10-Step Ultimate Guide to Setting your 2020 Goals🙌🏼
It’s that weird time of the year between Christmas and New Year where the majority of people really don’t have a clue what’s going on. Is it the weekend? What time is it? Why are we having turkey for breakfast? You get the gist 
.
However, for the last few years, this in-between festivities period has become one of the most valuable times of the year for me. It’s the time where I really take the opportunity to focus on myself and my goals, and to get clear about what I’ll be working towards or achieving in the coming 12 months ahead.
I know even setting goals can become an overwhelming task in itself, which is why in this blogpost, I’m sharing my own 10-step ultimate guide to setting goals for the new year, which has given me fantastic results time and time again. This guide helps break down your goals into easy, manageable and dare-I-say, exciting chunks, leaving you with no excuse but to take that massive action and make those goals a reality.
So grab yourself a pad of paper and a pen, stick some inspiring music on in the background, put yourself in a positive frame of mind - and let’s do this!
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1. Figure out your ultimate life vision
Imagine yourself aged 100. What would it take for you to reach that glorious age, happy, content and peaceful with all that has occurred in your life? Write it down.
This is the best way to figure out what you truly want from your years here on earth, and gives you the ultimate vision of what you want your life to look like.
Does this include travelling the world? Building a business that you love? Having financial freedom? Scuba-diving everyday while living on a tropical island? Helping hundreds and thousands of people? Having a family? Climbing mountains?
I’d recommend writing out a few paragraphs fully detailing the amazing life that you have lived, as if you were already aged 100, looking back on the years gone by. This is truly powerful stuff and will really help you to define the vision that you have for your life.
2. Decide your life success areas
In line with the above, step back and think about the areas of your life that are of the most importance to you; the areas in your life where you would like to place your focus.
Personally, I have twelve life success areas ranging from family, through to business; from health and fitness, through to mindset and beliefs.
Now is the time for you to define yours, and once again, write them down.
3. Write your bucket list
This part is so much fun and should really get you pumped and raring to go!
Using the life success areas you’ve already defined above, if there were no limitations whatsoever, what would go on your bucket list within each one of those sections?
Write everything down - no matter how silly or unrealistic it may seem to you at this stage in your life. The whole point of this exercise is to help you to expand your horizons, your mind and your heart to the notion that anything is possible. Because I truly do believe anything is possible… with a plan.
Your bucket list could include things like:
- Travel to all the continents
- Start my own business
- Reach my target weight/fitness levels
- Have children
- Learn to swim
- Run a 10k marathon
- Write a book
- Buy a house...
…it could be ANYTHING! Dream big, folks!
Image Credit: Transport Executive
4. Time-stamp everything in your bucket list
Now this is where things start getting really real.
In this step, I like to give each one of my goals in the above bucket list a time-stamp of one of the following: 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years or 20 years. By doing this, not only am I setting my intention for that goal to manifest into my reality, but I’m also setting myself the challenge - with a time-limit - to make it happen.
Go through your bucket list and give each and every item on your list a time-stamp. Be reasonable here. If one of your goals is to buy a house, but you currently don’t have any consistent form of income, then it’s not a good idea to put down a time-stamp of 1 year, right? On the other hand, don’t time-stamp it too far into the future where you won’t even bother to begin taking the actions you need to make it happen.
Think carefully and take your time.
5. Label your goals, ABC
The next step is to label your goals using the following categories:
A. I know I can do it
B. I think I can do it
C. I don’t know if I can do it
Think carefully about the goals you’ve been setting yourself throughout this exercise in terms of the above. Are they easily achievable? Will they require a short-term commitment? Are there any things you need to put into place to make that goal achievable? You’re going to need a good mix of As, Bs and Cs to make these goals happen.
Now go through each of your goals in each time-stamp, as we did in step 4. Each timestamp is going to require a mix of at least a couple of As, a couple of Bs and one C. Adjust accordingly.
6. Label your goals as progressive or fixed
More labelling, but if it wasn’t important, we wouldn’t be doing it guys!
This time, you need to decide whether each of your goals is a progressive goal, or whether it’s a fixed goal.
Progressive goals are those that take place over an ongoing period of time, e.g. your goal is to work out in the gym three times a week. This doesn’t have an end date - it’s an ongoing goal that you will continue to work at and SMASH as you go along.
Fixed goals are those that do have an end point. They’re like setting an appointment with your future self, where you will high-five him or her and scream “I DID IT!”. This could be something like ‘I will write a book’ or ‘I will put on so-and-so event’ or ‘I will buy my dream car’. These are goals that have a fixed end point.
7. Split your year and goals up
So the next step is to break up the year ahead into manageable chunks, and fit each of your goals into those chunks to prevent overwhelm and give yourself more of a plan moving forwards.
I always find it best to split my year into 90 day periods, using the standard quarter system that we use in business - Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. I assign each of my goals to one of the quarters, and as we move through the year, I focus only on the goals within the current quarter.
This really helps you to plan your year and make a plan for your goals, without becoming overpowered by your thoughts of having too much to do all at once. Focus on one quarter at a time, one goal at a time, and by the end of the year, you will have achieved so much.
8. Know your maintenance tasks
Look at your life and figure out what tasks you find yourself doing regularly, that are for maintenance purposes only and are not aiding to your growth in any way. These are what I call maintenance tasks.
In everyday life terms, these could be things like cleaning your home or mowing the grass; in online business terms, these could include product sourcing and ordering.
I’m a huge advocate of outsourcing as much as you can, so I highly recommend identifying your maintenance tasks and then finding a way to automate or outsource them. This gives you less things to worry about, less time wasted on staying still and more time on your hands to grow - not only your business, but your life, too.
9. Know your growth tasks
This takes us quite nicely on to point 9 - getting to know your growth tasks.
Go through your goals list, and figure out which of those goals are going to help you and your business grow.
For me at one point, two of my growth tasks were team development and content creation - both assets that were going to assist me in growing and achieving some longer term goals.
Identify your growth tasks, focus on them and start putting a plan together in making them happen.
10. Start taking massive action everyday
Goes without saying really, doesn’t it guys?
You’ve identified your goals, put a timeline in place, got yourself in the right headspace… now comes the hard work. It’s time to start taking massive action!
Everyday when you wake - blessed to see another day - is the perfect time to set yourself up to win. I highly recommend putting regular actions in place everyday that will ensure, when followed through consistently, that you stay on track and power on down the road to achieving your goals. These could include things like:
- Getting up early and at the same time everyday
- Working out (going for a walk or a run, first thing!)
- Journalling
- Meditation
- Taking regular breaks
Make 2020 your best year yet!
I believe in this 10-step guide to goal setting so, so much because it has worked for me time and time again, and I know it will work for you, too.
Not only is this a fun and powerful process that gets you clear on what you want from life, but it also automatically leaves you rejuvenated, excited about the future and with the energy to get up and start taking action.
Set yourself up for your best year yet and take some time to work through all of the above. It could be the absolute best gift you ever give yourself.
Here’s to a powerful, happy, healthy 2020 filled with massive action and massive success! Let’s do this
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ABOUT KEV BLACKBURN
#1 Best Selling Author, Speaker & Business Systemisation Strategist
Kevin Blackburn is an entrepreneur, success coach and a leading business strategist in business automation and systemisation. Having built his business to over 7 figures in under 18 months, he now serves other business owners creating freedom in life and scale in business.
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