Tools to help you plan and achieve your 2021 goals
2020 wasn’t quite the year we planned for. However, it is important to take time to reflect on 2020 across all aspects of your life to help you to plan your 2021 goals.
To be able to make the most out of 2021, setting new goals can be a great way to create motivation and focus. Once you have set these goals, it is important to breakdown how you will get there.
Here are a few tools to help you reflect on 2020 and plan your 2021 goals:
1. The 3 W’s:
You can use this technique to reflect on any aspect of your life e.g., work, work-life balance, family life, health etc. Ask yourself the following:
· What went well in 2020?
· What did not go so well?
· What will I do differently next year?
By reflecting and asking yourself these questions, it will help you to set new goals for 2021 based on the outcomes of 2020.
2. GROW
Using this tool is a great way to help set out your goals (again in any aspect of your life). It will help you to reflect on what the reality of this goal is now and work out your options to be able to reach the goal. GROW stands for:
· Goal: What is your goal?
· Reality: What is the current reality?
· Options: What are your options (or obstacles)?
· Will: What will you do?
Once you have planned what you will do, it is important to continually check-in as to what the reality is and continue to remind yourself what you have committed to doing in order to reach your goal.
3. Wheel of Life
The Wheel of Life technique is effective because it gives you a visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you would like it to be.
1. Brainstorm 6-8 areas of your life that are important to you and write these on each spoke of the wheel (the below gives some examples).
2. Consider each area in turn and give each area a mark out of 10 (0 is low and 10 is high) as to how satisfied you are with this area in your life. Mark this number as an X on the spoke it relates to.
3. Join up the X’s
4. Using a new wheel of life template or a different colour pen on the same wheel of life, mark where out of 10 you would like to get to in 2021 for each of the areas.
5. Finally, work out how you will get to this number, what actions will you take?
E.g., if your health currently sits at 5, what will you do next year to get to an 8?
Write these down so you can refer back to them.
Key Takeaways
Finally, as we all know it is very easy to let goals slip.
Our key takeaway is once you have set your 2021 goals, diarise a time each month to check in with these goals. Ask yourself, how far have I progressed with my goals? What do I need to do next month to ensure I am a step further ahead to reaching my goal?
This will ensure you are keeping on track and will have the successful year ahead you had planned for.
If you would like to discuss your goals or if progressing within your finance career and changing your job is one of your 2021 goals, please do get in touch and follow us on LinkedIn to see all our latest updates.
