Goal Setting 2021 : 6 Steps to an Intentional Year

Twenty-twenty has been a long year for most of us. Now that we are in the last few weeks of this year, I thought a Goal Setting 2021 sesh would be nice.

If you want to create your best year yet. This is just the right post for you.

I have a 6-Step Process in creating an Intentional year and you can use this process every year.

The purpose of this Goal Setting 2021 session is to help you create your Intentional Goals for next year.

Intentional Goals are goals that are mainly based ONLY on WHAT MATTERS. They are mindfully and strategically set up to be achieved one little bit at a time. In my case, it is one week at a time.

By the end of 2021, if you are still with me, we can do another goal-setting session. We can get together to look back, reflect and celebrate our wins.

After reading this post my hope for you would be:

Create Intentional goals for 2021 with the meaningful purpose behind your Goals. Your Goals are based Only on what matters to you.

Use the 6-Step Goal Setting Process so you will take actions and follow through.

Don’t worry, I got you. Hang out with me and we will do this together. I will create a lot of posts that will support this Goal Setting Session.

Why is Goal Setting Important?

According to Positive Psychology, Goal Setting is important because it helps trigger new behaviour, guides our focus and maintain momentum.

So, if we want to achieve our goals, proper goals setting is a must. Goals are important no matter what size they are. They give us a sense of direction and serve as a roadmap for us to go wherever we want to go.

Here are the benefits of goal setting

• Goal Setting provides motivation
• Having our goals set gives us peace of mind
• The process of Goal Setting helps us become aware of where we are and where want to go
• Goal Setting helps us appreciate what we can and can’t control
• Setting Goals give us a sense of directions, focus  and commitment

Goal Setting provides motivation

I love planning and it is something I enjoy doing. The only issue sometimes is I get too obsessed with planning and the doing gets a bit behind. More often I get distracted by another project.

Now that I have started being intentional through this blog, I can humbly say that I am slowly getting better at it. I am slowly learning to focus on just a few things at a time. And that is what I wanted to share with you today.

Setting goals provider peace of mind

When we were young, My Mother used to tell us “ You wouldn’t know where you are going if you do not know where you are“

Honestly, I only realised the true meaning of this wisdom when I started creating goals for myself. It only makes sense that we need to be aware of what/where the starting point is if we want to move forward purposefully.

So every time I set goals, I always reflect on where I am and then I start from there. It works. At least for me.

Goal Setting helps us appreciate the variables

Let’s agree that we can want whatever we like.

The thing is, along the process of getting what we want, there are so many factors that will determine if we are going to get it or not.

Sure, we can control most within us especially our thoughts and our actions but there are so many outside factors that we won’t simply be able to control.

That is just a fact of life.

Goal setting combined with the mindset that we cannot control everything helps us appreciate that fact.

This means we can be more flexible and realistic with our goals.

Goals help us stay focused and committed

There are distractions everywhere. This is one of those factors we cannot control. We need to be aware of when they are around and we need to keep our focus.

For sure scrolling on social media is so much more appealing than writing a post for my blog. I feel this sometimes. But because I am committed to posting one blog per week, I have to resist that temptation and I just look ahead and focus on where I want to be which is to grow this blog. (with you of course).

Thinking about how it would make me feel when I get there is usually enough reason for me to continue with what I am working on.

That being said, sometimes we have to choose distraction over what we are supposed to do for our goals. This is where our Core Values come in.

Goal Plans get us back on track

When we set goals, it is important to remember that no matter how carefully we plan things, they don’t always go the way we planned. Something may come up and it can throw us off the track.

Things don’t always go our way. So, we just need to make sure we have the right approach when it happens. The right approach is whatever we find comfortable with. And it could be different for everyone.

So when things don’t go the way we planned, having a plan is what will bring us back on track. We can always continue where we left off.

Having a written plan can also keep us committed. From the time that we started writing down our goals, it is a sign of commitment. When we are committed we follow through, we show up and we stay consistent.

Goal Setting 2021

Step 1: Start with what matters

Knowing what matters is going to be the main thing in this process. To be intentional, we need to focus on our priorities. Priorities will be different for everyone but ultimately, this is the core of every decision making we are going to make from planning to doing.

To determine our priorities, we need to know our core values.

Knowing our core values is essential for intentional goal setting because it will dictate our behaviours. These behaviours reflect on our daily routine, habits and the decision we make every day.

Our decision making is highly influenced by our core values.

When we know our core values, it becomes easy to assess if we are still on the right path towards our goal. Most importantly, our Core Values would tell us if we are still aiming for the right goal.

Since starting this blog, I have learned how to be intentional with what matters. I have learned to pick and limit my focus on just a few priorities at a time and it works a treat. I like 3 as my default numbers but you may choose any number.

Step 2: Get Clear with your purpose

Knowing why we do what we do is important because it fuels us to keep going when the going gets tough. This is the driving force why we stay on course, no matter what.

Remembering our purpose helps us to stay committed. When we are committed, we show up. And we show up consistently. We do what we said we would do. It is ok to pause for a bit, as long as we pick up where we left off and move forward. That is what will make the difference.

We Follow through.

STEP 3: Make a Plan

Ok, so at this point, we have identified our core values and it helped us get clear with our purpose.

The next step is to make a plan. Our plan is going to be our guide in making things happen. Planning creates the blueprint of our journey. It should show exactly where we are at the beginning, as well as the desired destination. If need be, we need to have a step by step process to carry out the plan. The plan should be flexible though, it should not be set in stone because we need to leave room for adjustment along the way.

I am going to post about how to make a plan but for now, let me just show you how I make a plans.

The first step is to write down where I want to be and then identify where I am. Imagine drawing a line. the starting point is where we are and the end of the line is the goal. Then, I take note of what I need to do to fill the gap between the starting point and the endpoint.

See the above photo? A is where I am at the time of planning, and C is where I want to be. Points 1 to 3 are the steps I need to do to go to C from point A. There 1,2 3 steps are examples only. Depending on how big the goal is, sometimes it will take more than 3 steps.

Then I apply the Getting Things Done (GTD) method to break down the Goals into smaller chunks to make the goal achievable. Below are the 3 most important terms I learned from (GTD.

• GOAL: what you want to achieve
• PROJECT: This is something you need to do to achieve your goals. This requires more than one task to complete.
• TASK: Something you need to do that only requires one action step to complete.

So, to break down goals, I follow the process below

1. I pick 3 goals
2. From these 3 goals, I create projects and pick my top 3 to work on at a time. They become my Active Goals
3. Then, the 3 active goals are further broken down into Projects.
4. It can be tricky sometimes because a Goal can have so many projects related to it. So, again I use the power of no 3. At any given time, I can only have 3 projects that I am working on.
5. Once I know what my three projects are I plan the action steps I need to do to complete a project.
6. My rule of thumb is, I don’t stop breaking a project into smaller chunks until its action is broken down into a one-step action.  

Step 4: Have a system

We can have the best-detailed plan but if we are unable to execute the plan properly, then it may mean nothing in the end. To avoid this, we need to shift from planning to doing. Having a great system is one way to do this shift. how are we going to convert the plan into actions?

Having a good reliable system is one way of making sure we can turn our plans into actions. Systems can help us stay consistent and make progress no matter how small it is. I mean, small progress is still progress, right?

If you would like to read more about Workflow and Systems, check out my post about GTD Workflow for personal productivity.

Step 5: Track your progress

There is one more important step in making sure that we get results and get the outcome we desire. Tracking progress. You see even if you have a good plan, but you are not converting the plans into actions, it is kinda meaningless. So you take actions by having a system in place. However, a plan and a system won’t be enough to get the outcome we want. We need to track our progress and we need to review.

Having the regular review in place keeps us in check if we are still in the right directions. are we still moving towards our destination? This makes sure that we can make necessary adjustments if something is not working. It saves us time and energy.

I am using Bullet Journal so I use trackers to monitor my progress. The trackers are no judgement zone.

Step 6: Celebrate

When we are working so hard yet the progress seems so far away, it is only natural to feel so deflated. It is so hard to follow through when we see no outcome even on the horizon. This is why we need to celebrate every inch we make in moving towards our goals. To make this happen, we need to have quick wins.

Easy wins are gold. It gives our brain a shot of dopamine. It makes us feel good. Dopamine helps us to want to do more of what gives us that good feeling.

Even if there is no “actual progress” happening, it is also important to remember that the ‘effort’ itself is something that needs to be recognised too. I have to remind myself of this too, sometimes.

When we say celebrate, it doesn’t mean you have to make it a grand event (well, you can if you like), but taking time to acknowledge progress is good enough in most cases. I like rewarding myself when I made progress. Time is always a good reward for me. My favourite reward is spending at least 30 minutes watching music videos. The best reward ever.

Having a solid 30 minutes of watching music videos is one of my favourite rewards. For you it could be a nice “me-time” too. Anything that makes your heart happy is always a good reward.

Next Action

Hope the process inspired you to create your goals too. If you haven’t done so, I encourage you to take a moment and think of what you would like to achieve in the next 12 months. If is is too much, set a shorter time frame, The process will still serve you.

To summarise the Process:

1. Start with what matters
2. Get Clear with your Purpose
3. Make a plan
4. Have a system
5. Track your progress
6. Celebrate

I hope you find the process helpful.

Here’s to the meaningful and productive 2021.

Much love,