It was New Year's Eve again. Jack settled in to write down his resolutions. He pulled out his list from last year and felt like he was stuck in a causality loop. He sighed as he glanced at the list:
Make more money
Spend quality time with family
Buy a bigger house
While there was nothing wrong with his goals, he just felt stuck. He knew he was about to write down the same list he wrote last year and the same list he would probably write next year. He just needed a different perspective and a different approach to things.
Two-Fold Approach to Goals
Instead of doing New Year's resolutions, try a two-fold approach to goals. Have in place your big-picture emotionally-driven vision for your life. Ten years down the road, what do you want your life to look like? What is important to you? Write that down. From there, think about where you are in this moment. If you were to push yourself three months from now, what would that look like? Come up with specific and measurable goals that will get you closer to your vision, and write those down.
When we think we have all year to complete our goals, we tend to push things off. However, if we keep plugging away at our goals in small chunks, a bit at a time, consistently, we will find them achievable and sustainable. In addition, three months gives us enough time to see if the changes are actually working. If they are, we can continue with them. If they're not, we can make adjustments.
At the end of the the three months, you repeat the process. You check in and make sure your goals are still in line with your overall vision. If they are, continue on that course. If not, see what course corrections need to be made, implement those, and make those changes over the next three months, and repeat the process.
As we continue to do this, we may find that we reach our goals sooner than we thought because we're not waiting a whole year to find if we've reached our goals or not. By breaking things into quarters, it allows for a lot more flexibility and freedom and the chance to adjust and adapt.
Back to Jack...
- What he wants to get from life
- What is important to him
- What he plans to do to achieve his goals
Jack decided to take a hard look at why he even cared about his particular goals. This time he jotted down:
If it takes him four months to achieve these goals, then it takes him four months. If it takes him four years, then it takes him four years. Either way is fine. The point is, he's making progress. This next year is going to be phenomenal for him because he is getting so much closer to his meaningful vision for his life.
Similarly, make 2022 an awesome year for you. Try to break it down into smaller "bites." Let go of the massive goal and focus on the smaller goals that support the massive vision.