Most of us want to do what it takes to set up for success this year. We get our house in order. We start eating healthy after overindulging during the holiday season behind us. We start exercising again. New year, new resolutions, right?

And what about work? What can we do to make this year a successful professional year? These are questions I have been asking myself during the first few weeks of the new year, and coincidentally, I have been asked several times already how to do this and if there is a systematic way to do this. So here, I am sharing what I have been doing in preparation for a great start of the year.

Peter Drucker is famous for the  phrase: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”  I would paraphrase this as “if you don’t set goals, you can’t reach them.”

As I began to set my business and personal goals for 2020, I realized that in order to do this, I needed to reflect on the past. What happened in 2019 and what did I learn from it? So I decided to engage in a practical exercise to reflect on 2019 before planning for 2020 (thanks to Jasenka for her continuing guidance). It looks like this:

Reflecting on 2019

  • What were the challenges, issues, disappointments?
  • What were the wins? (what did I accomplish? what am I proud of?)
  • What am I releasing from 2019? (what am I getting rid of?)
  • What did I learn from 2019? (what new things, skills, topics, I learned?)
  • What am I celebrating in 2019?

Planning for 2020 (I wrote the responses as it was December 2020, using past tense)

  • What am I known for? (how people describe me?)
  • What were my business outcomes?
  • What is the culture of where I work and my team?
  • What were my career / professional development outcomes?
  • What were my personal outcomes?

I found that with this information, it was easier to describe the goals for my business and personal outcomes this coming year. I noticed that it is very important to describe the goals S.M.A.R.T.  (you know… Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Timebound). Many organizations use this method for goals and performance evaluation, there is a reason for it, it really helps to reach goals, regardless of whether they are for a role in a company or they are for personal growth.

When setting up the S.M.A.R.T. goals, I want to emphasize the S and T in particular. Being specific on what and why you want to achieve, the how comes easier. In my experience working with design thinking, I found the “Define” step crucial for solving problems. And in this case, for achieving goals. Having a north star (the big goal) is essential because, from it, we can make smaller, easier achievable goals (or subgoals) with timebound that can be set and planned throughout the year.

For instance, one of my goals this year for my consulting business is to provide a new service for my clients: webinars. My S.M.A.R.T. goal is to plan and execute two webinars (related to diversity, equity and inclusion) per quarter in 2020 with 15+ attendees each event.

And some of the subgoals are:

  • Confirm and develop material to be presented during the first month of each quarter
  • Develop further skills in managing and presenting webinars by taking some tutorials and practicing- Q1
  • Share the schedule and details for the webinar(s) with my clients at least a month in advance

Having set specific numbers and timeline, make me measure if I am advancing and reaching my subgoals monthly (and quarterly) instead of waiting at the end of the year to see if I reached my goal. I know it takes a longer time to set them up this way,  to define them, but once this is done, it is easier to follow the plan to succeed – here it also applies the 80/20 rule (in this case 80% planning, 20% executing). It makes me feel that I am working with a well-defined purpose, not struggling without a plan. Now for the execution part, it is mostly about showing up your perseverance and commitment, and trust that the process is working!

Call to action: Have you set up your 2020 goals yet? If so, are they S.M.A.R.T.? This will help you tremendously to achieve your goals.  I hope you find this information useful and can help you to reflect and write your own goals. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me now, I’d happy to hear from you and learn how you set your own goals.