Happy New Year!!! It’s 2017.  Out with the old, in with the new. Right? Who's super excited to start a clean slate and has renewed energy for their dreams?  I know I do. Who is out there that says "whatever" to resolutions because they always fail? Did you know studies show that only 8% of the population that sets goals(or resolutions) in the new year, are actually still accomplishing them(or have accomplished them) by June.  I just do not believe that all those people just fail.  There has GOT to be a better way.

Well I’m here to tell you there is. 

Most of resolutions fail, not because of the actual goal, but because of the foundation behind it.  The whole premise behind dreams/goals/resolutions sets us up to fail right from the beginning.  Just shouting out “I want to make more Money” or “I want to lose weight” into the universe doesn’t automatically make it happen.  There is no magic button, or magic beans to take to mysteriously have these things happen.  There are some steps though, that can greatly improve your chances of winning.  I’m here to share them with you.

Recently I completed a course called your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt.  For 5 days, he went over some items that I had already known about goal setting, but also opened the door to many other items that I hadn’t known or thought to include.  This year I finally already completed one of my goals, Finish online workshops I buy, by finishing his.  I’m super excited for the goals I have set for 2017 and know that this will be the best year ever for me!  

Do you want to achieve all your goals this year?  I have outlined below the steps I feel are most important to planning your future. Some of these I knew from the past, but taking Michael's course made me realize that I really needed to start implementing them.  

Are you ready to kick butt in 2017? Lets do this!!

Step 1: Review the Previous Year(2016)

As a business owner, this I have done automatically(not always the greatest) but I have at least done it in some form for my business.  How many sessions did I do, in what area, what was the average sale, where did my biggest expense go, etc.  I need to know what my numbers were, so I can plan for the next year.  But I never thought about reviewing the whole year in terms of my whole LIFE, not just business.  So this is my first step I recommend.  Write down your review of 2016.  This is where you need to be brutally honest.  Figure out what you wanted to have happen in 2016, and what actually happened.  The next step we will go through some things to help bridge the gap between some of your goals if they didn’t quite make it to December 31st.

Step 2: Identify your limiting beliefs and turn them into truth statements.

This is for sure one I had heard before taking Michael's course. My business coach for about 10 months, Lacey Craig from A Lit Up Life, always talked about mindset. More specifically my mindset and how it would either help or hinder my goals.  One of our biggest obstacles in life are not actually obstacles, they are faux objects are minds put there.  It’s our own self telling us something to make use stop in our tracks.  So this step I want you to identify what your limiting beliefs are.  And basically a limiting belief is that silly little voice in your head that pops up and tries to tell you, you are not good enough, or that you can’t do something because of a trivial issue.  Example, “I don’t have enough time to workout and make healthy meals”(this is a big one for me).  Many times these beliefs are just are mind trying to make us less than what our potential is.  It’s what makes us stop getting up at 5am to workout or makes us believe we can't cook healthy meals.  Take a moment and identify any of those in the gap between your 2016 goals and what actually happened.  

Now we will turn those into truth statements.   This was always the hardest for me.  Mostly because that silly little voice in my head kept telling me, “That is a joke, you know that isn’t right” when I would say or write down these statements.  Take the above statement, “I don’t have enough time to workout and make healthy meals”.  We will turn it around to a truth(and eventually a mantra) “I have more than enough time and energy to do the tasks needed to be healthy.”  BAM..doesn't that feel more powerful!  Take a second and re-write those beliefs you have surrounding your goals into power truth statements! 

Step 3: Write out ALL of your goals for 2017

This is part of my own goal setting agenda.  Sometimes we have a TON of goals and that is totally ok.  I like to make sure I write those all out so I can remember them.  Life happens and we all get busy, so I totally understand that some can fall between the cracks.  It seems silly, but writing them all out actually helps clear your mind to then start narrowing your focus.  Now get to writing! All goals, maybe they are personal, or professional, big or small.

WRITE THEM ALL DOWN!!

Step 4: Narrow down and define your focus

Now that you have written all your goals out, we will then start to narrow our focus.  Are there goals we can prioritize over others. Are there some goals that need to happen by March, and others that are not in the works until October?   Start by writing out the goals you want to start working on immediately. It’s ok if most of them you want to start now. But according to Hyatt’s research, we can only successfully manage about 7-10 big goals at one time. 

Once you have your goals prioritized from most needed to take action to least(based on your timeline). We are then going to break these down into bite sized increments.  This has been the most helpful tip I have done with my goals over the last couple of years.  When we throw out big lofty goals into the universe(which is a good thing to do), it can be scary to us.  Take those big goals and figure out how you can break them down into small manageable pieces. 

One of my goals this year is to read more.  This goal is very vague and doesn’t make it specific. I changed it to I want to read at least 24 books this year.  I put at least, b/c if I read more then that is gravy, but my goal is for 24.  That may seem like a lot when you just state the big number. But let's break it down by month, that is only 2 books per month.  Seems more manageable right?  Now let’s give it an action.  I am going to read 20 min the in morning, and 20 min at night.

BOOM we just took a big vague goal and paired it down to pieces that make it easier to digest.  So now do that to all of your goals.  You want to make sure your goals are specific, actionable, measurable, and have a deadline.

Step 5:) Does it follow your values?

This one hit me like a ton of bricks while taking Michael’s course.  Now I have heard that you want to follow your passions, lead you where your heart goes, etc.  I never actually wrote down all of the reasons why the goal I have set is meaningful to ME and MY VALUES.  This has made it extremely helpful to get to the gym, and drink more water, when you feel like life gets in the way.  Take each of your goals and write down why you want to achieve this goal. What would it do for you if you met it.  This is then taking your goal and connecting it to your values, and ultimately your passions in this life.  

    Example: My goal-wanting to read more.  I want to do this because I want to become more knowledgeable so I can help more people, and continue to do what I love on a daily basis.  Reading also helps me feel more connected to the world, and less depending on technology.  I want to also slow down and have more quiet ME time:) 

So That is it! HA.  I never said it wouldn’t be HARD WORK to obtain your dream. But if you start by doing these 5 steps, you will be well on your way to making your dreams come true.  

If you want help, I did make a worksheet that you can go through these steps and write them down.  You can download that link by clicking HERE.

As a PS. I want to mention to NOT get discouraged if you falter in a month, week or day.  Just because it isn’t January 1st, doesn’t mean that each new day ISN'T a new slate:)  Keep your head up and know you CAN DO THIS!

I would LOVE to hear what you thought, so leave a comment or shoot me an email at carrie@freelandphotos.com  Or find me on facebook/instagram/snapchat at freelandphotos

If you think someone would benefit from this, please feel free to share the love and send them the link to this blog post!

Happy Goal Setting for 2017!!