Set Yourself Up for Success in 2024 With This Simple yet Effective Goal-Setting Strategy
Make your dreams come true next year by starting off with a solid plan
What do I want 2024 to look like?
What do I want to be different by the end of next year?
With the end of the year approaching, many of us are reflecting on these questions. Setting up New Year's resolutions and goals is common practice, and so is not following through with them — unfortunately.
One of the reasons why this happens is that we forget to ask ourselves one fundamental question:
What do I have to do and what needs to change in my day-to-day, for that to happen?
Maybe we are not ready to make changes, maybe we are not prepared, or maybe we are unable to plan in a way that promotes compounded growth.
Either way, this simple step-by-step strategy is going to help you start the New Year off the right foot. It goes like this:
Vision ➡ Long-term goals ➡ Short-term goals ➡ Daily action steps
Let’s get to it!
Step 1 — Define your Vision
- What do I want my life to look like, by the end of 2024?
Your perfect Vision stems from an authentic desire of yours, it’s not conditioned by people-pleasing, expectations that other people have for you, the need to prove something, or keeping up with the Joneses.
It is aligned with your Values and rooted in a deeper reason why.
When you are clear on the direction you are going, and you’re sure your Vision checks all the above boxes, transform your Vision into an “I am” statement.
➡ I am a successful entrepreneur and a present parent and partner. I am able to provide abundantly for my family without sacrificing what matters to me.
The reason?
This will allow you to identify who you need to be to reach your goals and let that identity act as a lens to make aligned choices.
It’ll make it easier for you to embody that energy and do what needs to be done to bring your Vision to fruition.
Tip: You might find it useful to create a Vision board to keep in sight to make sure you stay motivated and inspired to take consistent action.
Step 2 — Turn your Vision into long-term goals
- What needs to happen this year for my Vision to come true?
In this step, you simply turn your “I am” statement into a set of goals by defining what each element means to you.
“Be a successful entrepreneur”
= Start an online coaching business and help X people
“Provide abundantly for my family”
= Make 50k$
“Be a present parent and partner”
= Work only 3 hours per day
You don’t have to be too specific here unless you want to.
Some people work best with detailed long-term goals while others prefer to keep them generic and adjust as they go. Do what resonates the most with you! You’ll eliminate vagueness later, anyway.
Step 3 — Break your long-term goals down into short-term goals
- What needs to happen this quarter, to support my long-term goals?
Say you want to start a coaching business and make 50k by the end of 2024. One thing that might need to happen in the first quarter of the year is launching your first coaching offer, or completing your certification and start creating content around your area of expertise to attract your audience and future clients.
It can be useful to put your intentions into (written) words and start each quarter by saying “This is the quarter I …”
From there, you’ll break down this goal into steps that are within your control by answering this question:
- What do *I* need to do, to make that happen?
This is the quarter I launch my coaching offer
> Develop a coaching framework
> Test the framework with 10 people
> Build a sales page and payment link
> Promote my offer on social media daily
Step 4 — Define small Action Steps
- What do I need to do this month/week/today to support my short-term goals?
From this point on is all about getting specific about each step you want to implement in the quarter and breaking it down into a monthly, weekly, and daily plan.
To continue with the previous example, you could start month #1 by focusing on:
- growing your social media account so that you’ll have a broader audience to promote your offer when it’s ready,
- sharing content daily to test ideas and see what resonates most.
Your weekly plan would then include steps that will allow you to develop a habit of publishing and engaging daily, building an efficient content creation system, and analyzing data to see what topics are most appealing to your audience.
This is the step where you aim to eliminate vagueness, get as specific as you can, and set goals that are process-oriented (instead of outcome-oriented).
❌ Hit 50k followers on Medium
✅ Publish 3 stories per week for 4 weeks
Don’t worry about having it all figured out.
In this phase, you are testing out strategies to get to your desired outcome.
The path to reaching your goals will reveal itself month after month, as you keep moving and assessing your progress.
That’s it — now you have a set of initial steps to take that serve your vision and get you moving toward it. From this point on is all about being consistent and re-assessing periodically to adjust course.
Pro Tip: Have Fun
The best approach to goal-setting is to see it as if it was a game.
You are playing to reach your “next level” and are on a mission to hit a target. Schedule rewards for each step of the way and make sure you celebrate small wins to keep your motivation up.
Also, make sure you share your progress with a friend or a coach. It’s been proven to increase your chances of following through with your commitment and reaching your goals!
So, what will 2024 be the year of, for you?
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