New Year, New Goals!

10 Steps to set you up for personal and professional success and growth in the new year

The end of the year or the beginning of a new one is always a good time to reflect on the pasts 12 months and to set new intentions for the upcoming ones. It also tends to be the yearly performance review season at work, and the perfect opportunity to define new professional goals.

You probably heard about “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” and that’s often true. Your goals are like your compass, they give you a direction. Setting up professional and personal goals is a strategy, and a time for introspection.

There are plenty of resources online about how to set new goals, we thought you might want to try our own recipe to set achievable goals and to stick to them.

1. REFLECT ON THE PAST YEAR: list your failures, successes, challenges, learnings, areas of improvement.

2. DEFINE YOUR PRIORITIES: consider your values, aspirations, dreams, long term goals (personal and professional), determine what matters the most to you.

3. SET UP “SMART” GOALS (goal-setting framework): Specific (set realistic and concrete goals), Measurable (%, numbers, volume, weight), Achievable (stretch yourself a little bit, it has to feel a little bit uncomfortable but manageable with some learnings), Relevant (aligned with you, your industry, organisation and market), Time-bound (set a deadline for each goal, add them to your calendar). For each goal, ask yourself: Why is this goal important to me? How does it impact others around me?

4. DETERMINE YOUR TIMELINE: break down your main goals into smaller tasks and define a timeline to complete each of them. It allows you to see progress faster, to celebrate small successes and to stay motivated.

5. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS: set a regular date in your calendar to take a step back on what worked and what did not, to celebrate your wins, and to adjust your plans if needed.

6. MAINTAIN FLEXIBILITY: with your goals and with yourself. The industry, society and market will be evolving throughout the year, and you will too. Review your goals every quarter to ensure they are still aligned with your priorities and your industry, adapt them if needed.

7. STAY MOTIVATED AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF: when feeling a bit down, go back to the reasons why these goals are important to you (step 3). It's easier to reach your goals when maintaining a healthy body and mind by doing things you like or are passionate about, moving your body, paying attention to your intuition and emotions, eating nutritious food, and spending quality time with yourself and others. Take time off the screens, read a book, meditate or walk in nature.

8. INVEST IN YOURSELF: get a coach for external support and insights, register for the online training you have been eyeing for a while, attend a workshop, read specialised books. Ask your boss what the gaps in your profile are to reach the next level or the targeted position, invest in the trainings needed to develop the required skills. Continuous learning is an essential part of your growth.

9. FIND BALANCE BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL GOALS: categories your goals, allocate your time and effort accordingly. Block time in your calendar for your personal goals and commit to them.

10. HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF: don’t be too hard on yourself, don’t overstretch your targets, always celebrate your successes. You got this!

It is a time to focus on yourself, to take a break from your daily activities and to focus on what you want. Before getting started we recommend being in a quiet place, to not be interrupted during this exercise.

There is no right or wrong way of doing this exercise. You can write your goals on a piece of paper, a spreadsheet or use a project management tool; somewhere you can track, measure, and prioritise your high-level goals (personal/professional), tasks, timeline, success, impact/outcome. At the end of the year go back to the exercice, reflect (step 1) and repeat the process.

Let us know how it worked for you or reach out to us if you would like more tools and some support to develop your skills and attain your career and personal goals.

If you are into personal development, check out our article about Ikigai.

The Ikigai Mentor team wishes you an amazing year ahead!