Setting Intentional Goals
Setting goals and taking actions to support them is a big part of the coaching process. While you can set goals at any time of the year, January is a good time to reflect and reset. The new year is a threshold where we can close the door on things we’re ready to leave behind and step into the new year thinking about what we want to cultivate in our lives in the coming year.
Reflection and Release
As a first step, spend some time in reflection on the past year. Look back on your year, what goals you set for yourself, how things went, and what obstacles came up. Here are some reflection questions to help with this:
What worked well?
What didn’t work well?
Where do you see room for improvement?
What goals, challenges, and behaviors are you releasing?
You can perform a personal ceremony or acknowledgement of release to close this process.
Setting Intentional Goals
I like to think of setting goals and planning for them as creating a roadmap for yourself to follow. The SMART Goals framework helps you create a clear roadmap for your goals. It is easy to work with and helps you go from a big idea to an actionable plan.
SMART Goals Method:
Specific – Where do you want to go?
Measurable – How will you know when you’ve arrived?
Attainable – can you get to your destination by the time you want? What actions do you need to take to get there on time?
Realistic – Do you (or will you) have all of the resources you will need? Is your goal achievable given your time, energy, health, resources, and living situation?
Timely – When do you want to get there? What route are you taking? What pit stops will you be making?
Answering these questions creates a compass to help guide you on your journey. Like any roadtrip – unexpected detours can pop up, and if you’ve created a roadmap for yourself you are more able to recognize the detours and choose whether to take them or not. If you get lost you’ve got a compass to help you find your way back. If you’re working with a coach, the coach can work as a compass and help you work through your detour.
It’s also important to be compassionate with yourself during this process. When things don’t go as planned or we make a mistake the inner critic can jump in with harsh criticism or the perfectionist can creep in and drive you to burnout. It’s important to breathe, to be kind to yourself in these moments, remember that it’s ok to be human and imperfect, and adjust your plan if needed without judgement.
Steps to Setting Goals:
Reflection and release – you can perform a release and purification ritual here if you’d like
Use the SMART Goals worksheets to clarify your goals
Write down your goals and the action plan that supports them – you can use a journal, planner, goals app, project planner, or whatever method works best for you.
Write up your plan, and check in with it regularly.
Once you’ve written out your SMART goal details:
Work backwards to monthly goals, again using the SMART framework. For some people getting to monthly goals is enough, while others take it further and work backwards to create weekly goals.
Have fun! Make this a fun activity for yourself – this helps lighten the mood and keep you engaged.
Helping my clients set clear goals and accomplish them is what most excites me as a coach. If you’d like to see how coaching can help you turn your goals into reality, schedule a free discovery session with me.