A 3-step roadmap to setting your 2024 goals
Happy almost New Year's!
A few weeks ago, I posted 4 steps to intentionally close out 2023, and promised to follow up with steps for intentionally setting vision and goals for 2024.
If you didn’t yet get a chance to take a look back at 2023, I highly recommend you start there before proceeding to goal setting for 2024.
There is no need to dwell in the past, although history can provide us with insight and lessons to brighten our future. But you do need to get a sense of where you are currently at. After all, how can you set goals if you don’t know where you are starting from?
After you’ve done that, now comes the fun part: dreaming 2024 into reality!
Step 1: Shoot For The Moon
A new year is a new opportunity! A clean slate, a fresh start. It’s up to you to decide what you wish to create. And I want you to DREAM BIG.
I am not saying that you should set totally unrealistic goals, but I do encourage you to reach beyond your comfort zone and let go of self-doubt, if, ands, buts, and other roadblocks. The worst that can happen is that you don’t achieve the goal, but in falling short or failing, you will almost certainly make significant progress in the right direction.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had to readjust my 2023 goals mid-year due to new circumstances arising. That’s ok! I would rather you shoot for the moon and only reach the clouds than shoot for the top of a tree and only reach the top of that tree.
Here are some prompts to help you with this Step:
Are there any milestones or situations coming up that you already know about? (i.e. a new baby’s arrival, a wedding, starting a new job, a big trip you already have planned?)
Are there any milestones or events that you would like to see happen in the next year?
If you were to write yourself a letter on December 31, 2024, what would you say? What would you be grateful for?
Think about what is most important to you, look back at your values and goals, and dream big!
Step 2: SMARTIFY Your Goals
SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Research shows that when you set SMART goals, you are much more likely to achieve them.
Whatever your goal is, you want to make it specific and measurable enough that you can look back at the time limit and know for sure whether you have achieved the goal. The time limit also motivates you and holds you accountable.
And while in Step 1 I encouraged you to shoot for the moon, which will help ensure that your goals are relevant to your truth and purpose, in this Step we also want to make sure they are attainable. I still encourage you to aim high, but you also need to be reasonable (sadly, I am just not going to become an Olympic figure skater in 2024!)
Here are some examples of my own SMART goals for 2024:
Get published in 3 publications by December 31, 2024 at least 1 of which is national. This connects to my purpose, which is to inspire others through my authentic voice.
Lose my pregnancy weight and get into great shape before my ovary removal surgery (targeting Fall 2024). Health and wellness is one of my top values, and I want to feel great.
Buy a house that we love in Portland by August 1, 2024.
Maintain or grow my overall business revenue next year by working with soul-aligned clients and expanding my offerings to things that I am really passionate about (I’d be more specific, but some of these are still a secret!)
Want some additional accountability? Feel free to email me some of your SMART goals, and make sure to sign up for my email list for a free training on how to CRUSH those goals!
Step 3: Let Go & Have Faith
You can set all the goals you want, but ultimately whether you achieve them or not will never be entirely in your control. Circumstances change. Surprises happen (good and bad). Shit happens. When it comes to living life intentionally, all you can do is your best, and then you have to leave the rest up to the Universe.
For those who know me, you know that I am not a hokey, woo woo person! I love evidence-based approaches to problem solving, wellness and fulfillment. But still, I can recognize that there is an element of mystery in the world, a force that I cannot explain, and that cannot be explained by science.
When I did these exercises on myself, I could feel intuitively that there was still something missing. Some type of higher guidance, connection to Spirit, that sense of trusting that I am on the right path.
So, I did something a little hokey. I pulled a card for myself from a deck of Oracle Cards. While shuffling the deck, I tuned into the moment and into my body and asked God or the Universe for guidance, for a connection, for a sign of what I truly need right now. I’d like to share the card I pulled with all of you, and I hope that it can inspire and ground you as it did for me:
Isn’t that beautiful??? If this message resonated with you, ask yourself, what is one single action I can take starting January 1, 2024 to bring me closer to my goals?
May you have a safe, happy and healthy New Year, and may your dreams and desires come true.