I tried to resist starting the New Year with a post about goals, but it’s too juicy a topic to ignore. Call them goals, New Year’s Resolutions or targets, everyone is busy planning for the year ahead and what they can do to make it better than last year.
It’s fun to see people all excited, setting up their theme word for the year, creating their goals and visions. Yet, goal setting isn’t always productive, and it isn’t the only way to set up for having a great year.

Goals can be really useful. Use them to tune into what you desire. For example, say you’d like to earn more money. You can decide on an income goal and then create a step by step action plan to reach that goal or target amount. Ditto with losing weight. A goal focuses you.

If you are motivated and excited by the goal, all is well, (at least to begin with). Where I see people slip up is where they make goals that they don’t believe they can achieve, goals that make them feel bad because they doubt they’ll be able to achieve them. Do this and you’re set for disappointment for the outset.

If you do set goals this year, check in with my tips below … and if you’re not inspired to create goals, scroll on down to the video later where I explain what I often do instead of setting traditional ‘goals’.

Tips for creating smart goals.

1. Keep it simple.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Stick with one or two targets and tend to them well, rather than making goals to change every area of your life and then getting overwhelmed and failing to meet any of them.

2. Why is it important to you?

Knowing why you want to achieve a particular goal will help motivate you to achieve it. Say that you’d like to earn more money. Why is that important to you? Does it mean you can take more holidays, feel more secure or have a greater sense of pride for example?

3. How will it make you feel?

It’s crucial for your goals to feel good, to feel exciting for you. So after pondering why they’re important, next tune into exactly how that will make you feel. What does it feel like to achieve it? Exciting? Satisfying? Proud?

4. Feel it / imagine it real.

Keep tuning into how it feels to achieve that goal. Wear those emotions like a new coat. Even if you have to use your imagination, keep focusing on those positive feelings. The more you imagine having achieved that goal and tap into the sense of that, then imagining it, the easier it will be to manifest your goal in real life. This will also help you to be aware of opportunities to take inspired actions that will lead you to your goal.

5. Does it feel realistic?

Some people like a goal that is challenging, but do be careful not to make them too challenging. If you feel that you can’t achieve it you will lose motivation. If have a goal that feels really hard or unobtainable, one that makes you wake up in a cold sweat or makes you feel anxious, then you need to do some inner work, such as EFT tapping, to clear any doubt or upset around it. This is particularly the case if you’ve set goals before and failed to meet them. If it’s too hard to do that inner work alone, which is often the case, let me help you.

6. Don’t limit yourself.

One of my concerns with goals is that they can be limiting. Sometimes the Universe can have greater possibilities in store for us than we can imagine. So, be open to creating something even better than you’re aiming for. If I make I goal, I tend to add the caveat ‘this or something even greater’.

7. You can always change you mind.

Just because you set a goal, doesn’t mean that it’s set in stone. Don’t keep running towards a goal that has lost it’s shine for you. Really, it’s alright to change your mind sometimes, not as a cop out or excuse, but when you genuinely have gone down a different route and something else becomes more important.
Play with that, take some time and check in to see if your goal still fits, or if you’d really prefer to choose something different.

8. Give yourself a boost of motivation along the way

If you’re sticking with your goal, it may be quite easy at the start and the real challenge may come down the line when willpower alone isn’t enough to keep you going. That’s when you need to go back and remember your ‘why’ and ramp up those juicy feelings of how it will be when you’ve reached that goal.

If that isn’t enough to motivate you, do some EFT tapping and inner work to combat any self sabotage. Trust that you can do it, keep doing the inner inner work and you’ll make it.

This week’s video.

In this week’s video you’ll find out what I often do instead of setting goals to get my year off to a great start. You’ll also get a recap of those tips if you do set goals, so you can make 2016 your best year yet.

Over to you.

Goals and targets, do you love them or loathe them? Let me know in the comments section below.

As ever, feel free to share this post with those who would benefit from it.

Thank you.