Goal Setting for the New Year

December 8, 2022

This post may contain affiliate links. That means, if you click through and make a purchase using an affiliate link, I will earn a small compensation at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

It’s that time of year again. Time to do some goal setting for the new year. Are you ready to crush your goals in 2023?

set up goals Goal Setting for the new year

Goal Setting for 2023: Why even both setting goals?

Before we begin to set goals, we must understand why we should even set up goals for the year.

Here are some reasons why:

You can’t hit a target if you don’t aim
Setting goals helps you know yourself and trust yourself
Sets a good example to those around you
Helps you work on your personal development

Where to Start?

You may be thinking, where do I even begin to start coming up with goals. Well, first we must talk about the different categories, or areas, in our life. Most people have roughly 8-12 important areas of life. Some examples are:

Spirituality
Family & Friends / Relationships
Career
Health and Fitness
Learning/Education
Entertainment/Fun/Adventure
Finances
Physical Environment
Personal Development
Hobbies

Now that you understand this concept, pick 3-5 areas you want to focus on this year and come up with a goal for each one. You could come up with a goal for all of your categories if you want but that can become overwhelming. However, if you wanna make more, do it! I’m not your mom. You’re in charge!

Now for example, for my health and fitness category last year, I made a goal to run my first marathon by the end of 2022.

Your goals can be huge like mine or small like ‘want to develop a morning routine’. Depending on how big or small your goals are should help you decide how many you want to set.

How to Make Your Goals Stick

Many people make these New Year’s Resolutions or goals for the year but stop focusing on them altogether by the end of January or February. How do we avoid this happening to us?

Here are a few things you can try:

1. What is your why?

Take some time to journal why you want to achieve the goal. You are more motivated to achieve your goals if you have an actual reason behind it.

2. Set up mini goals

Set up some mini-goals within your big year goal. With those mini-goals set-up dates for when you want to achieve them. Try to shoot for one mini goal for each quarter of the year.

For example, with my run a marathon goal, I set up mini-goals of being able to run a 5k by the end of the first quarter, a 10k by the end of the second quarter, and so on.

Sounds like a lot but this helps you make your goals smaller and less intimidating so you’re less likely to drop the big 2023 goals all together in the first few months.

3. Create some new habits

Create daily, weekly, or monthly habits that will help you stay focused on your goals. If you want to write a book, make a habit to write for 30 minutes a day every day or every other day. Or if you want to build a better relationship with a family member, make a habit to call them once a week or every other week. It’s all up to you, but building a habit will help guide you along your path to achieving your goal.

Make a Vision Board

Being able to visualize you completing your goal can help you stay motivated. Also if you look at your goals every day, you won’t forget about them.

Now that you have your goals set, find images, and create a vision board. You can collect images from magazines, old books, or print some online. Find images that best relate to your goal. If you’re saving for a car, find an image of the car you want, or if you want to workout more, find a picture of a gym or workout equipment. Anything that’s related to your goal.

Add some motivational quotes to finish it off. A few words of encouragement to read every day can never hurt. It can even be simple expressions like “You’ve got this!” or “Just do it!”

Finally, put your vision board where you’ll see it every day. For example, hang it above your desk or put it on the fridge. If you’re more digital, make a vision board as the background of your desktop, or your phone background.

*I use Canva to make my digital vision board that’s on my desktop.

Final Thoughts on Goals

Making goals for the year can help you get excited thinking about what is possible in your near future. It’s a time to challenge yourself to try something you have always wanted to. Your goals can be big or small. It’s all about doing things to better yourself, and nothing is too small for that.

Recently I’ve heard this expression a lot, “The journey is more rewarding than the goal.” Make sure you don’t get too down on yourself if you fall behind on your goal. You’re already growing and learning a lot just by starting the journey toward your goal.