The new year is here, and it’s time for you to set your goals for the year. It’s easy to get excited about 2023 and all its potential and now is the perfect time to set your goals and resolutions for the year ahead. Goals are simply intentions for which there is no guarantee of success. Without plans or strategies, it is hard to know how best to accomplish those intentions. You may have great ideas but without direction on how best to go about taking action toward achieving them, they will never be realised! That’s why we’ve created this handy guide on how to create a plan for your professional life in 2023.
Set goals that you can measure
The type of goal that you set for yourself is important. If you can’t measure your progress toward a goal, it’s likely to be too vague and difficult to achieve. For example, “I want to start writing again” isn’t a good goal because it doesn’t say what exactly you’re going to do or when. Instead, try setting goals that are more specific—for example: “I will publish at least one article on my blog every month.” Setting measurable goals also makes it easier for other people (like your boss) to see how well you’re doing at meeting the goals that they’ve given you.
How does your goal compare to your previous goals?
Are your goals the same as last year?
If so, why? Are they still relevant and important to you or have things changed in your life that might require a different approach to get what you want in the New Year? If not, what are the differences between this year’s and last year’s goals that make them better suited for success this time around?
Ask yourself why achieving this goal is important for you.
What will you do when you achieve it and how will it help you achieve your other goals?
Goals should include benchmarks along the way.
The benchmarks you choose to set for your business goals should be specific and measurable. For example, if you want to increase the number of clients you work with this year, decide how many new clients are enough. Maybe it’s 5 or 10 more than last year; maybe it’s 15 or 20 more than the year before that—whatever number makes sense for your business, measure what counts as success.
These benchmarks can also be financial in nature, like increasing profits by 30% each quarter throughout 2023. Or they could relate more generally to how well your company is doing: Does having one employee who only works part-time qualify as “flexibility?” Is $100K in revenue per month enough evidence that there’s enough demand for us? Only when answers are clear will you know whether our goals have been met along the way–and whether you need another round of reflection and adjustment before moving forward again!
A vision board can help.
If you’re not familiar with vision boards, they are a very simple technique that can help guide you towards your goals. They consist of images and words that represent what it is that you want in life, and the steps it will take to get there.
Here’s how to make one:
- Gather images and words that represent what you want to achieve (for example, if your goal is to finish your novel by the end of 2023, include an image of a book or the word “novel”). Also gather any other items related to your goal (for example, if writing is important for achieving this goal then gather some pens or paper).
- Arrange these items on a board evenly spaced out from each other until there are no more spaces left on the board. You may need several boards depending on how many goals/priorities you want to be included in this process.
Breaking down big tasks into smaller ones is helpful.
This method is very common in achieving goals and can be done in a variety of ways. For example, you may have an end goal of losing 10 pounds this year by exercising more, but you might also set a weekly or monthly goal to go on a walk with your dog each day. The reason this approach works so well is those big goals are often overwhelming, especially if they are not easily measured. Having smaller tasks allows you to measure your progress along the way and provides benchmarks so that if something goes wrong or doesn’t happen as planned, it isn’t too hard on yourself because there were still some small successes along the way.
Seeing your progress in writing may help motivate you.
One important factor in goal-setting is writing down your goals. In fact, it’s one of the most important ones. The act of physically writing down your goals forces you to think about what they are and how they can be achieved, which helps you clarify your intentions and better plan for success.
Make sure that every goal is specific enough that you know what steps need to be taken in order to achieve it—and write those down too! If a goal isn’t clear enough, then it won’t be possible to set up an effective plan for getting there.
Setting up a visible reminder where you can see it throughout the day can help keep these thoughts top-of-mind when making decisions throughout your day or week (for example: putting them on a whiteboard in your kitchen). It can also help if you include something about how far along you are on each step as well.
Revisit your goals frequently so you don’t forget them or get distracted by other things that come up during the year.
You might consider keeping a list of all your goals, or just the ones you’re trying to achieve right now.
Look at them often and think about what is holding you back from achieving them—is it time, or money? If so, make plans on how to overcome these obstacles. But if it’s not a matter of resources or time constraints, then ask yourself: “why am I not moving forward?”
Don’t get discouraged if you don’t make progress every day—focus on reaching your goal in four weeks rather than one day at a time (or even a month at a time). Be patient with yourself and remember: no one was born overnight!
You can set business goals and resolutions just like everybody else!
A lot of people think that goal setting is only for individuals, but the truth is, you can apply these same principles to your business. If you want to make more money, hire more employees or sell more products this year then a goal-setting approach will help you achieve these things.
The most important part of setting business goals is to make sure that you are realistic about what you can achieve. If you don’t set your expectations high enough, there won’t be any room for growth or improvement in your business. And remember: nobody ever got anywhere without taking risks!
