What About You?

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you probably read my posts about making this your best year ever. I went step-by-step through my own goal-setting process in an effort to help you achieve similar results to what I have experienced through this process. If you took my advice, the odds are you are still going strong with your goals for this year.

If you did not read these posts (or ignored the advice!), then it is NOT too late for you! Just because it is mid February does not mean you have to wait until next year to set some meaningful goals. I have heard many times that the best time to plant an oak tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is now!

If you are interested in breaking out of the 80 percent and starting now with your meaningful goals, then I strongly suggest you take a look at my posts that detailed my own process. If you will follow a process similar to mine, I believe you will see significant results. Feel free to tweak it a little as you need to, but I will strongly recommend you make absolutely sure you include two critical components of this process – no matter what!

Determine Key Motivations

The first component is to determine a list of Key Motivations – very specific reasons WHY each individual goal is important to you. Here is an example of one of my goals for this year and the related list of WHY’s:

Goal

I will average spending 6 hours per month intentionally teaching & mentoring others for eternal impact (total of 72 hours).

Key Motivations

• #1 – I believe God has given me wisdom and insights that I feel can help others in living out their God-given purposes.
• I get a rush from teaching others what God has shared with me!
• I learn more from the preparation than I realize at times.
• I need the learning that teaching affords me and holds me accountable to.
• I believe it is the responsibility of a leader to give back to others.
• I want to lead by example.

Messy Middle?

When you have a list of Key Motivations like this, you are strengthened against what Michael Hyatt calls the “messy middle.” This is that time in the process of achieving your goals when you get frustrated, discouraged, or otherwise lose your steam. Have you ever experienced that?

When it happens, you then refer back to these Key Motivations and remind yourself why you set the goal in the first place. Referring back to these goals should give you the injection of energy you need to return to the fight!

Accountability Partners

The second component that I strongly recommend is Step #6 in my process – Find Accountability Partners. Regardless of how strong you think you are, I promise there will be times you are tempted to give up or take a break. These times can be deadly to a set of goals unless you have built-in accountability from like-minded partners.

To maximize this component, you need to set a regular time to meet with these partners and discuss your goals. The best scenario is when they have also gone through this process and have goals of their own. You all should meet, discuss your wins, and exchange ideas about how to deal with the challenges or obstacles you each are facing. I cannot adequately describe the value this adds to your overall goals process.

Break Out of the 80 Percent!

Here’s the deal – whether you are just now starting your goal-setting process for the year OR looking to tweak it and get it back on track, these components must be included. If you will do this, I guarantee you will break out of the 80 percent and see results you have never seen before. I have personally seen the benefits of these components and will never go without them again.

Are you part of the 80 percent? Why do you think?

What next action are you ready to take with your goals?

What is the biggest challenge you face in achieving your goals?

photo by Will Wilson

My Best Year Ever

As with anything I share here, I do not claim that my process is the best. I do not pretend to have it all figured out. What I will say is that I am personally coming off of my best year ever in regards to my annual goals. I was able to accomplish more this past year across every area of my life than any year before.

For that reason, I encourage you to start with my last post (Steps #1-3) and then pick up below with Step #4. Go through this process and see if you think it can work for you. As always, if you have any questions, please contact me HERE and I will do my best to answer them.

Step #4 – Review Last Year

My next step in the process is to review my prior year. This review can provide key insights into what I do and do not need to work on in the upcoming year. Thinking back through the last 12 months can be very helpful in determining my goals for the coming year.

There are a couple of tools I use to accomplish this review in a structured way. The first tool is the C12 Yearly Audit. You can find a copy of this tool ** HERE ** in my Resource Library. The C12 Yearly Audit walks you through 10 different areas of the life of a disciple of Jesus. Each area is scored according to your effort and results.

Another tool I used for the first time this year is Michael Hyatt’s Lifescore Assessment. This is a tool that is similar to the C12 tool because it also assesses 10 different areas of your life. It is not specific to the Christian faith like the C12 tool, but it does go a little further in the scoring process and is easier to get a more objective score. Plus, it comes in an Excel spreadsheet that is very cool to use!

Regardless of the tool you use, the review of your prior year is a critical step in completing your plans for making the upcoming one your best year ever. I encourage you to try one (or both) of these tools to get started. I think you will quickly see the benefits!

Step #5 – Set Your Goals

If you ask 100 people whether they set goals every year or not, it is likely that most would say they do. Unfortunately, I am betting that the majority of those who would say they do are actually referring to their New Year’s resolutions. While I understand their perception that this practice qualifies, I would have to disagree. I see these two practices as completely different from each other.

The reality is that the vast majority of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned before the end of January! I don’t know the stats, but I would bet heavily that very few resolutions make it past March. Why is that? What is so different about setting goals and making New Year’s resolutions?

When I describe goal-setting, I am talking about a very serious process that consists of several steps (including my steps 1-4 in my previous post). While I have been setting goals for years, I have not found a better process for doing so than Michael Hyatt’s Best Year Ever program. Quite simply, I have had more personal success since I started using this program. It is fantastic and I strongly recommend it to everyone that is serious about seeing results next year. I will most certainly be using it again this year!

The bottom line is that you must spend time in this part of the process if you want to see results. You need to make sure your goals are spread across your various roles, not focused on only one or two of them. You should make sure they follow the SMART guidelines. Finally, you MUST write them down! Commit to them and you will achieve them.

Step #6 – Find Accountability Partners

One of the keys to follow through on setting goals is accountability. The odds are low of pushing through and completing all of your “best year ever” goals on your own. A select few may be capable of doing it this way, but the rest of us need help. We need support, advice, and the occasional kick in the rear from accountability partners. When this support is in place, the odds of achieving your goals will skyrocket!

The best practice is to find a couple (or more) like-minded individuals that are just as serious as you are about setting and accomplishing goals. Engage these individuals in the process with you and set regular group meeting times throughout the year (monthly is best for me). At these meetings, each member reports to the group on their progress toward their goals, their greatest accomplishments, and where they are struggling or need help.

If you have found the right partners, you will see the group come together through the process. You will likely see a high completion rate and an ongoing sense of confidence and excitement. Once you have gotten stuck a couple of times and experienced the “kick” from the group, you will appreciate the value of this part of the process!

Step #7 – Review Regularly

The final step is to create a process for regular review of your goals and plans. While the monthly accountability meetings are certainly helpful in this regard, they will not meet all of your needs here.

What is necessary is a more frequent review of your goals, the corresponding motivation factors, and your timelines. This review is best done on a weekly basis. It will likely require you to set aside an hour or so of your time, but it is worth it. In fact, this is probably my most valuable time every week!

In this review time, you simply read through every goal, your reasons for setting the goal, and your next steps on your timeline for each. You then plan out your next week and assign appointments for completing each step. You map out your next week in advance!

Summary

I sincerely hope you see value in this process as I have outlined it. If you already have a year-end process for laying out your goals and plans for the upcoming year AND you are seeing tremendous results as you execute this process, then by all means, continue your process! Don’t change a thing!

If, on the other hand, you look back over the past few years and see missed opportunities, abandoned goals, and regret, then please do something for me. Draw a line in the sand and say, “No more!” Determine right now that you are going to make a change this year. Start with Step #1 and don’t stop until you have completed all 7 steps I described. When you do, send me a note and let me know about your decision. I would love to hear your results!

photo by Paige Foster

Best Year Ever

If the idea of having your best year ever interests you, then I have good news for you.

No, I cannot guarantee your best year ever this year. I don’t think there is one perfect plan that works for everyone.

At the same time, I can give you the steps I used for this past year. I am confident that with these steps and your full commitment, you can have similar results. I am so confident in this, I am using these same steps again for this upcoming year!

Why Is This Important?

Before I give you the steps, I want you to know why I believe this is so important to us as Christian business owners and leaders. We are first of all commanded to live a life that is salt and light to this world (Matthew 5:13-16). We are also going to be held accountable for our results based on the resources we have been given to steward (Matthew 25:14-30). Finally, we are to be an example to others (1 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Timothy 2:2).

For these reasons, I believe it is our responsibility to take the time to plan out our efforts every year. We should be looking at the past year and assessing our strengths and weaknesses, disappointments and victories. We should then learn from this review and adapt with necessary changes for the upcoming year. Once we have our plan determined, we need to stick to it. This means regular reviews with accountability.

My Planning Process

If you agree with all of this, then I think you will love these steps. Feel free to tweak them to fit your needs. As I said before, there is not one perfect plan. Hopefully these steps will work for you or trigger ideas for others that will. Let’s dive in!

Step #1 – Prayer

No plans should begin without prayer. We should be trying to determine where to direct our efforts and how to allocate our God-given resources in the coming year. Our desire should be to maximize the impact of these resources for God’s purposes. Before we even start planning our best year ever, we should seek His wisdom and guidance in the planning.

Step #2 – What Is Your “Why?”

This may seem overly simple, but before you can start building something, you need to know WHY you are building it. The same goes for determining your plans and goals for the upcoming year. You must know your core reasons for doing what you do. Why do you get up in the morning? What motivates you to work hard and make progress? Are these reasons aligned with Scripture?

In this step, I answer 6 basic questions relating to my reasons for doing what I do. Even though I have done it each year, I never skip this step. It is a critical reminder for me. You can get a copy of the six-question worksheet I use *HERE* in my Resource Library.

Step #3 – What Are Your Roles?

Another key question you must answer before laying out your plans for the year is this – What are your roles? Stephen Covey described this process in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Basically, you need to define each of your roles in life (disciple of Jesus, spouse, parent, employer, etc.). You can download the worksheet I use *HERE* in my Resource Library.

Imagine your own funeral and what people are saying about you there. What would you want them saying about you in each role? Start with these comments as your goal for each role and define them that way. Here is an example [with Scripture references] from how I define my role as a “Faithful Steward of God’s Business”:

As a Faithful Steward of God’s Business, I first recognize that he indeed owns it ^{[1a, 1b]} and has entrusted it to me for a time and a purpose ^{[2a, 2b]}. I lead this business based on an eternal perspective ^[3], seeking to add team, economic, and spiritual value every day ^[4]. I recognize and embrace the responsibility I have for impacting the lives of our employees and their families, our customers, and our community with the love of Christ ^[5]. Above all, I seek to please God ^[6], not men ^[7]. One day I will hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. ^[8]”

More To Come…

I hope these first three steps give you a good idea of how to get started with your plans for your best year ever! I encourage you to go ahead and start with these steps. I will post the remaining four steps next. Until then, get to work!

^[1] Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalm 24:1
^[2] Ecclesiastes 5:19; Luke 12:42-48
^[3] 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
^[4] Matthew 25:20
^[5] John 13:34-35
^[6] Matthew 6:33
^[7] John 12:43
^[8] Matthew 25:23

Photo: Dafne Cholet