Instead Of *Just* Setting Goals For The New Year, Try This
‘TIS THE SEASON FOR SETTING GOALS!
New year, new me – am I right?
I’ll admit that I LOVE the end of year reflection and planning vibes.
As your honorary Type A bestie, I’ll drop everything I’m doing to plan and think about all of the things that I eventually want to do in my life and in my business.
I love journaling and having planning meetings with myself and dreaming up what the new year will bring.
It just has an energy to it that I believe we all connect to.
This energy really stems from our human desire for renewal, growth, and a fresh start.
There's something invigorating about the idea of a clean slate – a chance to leave behind the previous year's challenges and start fresh.
This time of year gives you a chance to step back, organize your thoughts, and create a roadmap to take action toward all of the new.
Overall, it provides a sense of direction, control, and purpose, which can be incredibly empowering.
But something I noticed a long time ago is that as humans, we often spend SO. MUCH. TIME. focusing on what we want to start doing, that we forget to take inventory of what we’re currently doing and decide if we want to continue those things or cut them altogether.
While the act of planning for something new of course taps into our natural inclination for progress and self-improvement, it’s equally important to recognize and analyze the things that are or are NOT currently serving us and take action to change those as well.
So this year, in the midst of your goal setting (both personally and professionally), I encourage you to not only set your sights on the new, but implement a mix of this instead.
The Start, Stop, Keep Method For Setting New Year Goals
This method is actually something I learned during my time in a marketing position for a company where we were doing a lot of online launching.
After every launch, we would conduct a debrief to analyze our results and discuss how things went.
Each time, we would create a Start, Stop, Keep list, so that we could refer to it for the next launch and change things accordingly.
This method of debriefing was pretty effective and I knew that it could be applied to life too.
Essentially, the Start, Stop, Keep Method is a simple approach for setting and achieving goals by evaluating your past behaviors or strategies.
NOTE: you can truly utilize this method for ANYTHING, but since I’m writing this in the midst of December, I’ll be writing with a goal setting perspective in mind.
Here's how it works ⬇️
START 🏁
This part is exactly what it sounds like and is probably the thing that you’re already doing – identifying new behaviors, habits, or actions that you want to begin implementing to help you achieve your goals.
These are things that you possibly haven't done before, but know will be beneficial and have probably been something you want to implement for a while.
Last year, my Start list included:
Sending a weekly newsletter – hence when Notes From Natty was born!
Start going to a pilates class 2x/week - I did this for maybe a month 😂
Delegate the things that aren’t in my zone of genius – hence outsourcing my social media content
This list can be as long or as short as you’d like and can be a mix of things you want to start personally and professionally!
STOP 🛑
This part involves recognizing behaviors or actions that you are CURRENTLY doing that are possibly hindering your progress or not serving your goals.
Your stop list could truly be anything, such as habits or practices that you’ve outgrown, routines that are counterproductive, or anything that’s simply holding you back from what you ultimately want in life or business.
Last year, my Stop list included:
Overcommitting – I’ll be honest, this is a work in progress, but in 2023 I made huge strides!
Worrying about things I can’t control – “control the controllables” has become a HUGE mantra for me!
Drinking coffee before eating breakfast - okay for real though, doing this has quite possibly changed my life
Again, this list can be as long or short as you’d like it to be.
To do this well, I encourage you to think about your life in different buckets – professional, lifestyle, wellness, financial, relationships, etc.
Examine each of those areas and identify if there’s anything that you need to stop doing, so you can step into who you really want to be.
KEEP ✅
Lastly, this part also involves acknowledging the behaviors or actions that you’re CURRENTLY doing, but these are the ones that are effective and beneficial in helping you progress toward your goals.
Last year, my Keep list included:
My early morning routine – my morning routine has always consisted of waking up fairly early, reading my Bible, prayer journaling, and then reading some sort of professional development book. I’ve been doing this for almost 4 years and it was going SWELL… until pregnancy hit me like a brick wall and 4:45 AM alarms weren’t possible. 😅 The routine still happens, just not as early – and that’s on adapting!
Writing weekly blog posts – my favorite business activity to date 😌 After all, what kind of blog writer would I be if I didn’t practice what I preach?!
Staying in my lane – when I started my business, I knew I solely wanted to be a blog and email writer, NOT a copywriter who offers various writing services. I know where my strengths are and I wanted to lean into those!
Applying this method in your life and business, really just requires you to do a few things:
Reflect
This method can’t work without you taking the time to reflect on your past and current actions, behaviors, or strategies related to your goals, so DON’T SKIP THIS!
Identify
A lot of people want to skip straight to this part, but you can’t accurately determine what new actions or habits you want to Start, Stop, or Keep without doing step 1!
Implement
Thinking and planning is the fun part. The DOING (aka the real action) is sometimes the tricky part where we get stuck.
After identifying what you want to Start, Stop, and Keep, make sure you take time to create an action plan for each of those changes in your routine or strategy.
Evaluate
Lastly, don’t let this be a one time thing!
Regularly assess your progress throughout the year and adjust as needed. I suggest having a quarterly check in with yourself to make sure everything is still aligned and that you’re making progress in the areas that are most important to you.
We’re constantly growing and evolving as humans and as business owners, so let this be a method of ongoing reflection and adaptation to optimize your path toward achieving your goals.
Overall, by using this method, you're essentially conducting a self-assessment that helps you refine your strategies, maximize your strengths, and eliminate obstacles, all of which contribute to more effective goal setting and achievement. 👏🏼
Resources To Help You Effectively Plan For 2024
If you’re new here (first, welcome! 👋) you should know that planning is my love language, so naturally I have a few other resources to help you plan in your business and life effectively.