How to Stay Focused on Your Goals through the End of the Year
How to stay focused on your goals through the end of the year
Goal setting tools to keep you focused and on track with what you want most in life
Oh, hey there November. We only have 2 months of 2018 left, but also we have 2 full months of 2018 left! Do you know how much you can accomplish in the next 2 months? If you utilize these goal-setting tools for your business and your personal life, you can accomplish more than you think. Note: this post contains affiliate links to products I love and use personally. Please see my affiliate disclaimer for more information.
I know we are moving into the holidays and you are thinking about all the parties you need to prep for and all the gifts you need to get, but I’m telling you that even with all the twinkle lights and brie cheese appetizers, you can finish this year strong with your goals and set 2019 up for a bangin’ start!
Are you ready to make these next 2 months the best of your year?
How to stay focused on your goals in these last 2 months of the year:
1. Review any goals or “resolutions” you set for yourself back in January
If you didn’t write anything down, maybe try scrolling back on your Instagram or Facebook feed to see if you left any evidence of goals there. Writing down your goals is the first step to actually accomplishing them. You will be more likely to accomplish your goals if you write them down and review them on a regular basis.
The last week of December of every year, I take a day to myself and sit at a coffee shop or wine bar in a cute part of town and decide what I want to do next year. I use my favorite goal setting tool, PowerSheets, and take some time to think about what I REALLY want and where I really want to spend my time and focus on what fires me up and what gets me to my ultimate goals. It helps me set goals with intention. The PowerSheets help me set my goals while prioritizing what really matters. So every month, including this month, I review those goals and see if I’m on track, if the goals are still applicable and what I need to do to stay on track for the rest of the year.
Some (not all) of my goals for this year were:
Take care of my body by lifting 2 times a week and walking 3 miles a day - This has not happened. I have actually been more consistent at lifting and have gotten a lot stronger this year, but I have been far from perfect. Walking 3 miles a day used to be a realistic goal for me, but since I quit my gym membership and my kids got too big for a stroller, my daily walks have almost completely vanished. What that means for the rest of the year? I need to talk to my husband and work out a plan so I can get those walks in. Maybe it means asking him to take care of bedtime so I can do an evening walk, or ask him to head to the gym earlier so I can get out and walk before he goes to work. It may mean getting my gym membership up and running again. This is an area I can control and will find a solution to in the next week.
Date Nights 2X/Month We got right on this and it looked different throughout the year. At the beginning of the year we asked friends and family to help out, but they were quickly burnt out. Then we hired a weekly babysitter for a couple months, which was awesome because it meant we got a date night twice as often as we had set on our goal. Around May, my brother-in-law moved in with us and we set an agreement that on top of his rent he would commit to watching the kids after they’d gone to bed a couple times a month. Because of this, we’ve been meeting this goal and will continue to as long as he lives with us.
Launch 3 E-Commerce Shops This actually happened by June. First I launched a drop ship site managed by a third party (more details on that to come) for my old mom blog. I rebranded the mom blog, and therefore let the shop go. The second ecommerce site was another drop ship site that my husband and I managed through another blog we run. The third e-commerce shop was my etsy shop where I sell enamel pins. While only a couple of these are up and running still, I still feel satisfied with the completion of this goal.
This may interest you: Types of Physical Products for Stay-At-Home Moms
Record Gloria’s Story: I have been putting this one off. Gloria is my 94 year old grandma, and before she dies I want to sit with her and record her story on audio. I am not proud that I put this off from month to month. I will severely regret if I don’t do this by the time she passes away (I know it sounds grim, but her health has declined a lot in the last year so time is fleeting). Look at the goal “Record Gloria’s Story” and tell me what is wrong with it. It is definitely not a SMART goal. So in order to complete this goal, I need to set some more specifics around it. I will record Grandma Gloria’s story from her childhood through when I was born on audio by visiting her at her home using my Yeti Microphone by Thanksgiving Day, 2018. I welcome you to hold me accountable to this.
These were just a few of my goals for the year, but I wanted to walk through what I do when assessing where I am with my goals. I try not to feel shame over not completing them, but then make a specific plan how I will complete them by a specific date to ensure I stay on track.
If you don’t write down your goals, please start this year. I highly recommend PowerSheets for this tool, because they walk you through how to set intentional goals and have tools for keeping you on track every single month.
2. Write down everything you have already accomplished this year
Do not skip the “write down” part of this. Just as there is power in writing down your goals, there is power in writing down your successes. If you are like me, you can look back at your year and wonder where the time went and wonder what it was you actually did this year. As you begin, you will start to see that you’ve done way more than you realize.
Because I am walking this journey with you, here’s what I’ve done so far this year:
Since January, I started an Etsy Shop, launched a YouTube channel, started a business with Beautycounter and quickly grew my team promoting me to manager in 2 months, let go of a blog that didn’t fit my life or goals (this is an accomplishment in and of itself), took the kids camping multiple times this summer (which was a goal of mine), read 17 books, took 2 trips as a family and 2 trips with just my husband, had my most profitable auction season to date, doubled revenue for at least 2 clients, and launched this blog. I would not have done any of this without regularly reviewing and reassessing my goals using my PowerSheets.
Seriously, when I casually think about what I’ve done this year, it feels like I have done nothing, but I have done a lot this year. If that’s how much I did in 10 months without breaking a sweat, imagine what I can do in the next 2 months if I commit to being intentional and following a plan.
Now, go write your list right now. Let’s celebrate what you did! In the comments write the thing you accomplished that you are MOST proud of (heck, write out your entire list if you want) so we can all cheer you on!
3. Determine what goals are most important to complete or make headway on by December 31st, 2018 and WRITE THEM DOWN along with the first step you need to take today
It’s okay if you don’t have PowerSheets yet, make sure you buy some for 2019 because you will see an increase in productivity next year like you never imagined, but for right now you should get a notebook that is set aside for you to write down you goals, make a plan for how you will meet them and track your progress for the rest of the year.
For me my goals for the rest of the year are:
I will record Grandma Gloria’s story from her childhood through when I was born on audio by visiting her at her home using my Blue Yeti Microphone by Thanksgiving Day, 2018 (I mentioned this above). First step: call grandma today and put a date on the calendar to come and record her. Second step (because I’m an over achiever apparently): write a list of questions I want to make sure she answers during our time together.
I will walk 3 miles 4x/week starting this week and every week through the end of the year. First step: sit down with my husband today and come up with a plan that works for me to go take my 3 mile walks 4x/week.
I will launch my career assessment quiz by November 9th, 2018. First step: create followup emails for each career result on the quiz.
I will launch my Fund-A-Need Success Framework by December 31st, 2018 for my auctioneering clients. First step: pull together my fund-a-need resources and write a draft. Second Step: go on up-work and post a need to hire a designer to make it pretty and professional.
4. Break down your goals and determine what you need to do every day/week/month in order to accomplish them
Make a plan, yo! Now that you’ve made your goals and set a specific date by which you will accomplish them and have determined the first step you take, the next step is to break them down into bitesized pieces that you can schedule every day.
Maybe you want to read 6 books between now and the end of the year, you can determine that it is 3 a month, so you need to decide how and when you will read them. Are you going to read 3 different types of books at a time (motivational autobiography in the morning, business book in the afternoon and fiction in the evening, reading a chapter or two a day of each to ensure you complete by the end of the month), or will you read one book at a time and set the goal of reading a book a week (you’ll go above and beyond if you do this). Take each book and divide the number of chapters by 7, knowing that’s how many chapters you need to read each day in order to meet your goal.
Maybe you want to loose 8 lb by the end of the year. That is 1 lb a week, which is totally realistic. You will need to do some research to find what you need to do to hit that pound every week. What meals will you eat and how often with you exercise to ensure you are in a calorie deficit or how will you plan your meals to stay in ketosis over the holidays if you are planning to go that route. Either way, you need a plan. Maybe you need to hire a trainer to hold you accountable and give you the plan you need if you are really serious about meeting that goal. Break it down and decide what you will do each week and each day to help you meet your goal.
I track my goals in my PowerSheets. Every month, there is a tear out page titled “Trending List” where you can write down and track your Monthly, Weekly and Daily goals to make sure you stay focused and are reviewing them regularly.
What is your plan?
In the comments, share what some of your goals are for the rest of the year and how you plan to accomplish them. On top of writing down goals and reviewing them regularly, research shows that people who share their goals with others are more likely to accomplish them. I will be reading and responding to each comment on this post because I want you to have the most productive November and December of your life!
