Tips for setting goals and intentions that stick

New year, new goals, forget about goals a few weeks later. Does this pattern sound familiar? So many of us fall into the trap of setting a lot of new goals, then going down one of two paths:

Not accomplishing our goals and tormenting ourselves over our perceived failures.

Forgetting about our goals completely.

This is a cycle I’ve found myself in. Set goals. Don’t achieve goals. Beat myself up. Diminish self-confidence. Reinforce internal narrative that there is something wrong with me. Try to set new goals. Repeat.

The more I learn about setting goals, and the more I learn about myself, the more I am realizing it doesn’t have to be this way.

I want to share my insights on setting goals and intentions, so you can have the tools to succeed. This article breaks down how to set goals you can actually achieve.

How to set (achievable) goals

Don’t overwhelm yourself

Be realistic with yourself. Don’t set too many goals. This can be hard to do because we tend to get excited and want to take on more than is feasible. So, I encourage you to take some time to reflect on what feels most important and attainable right now. Try to focus on a few goals at a time. Then, you can rotate them.

Break It Down

For a larger goal, I recommend breaking it down into smaller, actionable tasks to focus on. For example, if your goal is to write a book, you can set daily and/or weekly word counts.

Set deadlines

A task will expand to fill the allotted time frame. This is a concept I have heard many people discuss in the personal development sphere. Meaning, if you plan to write a paper in a week, it will take you a week. If you plan to write the same paper in 2 days, it will take you two days. I’ve found, if I don’t set deadlines for projects, there is no sense of urgency to complete the steps. Because I gave myself unlimited time, it will take an unlimited amount of time to complete. Something I’m trying out this year is dedicating a specific time to accomplish projects. For example, Friday evenings now have a time block for crafting. Saturdays have a dedicated writing time block.

Identify the Systems and Tools that Keep You Organized

Putting systems in place:  Identify habits and tools that help you succeed.

This means designing our environments in a way that simplifies accomplishing our goals.

To give you some ideas, the tools that help me are Notion, a notebook and pen, Google Docs, my Google Calendar, and online research. Notion, my notebook, and Google Docs are different ways that I house my ideas. For some people, that might be too many avenues. But I love note-taking, so this works for me. Google Calendar is a place for the ideas I take notes on to come to life. I put reminders (with notifications) to complete tasks in my Google calendar. Scheduling time to focus on these steps makes me far more likely to do these tasks.

Learn New Strategies

I enjoy watching YouTube videos and TikToks and reading articles about personal development and time management. This content motivates me and helps me find new strategies to try.

Collaborate with Others

Another pivotal tool for me is my Personal Development Group. This is a group of like-minded people I meet up to discuss our goals and how we can achieve them. This is invaluable because I am able to get advice that I otherwise wouldn’t have thought of. If possible, I would try to find a similar group in your area (or start one yourself)!

This is what works for me. But finding the strategies and tools that work for you will be a matter of trial and error. I’m sharing my take to give you a starting point for setting goals you can achieve.

Practice Self Compassion

As always, I want to give a friendly reminder to practice self-compassion when it comes to goals. A solid foundation for achievable goals is focusing on activities that bring you joy. Setting goals based on what you perceive you should be doing is setting yourself up for failure. You will likely wind up with a list of goals you feel no motivation to accomplish. It is difficult to build new habits that you don’t feel excited about. Identifying your why for each of your goals can help you when you are feeling unmotivated.

I hope these tips help, and good luck implementing your goals!