GOAL SETTING 2020
As we near the end of 2019, I thought it would be fun to recap some of the things I learned this year + how that changed my planning tactics for 2020. My hope is that you gain some insightful takeaways from this episode for your own new year plans.
Now, I must preface this by pointing out that I am THE BIGGEST fan of NOT waiting for the new year or any date for that matter to start doing the THING. Whatever “the thing” is. I am on team start now, start messy, write it down and take action today.
I mean, I started planning 2020 in November and have already completed some of my 2020 goals. Which just speaks to the power of creating goals, writing them down, and brainstorming a plan. I literally don’t have words to express my feelings around the power of diligent planning combined with messy action. Truly, magical things happen when you commit to a planning process, and reviewing that plan often.
So, let’s go ahead and dive into some of the things I did in 2019 that went well, along with things that have created different actions heading into 2020.
2019 – things that worked
I’ve talked about this previously, but quarterly planning was life changing and was a huge mindset shift for me from business owner to true CEO.
I love paper planners. I live by them. In fact I recently published a blog post with my fav planners heading into 2020.
One of which was Amber McCue’s Fresh Start Workbook & Planner for 2020.
I used her 2019 version starting in Nov of 2018 to REALLY start planning my 2019 year.
She breaks it down from main annual goals to quarterly focus goals, and then month to month goals which are of course in line with your quarterly goals.
Then at the end of each month, you review your last month, see what worked and what didn’t so you can make adjustments moving forward.
I know. That sounds like a lot of time, and work. And to be honest, it is. But it was also far more effective than NOT having a plan, or having a half-assed plan in my head, or straight up winging running a business. Right?
I knew after using it for just one quarter that I’d be using it again in 2020. So I did.
Goal setting: What I’m doing in 2020
In November I began reflecting on 2019 and planning 2020.
In 2019 I had too many goals. I decided in 2020 to cut it down from four big goals to two big goals.
I won’t be revealing those here. But in focusing on just one or two things, I already feel less overwhelmed than I did last year at this time. It’s so refreshing to know that I will only be honing in on two areas of my biz in 2020. That frees up so much headspace for me. Especially with the amount of travel we plan to do in the new year.
Because I have chosen to focus on 1-2 areas of growth, I have already began tackling those and am well on my way to reaching my goals.
I also want to point out two things –
- My goals for 2020 were goals I had in 2019 and didn’t reach. I was not actively trying to reach them. And we all know a goal is great, but it’s nothing without a plan and ACTION. These are still things I want very much so for my biz. So, I simply pushed them to 2020 and they are now my main focus.
- WITH THAT. I made a goal in the end of 2018 that I didn’t want to create anything NEW in 2020 – no new products. I knew I’d be creating all the things in 2019 and just wanted to BREATHE, optimize and align those services in 2020.
So, yes. A goal in 2020 for me is to NOT open any new things. I know you might think that is crazy. And I will likely update some things. But if you’ve ever created anything you know how much time, effort, sweat blood and tears goes into not only the creation process, but the marketing, launching, email list building, sales page creating, and so on. It is not simple, and it is not easy.
In 2019 I created, launched and relaunched A LOT of things. Which has given me an amazing base to work from in 2020.
Now for me, it’s about optimizing those offers, systems, and aligning the products in my offer pyramid with as much automation as possible.
Planners and planning
I want to move into planners and planning. Like, how you actually make goals that become a reality. What does that process look like?
I use two planners. And yes, I take them around the world with me, because I cannot function with plans held in only an electronic place. I need pen and paper. Something I can open every day or week depending on my needs.
So, I use the Flagship Day Designer as my daily planner. And those daily plans are broken into time slots and then also have an area for your top three as well as a to-do list.
My tasks in this daily planner are determined by the tasks and goals in the Fresh Start Workbook AND Hilary Rushford’s new Elegant Excellence Goal Planner. I have not received mine yet but every year I do her year reflection and planning and absolutely love it from a mental health and reflection standpoint. So you know I was going to buy her new journal when she came out with it. Hilary is a woman after my own heart.
She is an educator and her planner/journal comes with video trainings that walk you through some of the processes in the notebook. So that’s winning in my opinion.
Both Hilary and Amber’s planners have a reflection for the previous year as well as planning for the up coming year. Both also have a business aspect to them and an emotional health side. I would say Hilary’s is heavier on the emotional state and goals within running a biz or chasing dreams.
So, like I mentioned earlier, you’ll start by dreaming big.
Like really big.
Then whittle it down to smaller chunks in order to get you where you want to go. Those quarterly, then weekly, then daily tasks are what become your priority.
Mind you, you aren’t stuck with a concrete plan. The whole point of creating these plans for 2020 is to just provide a direction and some structure from which you can move and modify if needed. That’s where revisiting and revising the plans comes into play.
In my Mastermind Planner and the Fresh Start Workbook there are reflections of some kind. I preferred the Elegant Excellence weekly reflection to the monthly reflection in the Fresh Start Workbook.
I find that the weekly reflection felt like a lot at first but man did it keep me on top of my priorities. It can be very easy to lose sight of your goal over the course of a month. But when you’re checking in with yourself weekly, reflecting + setting intentions for the upcoming week, it can make a world of difference.
Just want to make clear that the plan should not make you feel restricted but provide structure. It’s not concrete. You might decide to reach your goal in a different way than originally planned. I launched things I didn’t plan to launch in 2019 because I saw a need for them and wanted to create them. But it then became a part of my quarterly and monthly plans to execute.
These plans also keep you from putting too many things on your plate. They assist you in practicing essentialism. Because you can’t do everything at once. You CAN do it all. But not all at the same time. There is a huge difference there.
With all of that, I hope you make plans for 2020. Goals of some sort.
Dream big, and then chop it down into digestible pieces. You won’t have a strict road map or all the answers, but you’ll have some action steps that will get you closer and closer to your goal. And as you take action, you’ll learn, gain insight and do better. So you can start planning the next steps towards whatever your goal is.
I just don’t want the overwhelm of sitting down to make plans for a year be too daunting for your to even start the process.
START IT. DO IT. MAKE THE PLANS!
You have the goals, you have the dreams. They are there. But it will take time and energy and effort to sit down and get them on paper. THAT is also how you make it happen.
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