Setting Goals This Year with Intention and Accountability

Have you resolved not to resolve this year because setting goals just hasn’t worked well for you in the past? Did you set goals for 2020 that you weren’t able to achieve, given how the year unfolded?

Selecting one goal for the start of the year is a good start (it allows you to channel time, energy and efforts in a focused way), but just setting the goal is really about having an intention. What you do or don’t do from there will determine your outcome.

It has been said before that an intention with no action is just a dream. Dreams aren’t bad, but if we want to turn them into reality, we need to pair them with action. Desire and determination are a good place to start, but motivation (your “why”), a specific action plan to which you are committed, and some accountability will get you a lot farther towards and ultimately to your destination.

Know Your Why
Once you’ve settled on your one goal, think hard about why you want to achieve that goal. What will success in the area you’ve selected do for your life, your relationships, your business, health, finances or anything else you hold as valuable? The answer to this is typically your motivation for moving forward.

Visualize success. Consider posting pictures, words, or some other visual trigger to remind you about your goal, what success looks like, and what you’ll feel, see, have, or be able to do once you achieve the goal. Make reviewing this vision board, affirming statement, or other visual a part of your morning routine. Focus your mind on what you want and why you want it each and every day to help you focus on the steps you’ll need to take for success.

Create an Action Plan
Be very specific about what you want; set a SMART goal. Then start plotting a course backwards from your end goal. What do you need to do to achieve this? Write down all the steps, big or small, that you need to take to achieve your goal. Consider how much time you’ll need for each step.

Flushing out the steps involved is important for a number of reasons:

1. Once you see the steps detailed out and know what it will take to accomplish success, you can determine if you truly want to put in the effort to attain the goal. You need to be willing to take the steps to get to your destination.
2. Breaking your plan down into specific steps can take away the overwhelm of a big or longer-term goal. It may be difficult to imagine doing all of the work to accomplish something you want, but not so hard to imagine completing just the first step. Take it step by step.
3. Knowing the tasks involved, you can then schedule those into your calendar, being realistic about the timeline for completing them all and ultimately accomplishing your goal.

Embrace Accountability
Tell co-workers, trusted advisers, friends and others in your personal and professional network what you’re up to. Tell a number of people, or enlist an Accountability Partner. Share with them your goal, your “why” and your action plan. Ask them to help hold you accountable.

When we commit to something publicly, we are much more likely to follow through, because we know someone we have told, may ask us about our progress or our success. Instinctively we want to please, so while you are not completing your goal for anyone other than yourself, you will be motivated to have positive things to share with those who are in the know.

Consider setting up a regular time that you’ll “report in” on your progress; weekly, for example. This ensures that you don’t go too long without addressing challenges you may face, fessing up to inaction, or celebrating your small wins along the way.

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Debbie Rosemont, Certified Professional Organizer and Productivity Consultant, started Simply Placed, in 2003 to help clients increase productivity, maximize efficiency and bring balance and control into their work and lives. Simply Placed associates work with individuals and businesses to create effective organizational systems, clear clutter, successfully manage time, focus on priorities and achieve goals. They help people work smarter, not harder, to increase their bottom line and peace of mind through consulting, hands-on organizing, and group training. They can be contacted at 206-579-5743 or [email protected].

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