How To Set Goals For The Year

How To Set Goals For The Year - three simple steps to help you choose, plan, and action your goals this year. 

It's ok, whenever you're reading this, whatever time of year, there is still plenty of time to think about it now and make yourself some goals to work towards!  At the time of writing this in early January, it can feel like everyone else had their whole year all planned out two months ago, but it's absolutely fine to still do this in January - or at any time, come to that😉

So your goals then, what do you want to do with your business this year?  I'm talking about the kind of goals to move your business forward, to grow your business, to move it more towards your vision and the life you want for yourself.  Why not include personal goals in there too as well as business if you wish, and get it all planned out together.

What new products or services do you want to bring out?

Do you want to write a book or start a podcast or anything else big?

And smaller things just to keep your business and audience growing: what marketing, PR, social media do you want to do?

What can you do to grow your brand and get you and your business more visible, for more clients and customers to find you? 

What can you do to sell more?

These are the kinds of goals I'm talking about. 

And here are my simple steps to working out what they might be for you, and how to plan them out too...

How to set goals for the year, step 1: Long term goals

So firstly, have a good think about what your long-term goals for your business are.

What do you want to be doing in 5 years, maybe even 10 years time or longer?

This is your chance to dream big!  

- Have you ever written a list of these before?  See if you can find the list or remember what those goals were then, and decide which you still want.

- Have you ever written any kind of Vision Statement for your business before?  It's one of the workbook steps in my From Frazzled To Focused: Business Strategy Bundle, to help you think about the life and business that you want, so that you plan goals that will actually get you there.

Brainstorm a list of all the things that you could do, or might want to do with your business, both now and in the future.

How to set goals for the year, step 2: Short term goals

Next, choose your goals just for the next year.  

Where do you want your business to be in just one year's time?

What do you want to be selling, who do you want to be working with, what do you want to be known for, what do you want to have learnt, etc.

- Look at the long term goals you've written down, and decide which of these you want to concentrate on this year.

- Look at your review of the past year, and see which goals still need completing, or that you still want to start work on, or what needs to change for next year.  (Check out my previous blog post: How To Review Your Year if you haven't done this yet).

- What else do you want to get done in the next year? 

- Have you set your intention for the year by choosing a word or words to sum it all up?  Check your goals fit with that, or use it to help set goals that will work towards it.  (Check out my previous blog post: How To Choose Your Word Of the Year if you haven't done this yet!)

How to set goals for the year, step 3: Work out the goal steps

Now it's time to make the plan.

Start with the most important goal you wrote down that you really want to achieve this year.  Write it down at the top of a page, document, wherever you keep your plans and notes safe.  Or download my Goal Planner worksheets, free when you sign up to my resource library and community here in my Brand Academy, The Introvert Brand Builders Hub (find it in section 5: Visibility Strategies).  There's space inside the Goals Workbook in my From Frazzled To Focused: The Big Brand & Business Strategy Bundle too.

Then underneath your main goal, list out all the steps you can, that you will need to do to get to the goal.  All the really tiny steps, and move them around into the right order too.

Think about SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based, and make sure these steps are going to help you achieve your goals.

Then when it comes to planning out your year, each quarter, month, even week and day, you can include one or more of those tiny steps so that you actually get them done, and head towards completing them all.

So for example, if one of your goals for this year is to grow your email list, make it a SMART goal that you will add 1000 interested and engaged people to your list by the end of the year.
Steps to get you there will include creating a lead magnet and putting a nurture email sequence together, each with smaller steps to research and write each one, plus setting up an email system if you don't have one yet. Then you can schedule sharing your lead magnet in your social media each week, mentioning it at networking events, adding it at the end of each blog post, and sharing it in online networking in other groups too. When you get to planning your time and work out, you can then include these steps into your weekly plans to ensure they get done.

Then do the same with the next goal, and the next, until you have plenty to keep you going!  You can either spread each one out throughout the year, or concentrate on one before moving on to the next, whichever way works best for you. 

But don't feel overwhelmed if you came up with lots, and have hundreds of goal steps in front of you now!  Plan that time in each week to get some work done on your goals, whether you call it a CEO day or half day or hour, or just include time when you can, make it a regular part of your time so that you are always working on something that will grow your business.

I have some tips coming for you in a future blog to help keep you motivated!  See link in the Next Steps below once it's ready.

Next Steps:

Would you like some more help with planning your year and becoming more strategic with everything?  Take a look at my From Frazzled to Focused: The Big Brand & Business Strategy Bundle – lots of workbooks so you can keep all the info in one place, have it to hand, and have some help filling them in.  How to Review Your Year, Your Big Business Vision, Your Business Goals, and Your Business Strategy.  Plus a bonus one for keeping you on track with achieving your goals. These aren’t time specific, you can start at any point during the year, and they are perfect for both product or service-based business owners.  

Here's the link for the free Goal Planner Worksheets; find them in section 5: The Right Visibility Strategies, inside The Introvert Brand Builders Hub.

Read the next blog in this planning series: 9 Tips to help you stay focused on reaching your goals (link coming soon if not here now!) or click the hashtag link below for all strategy and planning blogs.

Is one of your goals to be more consistent on social media?  You need my 2024 Content Calendar!  Get a whole year's worth of content ideas ready to use whenever you like, to grow your audience, brand and visibility with. (Or get it free with the Brand Plan membership).

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Blog topics / categories: 

#Strategy and Planning