Ways to Set Powerful Goals in 2023

Aliya Rajah Personal & Professional Development Coach IG: coach_aliya

New year, new me!

Why is it that 80% of new year’s resolutions fail by February?

An annoying cheesy thing we say at the start of every year to try and convince ourselves that things will actually be different this year, or could we be onto something here?

As a coach, I work with individuals in helping them make more positive changes in their lives, and believe that this can happen at any time. However there is something nice and fresh about saying goodbye to one year and entering a new year feeling optimistic.

So we step into the new year with all these high hopes and dreams with all our new goals, but then why is it that 80% of new year’s resolutions fail by February? What exactly is going wrong, and what needs to change? If that number resonates with you and you’ve found yourself in that position in the past, then I invite you to do things differently this year and I share 4 ways in which you can do that.

1 Start With The End In Mind

2 Get Clear On Your Why

Imagine it’s December 31st 2023 and you’re with loved ones ready to bring in the new year. You look back at the year that just went and you say, ‘hey, that was a really, really good year,’ and you find yourself smiling.

As Stephen Covey’s second habit states ‘begin with the end in mind.’

So a question to ask yourself would be, ‘what would need to happen this year for me to be able to look back and say that about this year?’

Take a moment to visualise your ideal year, and then write down all the things you did and how you felt on a piece of paper.

“Our WHY is our purpose, cause or belief—the driving force behind everything we do. Our HOWs are the actions we take when we are at our natural best to bring our WHY to life. Our WHATs are the tangible manifestation of our WHY, the actual work we do every day.” - Start With Why, Simon Sinek.

One of the biggest reasons I see individuals failing to follow through with their goals is because their ‘why’ hasn’t been strong enough. Having the self-discipline and commitment to follow through with our goals isn’t always easy, and what makes it even tougher is when we are trying to push ourselves to do something that isn’t even aligned with us. i.e. Setting a particular goal because it looks impressive to others, or because we think it’s what society expects from us at this particular time. Having a strong why will be your driving force towards your goals (even the ones you aren’t particularly excited by), which will be important during the times where you’ve lost your drive or passion, or feel deflated because you’re not seeing results as quick as you’d like to.

3 Break It Down

It can be really overwhelming when you have all your goals for the year but have no idea where or how to start. Another reason as to why we don’t follow through is due to unrealistic goal setting and feelings of overwhelm. Just because you’ve set all these goals for yourself it doesn’t mean that they need to be achieved right away.

Instead, break the year into quarters and decide what your main priorities are for the first 3 months. Maybe it’s to focus on your health and relationships?

Or you’re going to put most of your time and energy into your professional development.

Once you have set the 2-3 main priorities for the first 3 months, break it down into monthly goals, and then weekly. By breaking your goals down and continuously ticking them off, you will feel much more accomplished and motivated to keep up the momentum.