New Year/New You: Thoughts on goal setting for 2021
Many of us started 2020 off ambitiously, with grand goals for the New Year. Some of us may have even stated, “2020 is going to be my year!” It seemed that the Spinners of Fate had other plans for us. People are even leaning on the air of caution and not giving an optimistic outlook for the year to come. The reality is at some point we must move on, find a way to pick up the pieces and set some new goals for ourselves.
For that reason, I would like to take you through an exercise to get clearer about your goals, what you want, how to get them, and how to accept and adapt if we fall short. This is exercise is nothing new. It works tremendously well. It is a variant of a Tony Robbins goal setting workshop that I have done year after year and it has always pointed me in a direction for success and fulfillment. (Side Note: I highly recommend doing any Tony Robbins programs in their entirety if you have the opportunity!)
I hope it helps, and I look forward to hearing your goals.
*Look for our live video on Briggs MMA’s Facebook page to see my goals as we chat through them this week.
Answer each of these questions as openly and honestly with yourself as you can. There’s no judgement here, it’s all about you.
Question Number 1:
Set aside 10 minutes and ask yourself, “If anything was possible, what would I want to be/accomplish? /What would I want to do? /What would I want to have?”
When you do this, imagine you are a kid again to really get yourself in a free state and don’t worry about the how or if it is even possible. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Question Number 2:
“When do I want to accomplish each of these by?” This will help give clarity to which are the most important as well as the feasibility of accomplishing these by the year’s end.
Question Number 3:
“ Which are your top 3?” then answer the big question: “Why do you really want to accomplish this goal?” This is the MOST important question so spend the most time on it. Get very clear and concise, this is where you shape the importance of following through with this goal. Give it some depth, so its not a paper goal!!
Question Number 4:
Number 4 is actually four separate questions. We ask these so we understand that there is sacrifice involved and get clear about what we are and aren’t willing to do to accomplish it:
“What are the positive outcomes for following through?”
“What are the negative outcomes for following through?
“What are the positive outcomes if I don’t follow through?
“What are the negative outcomes for not following through?”
Question Number 5:
This one is the life changer. “How am I going to get this accomplished?” Aim for 25 things minimum on this list. These can be repeatable or one-time actions you can take toward achieving these goals. This is ultimately our plan of action.
If you consistently take action towards your goal, regardless of each individual outcome we will get closer and closer to what we really want with each step. Each step in a positive direction builds more and more momentum toward those crowning achievements you are more capable of reaching than you think!!!
The questions may seem a bit generic at face value, even cheesy, but if we take the time to do them, we will have clear goals, uninfluenced by our own inhibitions. We will have a precise time to accomplish this by. We will become clear about why we even want to follow through, as well as what we will be sacrificing to accomplish, the pain if we don’t accomplish it and the pleasure of ultimately achieving that goal. We will also have a massive action plan to follow through and get that ultimate prize!
