Around New Year’s many people start thinking about their annual plan… What are my goals for next year?
What if I tell you that I’ve completely stopped setting annual goals. Are you shocked? I know, a productivity expert who doesn’t set yearly goals!
For years I was told… this is how you’re “supposed to do it!” You set annual goals, then you get to work and do them. Well, after years of tinkering with my systems and working with my clients around setting goals and taking action. I’ve found something that I know works so much better.
So, if you’re in a goal-setting, New Year’s planning kinda mood, you’ll definitely want to read on and learn how to pitch out your annual goals while still getting even better results!
Why You Should Pitch Your Annual Goals
A year is simply too long and too distant a finish line for most of us to plan for effectively. Our lives and our priorities can change in dramatic and significant ways in a year.
Heck, even a baby only takes a little over 9 months, which means that you can go from no kids to being a parent in less than a year. I guarantee you that will dramatically change your life and priorities … all in less than 1 year. Your life can look very different in a single year, in ways you couldn’t possibly plan adequately for that far in advance.
You could meet a new partner, start a family, or develop an entirely new business offering. You could also face an injury or the illness or loss of a loved one. You could decide to become a full-time digital nomad and sell everything you own to start traveling (as we did in Fall 2018). Did we see that coming in January 2018? Heck no, but we decided to do it in July and by October 1 we were OFF! Now, here we are, over a year later and planning to continue traveling indefinitely.
Major personal, family, or even global events can happen during a year that dramatically changes your priorities, so why do we expect ourselves to create these firm, committed, annual goals? I think it’s steeped in the traditions of corporate culture and fiscal budgets where annual planning has long since been the norm. But, guess what… we’re entrepreneurs! Just because that’s how it’s been done before doesn’t mean that’s how we need to do it.
I believe that we need more opportunities for reflection and priority-setting in our lives, not less. That’s why for the last several years I’ve developed a new system that makes your old “annual goals” irrelevant and allows both the outcomes and the action-taking to feel more immediate.
What To Do Instead
The key to this new evolution in goal setting and planning involves the unification of three essential paradigm shifts that I’ve been teaching for years:
- Pitch your SMART goals; instead create Vivid Future Accomplishments (VFAs).
- Plan Seasonally, not annually
- Embrace the Pulse System: Cycle through Plan -> Act -> Rest/Reflect every 5-8 weeks
In my upcoming course, The Freedom Evolution I teach all three of these pieces in depth and include specific written and guided visualization exercises to create and install your “goals” (Vivid Future Accomplishments) deeply in your life.
However, here’s a basic overview to understand what’s different about this approach to planning:
- Accomplishments are celebrated whenever they are achieved – whether that takes you 3 months, 6 months, or 3 years – Not simply if you get them done before an arbitrary deadline of December 31st.
- By making your future accomplishments vivid, you create them in your mind and heart before you start taking action. This creation process leverages your amazing ability to attract, create, and connect with the exact resources you need to build that future outcome (“goal”) you desire.
- You focus on planning your priorities and key work for a single upcoming season (roughly 2-4 months) rather than 12 months into the future, which is a period that gives you more direct control over what’s possible to execute and complete.
- Seasonal planning give you the opportunity to hyper focus on a single desired outcome that is connected to one of your VFAs. This focus allows you greater traction on your work because you’re pushing consistently on one project rather than inconsistently on a whole bunch.
- Creating a “Pulse” within your seasons ensures that you avoid burnout as you may have experienced in the past trying to hit life full-throttle for months without taking essential time for rest, reflection, and regrouping.
By integrating these changes in your personal planning and goal-setting strategies you will:
Banish your old patterns of “failed” annual goals,
Embrace your ability to get amazing results through increased focus,
Eliminate several common sources of burnout all at the same time!
If this sounds intriguing, exciting, and you want to hear more, then make sure you’re one of the first to hear when The Freedom Evolution opens it’s doors to our founding members starting in January 2020!
Click below to Join the Waiting List, and we’ll make sure you hear more very soon!
