Goal Setting to End Your Year with a Flourish
How did it get to September?! The nights are drawing in and with a plethora of blackberries and apples ready to be picked I have a cheery autumnal Sunday lunches with delicious fruit crumbles on my mind.
Crumbles aside, I find this is the time of year to take stock, a great time of year to think back but also to think forward. We are approaching the final quarter of 2018 – so what do you need to do over the next 3 months to ensure you end the year on a high? To make sure you see 2018 go out with a bang and the pop of a champagne cork?
Follow my 5 Minute Coffee Break Goal Setting Formula to ensure you end 2018 as you would like to. Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea (or a glass of wine or beer if it is that time of day) and a clean sheet of paper, or clean sheet of ipad. Then jot down the answers to the questions under the 5 minute prompts below:
Minute 1: What have been your successes over the first nine months of the year? Write down all the good stuff you have done – often people start their goal setting by focusing on the negative – what they haven’t achieved – let’s start with all the good stuff that you have achieved.
Minute 2: Now think about what you have not achieved but would have liked to – don’t beat yourself up about this, just use it as a realistic assessment of your progress so far in 2018.
Minute 3: Sit back and close your eyes and take yourself to New Year’s Eve 2018 – what would you have liked to have achieved by then that would really make you feel proud, delighted and generally rather chuffed with yourself.
Minute 4: Formalise that general chuffedness into 2 or 3 clear goals (Make them as SMART as you can Specific, Measureable, Relevant, Achievable and Timebased).
Minute 5: Break those goals down into smaller goals to achieve in each month October, November and December
Lastly, Minute 6, give yourself a cheeky extra minute to think about what New Year reward you will give yourself for having achieved these goals.
Now you can start to plan each week between now and Christmas with tasks that work towards your monthly goals and ultimately towards your ‘Finishing 2018 with a Flourish Goals’.
Good luck and let me know how you get on!