NE Life Coach talks Goals for 2020

I cannot quite believe that another has passed; it seems no time since I was writing about goal setting for 2019 and here we are, on the cusp of 2020.  A new year, a new decade.  It’s normal at this stage to reflect on our progress over the year; and as we begin a new decade, I find myself reflecting on the last 10 and 20 years.  Is it really 20 years ago that we were celebrating the dawn of a new millennium?

I wonder what you will be reflecting on?  Goals achieved or those that fell by the wayside?  Research shows that when we set our goals at the start of the year, 80% of us have given up within the first 3 weeks of January.  Whether it’s giving up smoking, losing weight, reducing alcohol intake or working towards financial, business or family goals what is it that leads to us giving up?

Giving up.

Often it’s because we are focusing on ‘giving up’ something.  We are subconsciously continuing to focus on the negative aspects, i.e. what we are stopping. We stop smoking, stop swearing, stop eating chocolate, stop drinking.  We don’t place our focus on WHY we are doing it and what we will gain by doing it.

Establish your WHY.

Why are you choosing this goal? What will it give you? If you are working towards a financial goal, for example, it may be to pay off debt.  Your goal may be to become debt free by the end of 2020.  OK, that sounds great.  But how will that keep you motivated?  On it’s own it won’t.  So what is your ‘why’? Why do you want this goal? What will it give you? What will it allow you to do? How will you feel?  You may have a SMART goal but if you don’t understand and express why it’s important to you, how will you keep yourself motivated?

Different types of goal.

Do you set one goal or many? Do you have interim goals? How often do you measure your progress? How often do you acknowledge and reward your progress to your goal?  How will you keep yourself on track if you only have one overall goal?I’m a great believer in hierarchical goal setting.  This is a process that is used by successful sportspeople.  Their overall why may be to become an Olympic champion.  Then they examine what they need to get them there.  What outcome do they need? What performance goals do they need to achieve that outcome goal?  What daily process goals do they need to achieve to hit that performance goal?

Balance motivation, control and accountability.

Do you consider this when you set your goals?  I set goals in a way that allows me to switch my focus between my motivation, my ‘why’ and what’s in my control, that is, my daily processes and ensuring that I’m held accountable. As part of my control, I am going to set implementation intentions this year.  This will allow me to increase the level of accountability and control.  Part of this process is being very specific about the detail of your goal.

As a professional coach, I work with clients who want to make a significant change in their life.  It often comes as a bit of a shock to them that we spend so much time on clearly identifying their vision, their ‘why’, I will then support them in turning this into a series of goals at differing levels and combining this with the appropriate level of challenge, accountability and support to enable them to make their vision a reality.

This takes time which can often be surprising to a client.  Add in that I use their own words to help them really dig deep to establish their why, it can certainly be frustrating but every client has agreed that it was worth it and necessary to achieving their goals.  To do it on our own is to set ourselves up for failure.  As a coach, I have a coach that works with me as I set my own goals.  It’s important to have that extra challenge and accountability.  So important that it means that you will be able to achieve your goal quicker than if you did it on your own.  A coach will ask you the questions that you will avoid asking yourself.  These are the questions that will turn your commitment into intention and positive action.

What next?

There is so much more I could include but this blog would turn into a book!  Why not join me on Sunday 29^th December in my free Facebook group to join in the free training and support I will be providing on how to set your goals.  You will learn more about each of the elements mentioned in this blog and lots more to help you set yourself up for success in 2020.

If you want find out more about working with me, Contact Lou

If you would prefer to arrange an appointment for a free consultation you can do this via my Online Calendar