With the start of next decade (!!) just around the corner, have you started to think about your goals for the upcoming year? As you round out the 4th quarter, it’s the ideal time to review and adjust your goals, both professionally and personally. By setting your intentions for 2020, you have an opportunity to start with a fresh slate and make an impactful change for your life and career. It is crucial to set the tone where you are going in the next 12 months, and the path you’ll take to get you there.

Take Time to Review
Before you say farewell to 2019, schedule some time for a meeting with yourself. Put your phone on silent and step away from the computer to take a few moments to focus only on what you want for your life. Reflect on your intentions for 2019 and make note of what you accomplished. How did these goals challenge you, and if so, were the targets the right ones for you? Celebrate any success in the past year, and identify the steps that made those wins possible. This process of reviewing the previous year can provide direction on what your goals should look like in the coming year.

Write Your Goals Down
Whether your goals are professional or personal, you need to give them a place to live other than in your mind. By taking the time to put them down on paper or type them in the notes section of your phone, you’re focusing yourself on what is essential to you. Whether your goal is to save money, reduce stress, be productive at work or focus on self-care, you need to state these goals specifically to refer back to them as the month’s progress.

Make Specific Goals
Regardless of if you use SMART as a guide for your goals (which we recommend!), when writing out your objective for 2020, it’s important to be specific and to include deadlines so that you can actually accomplish them in a year’s time. To refresh, SMART stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound – a super easy guide to follow.

It’s also helpful to break down your goals into small, attainable steps. To do this, start with the end result in mind. Instead of merely saying, “I want to grow my business,” break that goal into learning a new skill or redesigning your website or refocusing your social media strategy. It is important to assign each goal a deadline date to create a concrete plan. You’ll find that once you quickly conquer one, you gain momentum to move on to your next goal quickly.

Think Ahead & Keep Them in Plain View
Don’t neglect your future self when creating goals for the next year. Think about the future and then write out a goal that you plan to accomplish in the next 10 to 15 years. To stay on top of both short- and long-term goals, keep them top of mind by adding them to your daily to-do list or find a place that is visible to only you at the office, or maybe even consider posting them on the dashboard of your car. Keeping them in your eyesight each day throughout the year will help you keep track of your progress over the next 12 months.

Show Up For Yourself
Focus on one thing each day that will move you forward in achieving your personal and professional benchmarks. A visual representation of what you want for yourself is helpful as you work towards improving your career or home life. Try not to let yourself be distracted by someone else’s agenda but stay in your lane and concentrate on the tasks that are important to you. When asked to take on new responsibilities or collaborate on new projects – pause for a moment – and see if this opportunity will distract you from reaching the plans that you have set in place. Do not be afraid to use the word “no” at times when you feel when it distracts you from reaching your potential.

Setbacks Happen
In the next year, expect to roll with the punches as life happens and hiccups appear along the way. Change the narrative when disappointments or setbacks pop up by deciding to keep working on a better you and not give up when you feel that your goals aren’t being accomplished as fast as you’d like. When projecting what your new and improved self will look like, expect some obstacles in your path. Next December, when you have accomplished these tasks for yourself with some internal grit, you’ll be amazed at all that you have checked off your list.

Celebrate Your Wins
As the year progresses, take a moment to celebrate the victories, however small, that you receive while working towards your objectives. Whether you have a significant win or a micro-step, recognizing your growth is essential. Making small but consistent decisions will add up towards decisive action, so keep at it.

If you’re creating a new goal or your revamping one from last year, you want to make sure that your goals for 2020 align with your vision of the future. This year, you are capable of anything that you set your mind to as you analyze the past months and plan for the future. If you want to make a change, work on creating a future that excites you and leave the past that is holding you back from being the best person you can be.