So it's time to welcome in a New Year and you may be looking to set some new goals, resolutions or transformations. Before you dive in, here are a few tips and questions that will help you set yourself up for success and achieve it this year.
Consider Einsteins definition of insanity when planning your goals for the New Year.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
So grab your journal and let's get Striving.
Reflect on previous goals
You may already have a structure and method that works for you when it comes to reflecting. If you haven't, ask yourself the following questions in your journal.
What was your goal for the year just gone?
Did you achieve it?
If you did achieve it, what were the key moments that lead to your success?
What was happening when everything was going great?
Who was there often when things were going great?
What were you doing often when things were going great?
Who was around when things weren't going great?
If you considered quitting, what was happening and at what point in the year?
What stopped you quitting?
How did you feel at this point?
What made you continue and be resilient?
Ikigai
'A reason for being'.
The thing that gets you up in the morning.
This Japanese concept can help you understand your purpose at a deeper level.
In your journal, answer the following questions in as much detail as you need.
- What do you love?
- What are you good at?
- What does the world need?
- What can you be paid for?
Go back though each question and find the common answers in each section. From these answers you can begin to understand your Ikigai, your reason for being.
Your vision
Your vision is more of a lifestyle or a much longer term goal that you are trying to reflect in your day to day life.
My vision for example focuses on making it to 101 years old and being surrounded by all of the people I have truly had a positive impact on. Yes pretty aspirational I know, however this gives me a drive to stay healthy, to make it to 101 and to be a good person everyday while having a positive impact on the lives of others.
I don't just want to make it to 101, I want to have a great time getting there too.
When you start to see what your vision, purpose or why is, you begin to adjust your daily behaviours to align with this.
Here are some questions to answer in your journal that could help you understand your vision, purpose or why.
1. What was going on in your life when you felt truly fulfilled?
2. What difference or impact do you believe you can make and to who?
3. Other than for money, why do you want to what you currently want to do?
4. How have your life experiences, upbringing, beliefs and values shaped who you are?
Outcome Goals - Performance goals - Process Goals
The Outcome goal is what you are trying to achieve. Clarity on this will help you with your direction and motivation.
The Performance goals are the what success looks like goals. What do you need to be doing to achieve your outcome goal?
The Process goals are the daily activities which allow you to then achieve your performance goals.
Try to have the outcome goal being no more than 2 years in duration or review your outcome goal inline with a cycle relevant to your outcome goal. For example a two year contract, 4 year Olympic cycle or a one year placement.
A good statement for an Outcome goal is "By this time next year, I will...".
Here is an example of this structure.
Outcome goal
Win a gold medal at the next Olympic Games in the 100m breaststroke
Performance goal
Be able to register a time of 56.88 seconds or better under competition pressure in the 100m breaststroke (56.88 Adam Peaty WR 2019)
1st 50m under 27 seconds
100m under 57 seconds
Process goal
Analyse my current time, plan where I can reduce time.
Starts, turns, stroke count, last 50m
Understand how I compete under pressure and how the best in the world do.
Here are some questions for your journal that will help you identify your outcome goal if you ned more clarity.
What are you trying to achieve in the long term?
How much personal influence do you have over the outcome?
What are the first steps you could take?
How will you know if you have been successful?
What might get in the way of you achieving this goal?
Following on from number 5, Do you have any control or influence on this?
Make your goals visible
Studies show that if you write down your goals in a place where you can see them often, you are more likely to achieve them. This is because you are reminded and triggered to focus on them daily.
We developed an A4 poster that allows you to see your goal everyday.
You can frame it, stick it on your wall, by your desk, on your fridge, where ever you feel it will be seen regularly. Click below to get your poster.
Journalling
There are many types of journals that are all designed for different reasons. We developed a guided journal that accompanies you on your journey to achieving your goals. The Striver Journal goes into much deeper detail to improve your understanding of your goals and helps you plan for success.
Your companion at your side whenever you need it.
Design your life to achieve your goals.
Designing is a crucial part of achieving your goals. You have to design your environment in a way that will allow you to create a habit linked to achieving your goals. It could be as simple as where you position your fruit bowl in comparison to your biscuit tin. as long as it is in line with your outcome goal.
A past goal I had was to read 12 books in a year - one a month ideally. In contrast I was reading two books a year before this approach. A simple but impactful design I had was leaving my book on my pillow after I made the bed in the morning. When I returned for the evening I would see the book on the pillow which would remind me to read.
Set small goals to achieve regularly
By now hopefully you should start to see some alignment of your vision and your outcome goal. What you need to consider now is staying motivated and committed to working towards your outcome goal.
Traditionally you may create a measurable goal to achieve by a certain time and then work towards it. The challenge with this approach is if the goal is too long into the future we tend to give up and lose motivation.
If we looked at goals in a smaller time line and block them together, we can actually achieve goals more often and regularly, which in turn helps us to produce dopamine in our bodies which will keep us focused and motivated to continuously achieve.
Considering this approach, try to break down your goals into blocks that you can achieve more often. Weekly or monthly blocks, what ever works for you.
Using my reading goal of 12 books in the year as an example, I intended to read a book a month to keep me motivated. For the bigger books I would try to workout how many pages or chapters a week I needed to read to complete the book in a month. This was helpful for those days when I felt unmotivated to read. I would be able to reduce pages that day however had to increase them the following day.
Summary Check list
We hope that this has been useful for you to set up success in the New Year.
Here are some actions for you.
Get a journal, fresh for a new start.
Reflect on last year.
Explore your Ikigai and your vision.
Have clarity on your outcome, performance and process goals.
Make your goals visible.
Design your success.
Set smaller goals to regularly achieve.
What are you going to do right now to get started?
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