This is the time of year when many people want to make a fresh start, where they decide to (finally) start living right. It’s the time for new year’s resolutions and year goals.
For me, it’s no different. I spent a significant amount of time of my Christmas break on developing year goals for 2016. It’s a process that exhilarates and terrifies at the same time, to be honest.
There are myriad ways of setting year goals of course and there’s certainly no right way, but let me share a few approaches that may work for you.
1. Role Approach
The first approach is to write down the most important roles in your life—for instance parent, spouse, church tech volunteer, blogger, etc. Now for each of these roles, come up with two challenging, but achievable goals.
2. Areas Approach
This is quite similar to the roles method, except you focus on major areas of your life as opposed to roles. Think of areas like health, spiritual, relationships, etc. After defining these, you come up with goals for each area.
3. One Word Approach
A favorite, it seems, among Christians is the One Word method. This is where you decide (after spending time in prayer about it) on one key word for the new year. Think of words like ‘surrender’, ‘humility’, or ‘embrace.’ From that one word (which functions as a sort of mission statement), you derive the goals to help it become a reality in your life.
4. Bucket List Approach
Another method is to create a bucket list for the year: a list of things you want to do for the first time. Think of items like go paragliding, hike a 46’er (the colloquial for the high peaks of the Adirondack mountains near where I live), or write a book. A bucket list can be very inspiring, though it may not be the most holistic approach.
Specific vs Broad
If there’s one aspect of goal setting that’s being debated it’s this: the benefits of being specific or broad in your goals. Michael Hyatt for instance is a great proponent of being as specific as possible (“I’ll go for a two mile walk every morning before breakfast” instead of “I’ll exercise”) since it helps you measure your progress.
I, on the other hand, see great benefits to being more broad, especially on this ‘level’ of planning. In translating my year goals into actionable items is where I get very specific (I’ll describe this process in more detail in an upcoming post), but my year goals are broad and vague—for a reason.
You see, I don’t want to commit myself to a specific way of doing things; I want to commit myself to the broader goal. For me, a goal like “exercising more” is fine, because I know how much I exercised last year and thus I know when I’m doing more. I don’t want to commit myself to walking two miles every morning before breakfast because it may not be the best way for me to realize my goal. I’ll only know what works by trying different things.
So I keep my year goals broad at times and it works for me. Two of my 2016 goals for example are ‘Take better care of myself’ and ‘Try new stuff’—pretty vague, yet totally inspiring to me!
Have you set year goals for 2016?
Care to share some that aren’t too personal?
How did you create these?
[Image via Pexels CC0 license]
Matt Brier says
I used several of these approaches actually.
My overall goal can be summed up in the word ‘content.’ I want to be less focused on getting more stuff and more focused on enjoying what I have.
I have broad goals like spend more time with friends and family, write more, and start learning guitar again.
I have specific goals of losing 50lbs and getting my Network + certification.
And the only goal that might stress me out is getting the certification, the rest are more what you would call guidelines than actual rules.
Rachel Blom says
I love that word Matt and especially the deeper meaning behind it. Many of us would be so much happier if we learned to be content with what we have. It’s a great emotion to strive for…God bless on your goals man!
Eric Dye says
You are inspiring me to get myself together! Thanks, Rachel. 🙂
Rachel Blom says
You’re very welcome! Which method or approach appeals the most to you? Any goals you’d like to share?