3 Simple Steps to Setting and *Actually* Achieving Your Goals

Well, it’s the beginning of January, so here’s my obligatory “goal setting” blog post. But you know this won’t be any ol’ post! 

This time of year, we are bombarded with goals around weight loss, fitness, cleaning, and other shallow endeavors. Especially as we end a decade, everyone is also looking back and feeling like “what the hell did I even do over the last 10 years?“

Odds are, you have actually done A LOT, I know I have.

This past decade, I went from working in corporate America to owning my own business and living in Bali.

Just this last year, my business reached over $500K and I got to travel to over 10 new places.

It is easy to fall into the classic resolutions revolving around exercising, meal prepping, and saving every penny. While nothing is wrong with these, how does it relate to what you really want?

It is easier said than done, am I right?

All of these things started as thoughts, ideas, and goals. Nothing I have now magically showed up on my doorstep one morning. I had to make a solid plan and take action to make my dreams a reality.

“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.” – Greg Reid

So let’s look ahead and set some goals that align with who you really want to be, and take the steps to make them happen.

So first of all, I don’t really believe in annual goal-setting…

Would it surprise you to know I only set maybe 2-3 annual goals?

I have found in running this business over the last few years that things change SO quickly. One month you need to focus on getting more clients and then it’s summertime and you are in holiday mode trying to let a difficult client go. 

Things move fast so stay flexible with your goals! It’s okay to adapt according to your circumstances throughout the year.

Step 1: Set 2-3 Overarching Goals

So with that in mind, just start with 2-3 overarching SUPER general goals. It’s okay to throw some personal ones in there, too…

Here’s a few of mine for example…

• Hit the 1 million dollar mark in my business
• Blow up our core audience
• Practice extraordinary self-care

Here are a few you may have…

• Hit $50K in annual income
• Revolutionize the admin aspects of my business
• Accelerate my client lead generation

You can see I like to use some powerful adjectives in there like blow up and extraordinary which is empowering, but also helps them to be kind of more specific when we get to the next step.

Step 2: Get Specific

Now, what do these goals REALLY mean?

When you say “revolutionize the admin parts of my business”, what does that mean?

What is the actual measurement of success? This is the part that turns into a big giant list of SPECIFICS.

Here’s one of mine broken down…

Blow up our core audience:

1. 24,900 new targeted followers on IG (I want to get to 100K)
2. 15,000 new email subscribers with 20% average open rates 
3. 2 published PR or TV spots

Here’s what one of yours may look like…

Hit $50K in annual income:

1. Working no more than 20 hours per week on average
2. Charge about $50/hour

Step 3: Outline Your Steps

THEN how will you make it happen?

I find everyone just likes to skip this step, which is why goal setting becomes overwhelming and falls by the wayside. 

For example, if I just say my goal for this year is to “write my book” then it’s just going to sit as a line item on my whiteboard for months and never get done.

So break down your annual goal + measures of success into the HOW part of this now

Here’s one of mine broken down…

Blow up our core audience:

1. 24,900 new targeted followers on IG (I want to get to 100K)
2. Up Ad spend to $2500 per month
3. Add about 2000 new followers per month
4. Maintain 7-10% IG story watch rate
5. 15,000 new email subscribers with 20% average open rates
6. Drive traffic to our email opt in’s every other day on IG and FB
7. Invest in Pinterest Ads training for Deya + budget for Ads every month
8. Launch TikTok and post 3x/week minimum
9. Launch 4 new email opt ins

Here’s what one of yours may look like…

Hit $50K in annual income:

1. Finish podcast module so I can quickly charge $50/hr
2. Complete 2 podcast internships
3. Pitch 50 potential podcast clients

So start SUPER big and overarching. Ensure there are actual measures of success so you aren’t chasing some pipe dream that’ll never happen. And then break it down into super-specific ways you can make it happen.

If I want to break those specifics into quarterly goals then I might, but I do that at the beginning of each quarter and even reassess each month.

The last tip I have for making this the most accomplished year yet is to be AGILE.

Life and career stuff change fast and you want to be able to change with it while still remaining focused on your overall goals.  Learning how to combat tunnel vision and being able to shift your path is challenging, but a complete game-changer once mastered.

I’d love to hear about your goals, comment them below (and maybe you’ll see some inspiration if needed to DREAM BIG!).”

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