accomplished. If I’m still working on them, I add a note next to them with my progress.
I find re-writing my goals every month to be especially helpful because it keeps them fresher in my mind, and tracking the progress is really encouraging! While I probably won’t hit every goal this year, I will be able to check off at least 80% of them (and I learned a lot on my journey towards completing the goals that won’t be finished until 2026).
The Home CEO Planner
After almost two years of using this method and seeing the incredible results from this routine, I decided it was time to share my method with the world, so I created the Home CEO Binder. Complete with a space for your annual goals, a brain dump list, my full monthly goals review, and more, the Home CEO Binder is ready to help you stay organized and actually meet your goals.
Available in a print-to-order spiral bound, or a print your own. These are not dated, so start on any month!
