10 Tips for Setting Goals this New Year

Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer

Setting Goals is probably practiced in January more than in any other month of the year. It’s a new beginning, and with it, we usually want to make positive changes in our lives and homes.

That’s a good thing! But, as with most things, setting goals is a learning process. Since I began setting goals, I’ve had some successes, some bumps, and some downright failures.

Here are 10 tips I’ve learned for setting goals for the New Year:

1.Keep it reasonable

One of the greatest culprits for goal failure is trying to do too much.

In my earliest attempts at goal setting, that’s exactly what I did. I started January excited, found February a little challenging, began slipping in March,and sometime during April, I totally lost steam. Just looking at my notebook lying on the shelf roused feelings of condemnation and failure.

I’ve learned that it’s far better to set fewer goals, reach them, then set new goals during the year, than to have a huge list that becomes overwhelming. Keep the goal list as a servant – not a taskmaster.

2. Make Your Goals Specific, Measurable, and Time-Sensitive

When you’re first getting started with goal-setting, it’s easy to set some ambiguous goals.

Goals such as: ‘be a better mom’, ‘learn to be more patient’, ‘spend more time reading the Bible’, or ‘do more for others’ are all simply too general.

These goals are so vague that it’s impossible to know when you’ve reached them.

For your goals to work for you they need to include 3 key elements:

They must be specific. Instead of trying to be a better mom, set a goal to have a baking session with your daughter once per week, or to read through an adventure story with your son each month. These are specific, concrete goals.
They must be measurable. If you can’t measure your goals, you won’t know when you’ve arrived. If you want to read through the Bible this year, set a goal of reading a certain portion each day and at the end of each day, you will easily know if you’ve made it.
They must be time-sensitive. Without the gentle pressure of time, we can amble around, accomplishing very little toward our goals; they easily get pushed onto the “back burner”. Knowing exactly when your goals are due to be finished keeps you focused and on track.

Perhaps you want to write 4 notes of encouragement to friends by the end of the month. That goal is: specific (write notes), measurable (4), and time-sensitive (by the end of the month), and is much more concrete than “do more for others”.

3. Break Goals Down into Smaller Pieces

When you have a goal that can be broken down into smaller, bite-sized pieces, you’re much more likely to reach it. If your goals are specific, measurable, and time-sensitive, they are almost always easily broken down.

Looking at one of your annual goals, break it down into monthly bites, then weekly and daily bites. If you have a goal to declutter your house by the end of the year, you can tackle one room per month, working on books one week, clothes another week, and toys another, etc.

Or, you may choose to set a timer and devote a certain amount each day, jumping right in and tackling everything in the room at once. What you do specifically isn’t the most crucial point – finding what works for you in small pieces is.

4. Evaluate Regularly and Make Adjustments

Setting aside time each week, or at a minimum each month, to evaluate your progress is critical.

Keeping track of how you’re doing, and where you’re going next keeps the ball rolling.

While you’re evaluating, you may find that you need to make adjustments. When something unexpected comes along, you’ll probably need to adjust your goals. Maybe you need to shift the time of day you work on a particular goal. Maybe you need to devote more or less time to one.

Or, perhaps after giving it a fair shot, you realize your goal just isn’t a priority for you anymore and you choose to lay it down. Adjusting goals is perfectly reasonable, and I doubt very many goal setters have made it completely through a year without making adjustments.

5. Write Them Down and Keep Them Visible

It may seem like an insignificant thing, but having your goals visible can make or break your momentum.

We are all busy! It takes constant effort to keep the schedule in check and to make choices between the unreal number of options we have to choose from when spending our time.

If your goals don’t meet your eyes frequently, you will likely forget them!

Of course, to see them, they must be written down or typed out. Goals that are simply swirling around in your head are short-lived. Recording them makes them concrete.

6. Don’t Focus on Just One Area of Your Life

When setting goals, it’s easy to focus on a single area of life.

Just as in school, however, setting goals in a broader range of areas makes us better rounded.

Some areas to consider setting goals in are: personal (spiritual, physical, and mental), marriage, children, family, finance, business, education, and community.

7. When You Mess Up

There have been plenty of times in my efforts toward reaching goals that I’ve messed up.

I’ve dropped the ball, lost momentum, gotten off track when unexpected things happened,; and simply despaired because it was too overwhelming.

The most important thing to remember when you mess up is DON’T GIVE UP!

Find your place, make adjustments, and begin again. Any small step, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. Keep moving and you’ll be making progress! Over time progress adds up.

8. Don’t Fall into the “To-Do” List Trap

Another easy trap to fall into when you beginning goal-setting is to add “to-do” items to your goals list.

While to-do’s have their place, they aren’t the same as goals and shouldn’t displace them. As a matter of fact, your goals will likely – and should – show up on your to-do lists!

There are so many things to accomplish every day and the list can get longer than we can practically manage in a hurry. Make sure you don’t set goals like weekly grocery shopping or taking the dog to the vet in February.

But, your goal of reading that book with your son can show up on Monday’s to-do list, by blocking out a specific amount of time to devote to it.

9. Forward Momentum Counts

If your goals are broken down well, it may seem that some are insignificant on a daily basis. That simply isn’t true.

If you set a goal to remove just one item that is no longer useful from your home each day, you will have removed 366 items by the end of this year!

Every step forward counts. As long as you aren’t falling backward, every step forward puts you closer to reaching your goal, even if you have to slow your pace along the way and perhaps adjust your ending date.

10. Keep Going by Setting New Goals

Reaching a goal is an exciting and exhilarating feeling! Once you reach one, however, it isn’t time to stop.

Are there other goals in the same area that you’d like to work toward? Maybe you had a very long list at the beginning that you knew was unattainable and chose to cut some items. Now you can add one of those back onto your list.

Setting and working toward goals is a learning process, just as working through them is, but the rewards you reap and the investment you make in your life and the lives of others are worth the effort. I set goals because I don’t want to simply tick off the days of my life, missing opportunities to grow and be a blessing to others. I hope you’ll be encouraged to set some this year too.

Here are a few of my favorite goal-setting resources:

The One Quality You Must Develop to Reach Your Goals

How to Change Your Life By Setting Goals

The 2 Most Powerful Words for Reaching Your Goals

The To Work With My Hands’ Setting Goals Series