7 Steps to Conquer Your Goals This Year (Without Resolutions)

Tired of resolutions that fail? If you want your resolutions to stick, set goals instead. Follow these steps for the best results and conquer your goals this year.

Regardless of the time of year, many of us are usually thinking about our goals on some level. And as each year passes, and January comes into view, we have a renewed sense of optimism as we look forward to the year ahead. Have you thought about what you want to accomplish this year, or quarter? Are you on track with your goals? If you’re like the nearly 50% of Americans making New Year’s resolution each year, then you may also join the less than 10% of those who actually achieve those resolutions. With these daunting statistics, you might feel discouraged. But in this article I’m offering up a new perspective on resolutions and solid, actionable advice to conquer your goals this year.

Here are some smart and simple tips to keep in mind as you set goals and work on your goals throughout the year.

7 Steps to Conquer Your Goals This Year

1. Have faith. Believe it to achieve it.

The motivational author Napoleon Hill wrote, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Much of the time our success is determined by our mental attitude. Think back to the goals that you’ve had in the past. The ones that you fully believed in and immersed yourself in are probably the ones that you actually achieved.  While the ones that you approached with a lot of doubt or caution probably never made it off the ground (or out of your mind).

You must believe in your own abilities in order to achieve your goals. So, when carving out your goals be sure to make them achievable. This makes it more likely that you’ll take action to work on them. While you want to stretch yourself, you also want to set yourself up for success by being realistic.  Next, look at your goals from the past. Did you set goals that didn’t present much of a challenge or did you set goals that were so lofty that you were likely not to reach them? Evaluate your past experiences with goals. Look at your challenges, failures, and successes as you work to set and conquer your goals this year. Again, being realistic and having faith is the key.

2. Write it all down on paper.

As simple as it may sound, this is a surefire way to knock even your biggest, scariest goals out of the park. When something in your mind is put into a concrete, visual or written form it’s no longer just an idea; it becomes a plan. People who write their goals down are much more likely to achieve them. This has been proven by studies over and over again.

So, put pen to paper and write out the goals you want to achieve. Then put together a written plan of how you will conquer your goals this year. The format doesn’t matter; the important part is to write down your goals and make a plan for achieving each of them. If you need a format to do this, use this free goal setting workbook to create a clear plan.

3. Be SMART to conquer your goals this year.

Believing in your goals and writing them down are the first two steps. Next, you want to make sure that your goals are developed using a SMART formula. This format ensures that your goals are not just “written” but what you write is likely to actually come into existence for you.

Here’s the formula for creating SMART goals:

S – Be Specific. Spell out the details of what you want to accomplish.
M – Measurable. Develop a system to track your progress – and a way to make corrections or adjustments – as you work on your goal.
A – Attainable or action-oriented. Ensure that your goal is attainable, and map out the actions you will take to reach the goal. “I will” statements are great for this.
R – Realistic. Ensure that you have the resources to meet the goal.
T – Time-bound. Set a specific time-frame for working on each step of your goal, and achieving the end goal.

So many people fail when it comes to goal-setting that this can’t be stressed enough. Most people have great intentions when setting goals, but missing any one of these steps will set you up for failure and disappointment. Review your goals and be sure they all follow this formula.

4. Celebrate along the way.

As you power through your plan for success this year, don’t forget about celebrating, multiple times, along the way. Positive reinforcement goes a long way in propelling you towards your overall goals, so make sure that you’re building in checkpoints along your journey. When you reach a checkpoint, give yourself some sort of reward – even if it’s just a smiley face, a star, a checkmark, or a full on happy dance. Don’t overlook your smaller achievements; recognizing and celebrating them will help you to maintain a steady pace and ultimately reach your larger one.

12 Amazing Books for Setting and Achieving Goals

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox

The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life by Bernard Roth

Goals! How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy

The Art Of Setting Smart Goals: Set winning goals and live a life of abundance, success and achievement by Anisa Marku

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Hard Goals : The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be 1st Edition by Mark Murphy

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide by Caroline Adams Miller and Michael B. Frisch

The Go-Giver: A Suprising Way of Getting More Than You Expect by Bob Burg

The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

9 Things Successful People Do Differently by Heidi Grant Halvorson

5. Build a support system.

Look at the people around you. Are they on the same track when it comes to goals and lifestyle? If you’re striving to conquer your goals this year you’ll definitely want to surround yourself with people who share a similar mindset, have the same goals, or at the very minimum are fully supportive of yours. You will need a support system and motivation as you work to conquer your goals this year and in the future. As you work on goals, life keeps moving on.

Setting goals can be exciting initially. You might start out with a lot of optimism and hope. But the reality is that as you start to work on your goals, you may feel overwhelmed, distracted, or discouraged along the way.  There may even be times when you feel like just giving up. So, having the right people around you who understand your overall mission will help to keep you on track. If you don’t already have a support system, be sure to build a strong network of people who can help to hold you accountable to your own success and celebrate with you along your journey as you reach your goals.

6. Post your goals.

Make sure that you keep your goals visible. If you simply write them down and then tuck them away in a binder or drawer, they’ll be of no use to you.

Put your goals in a place where you will see them, often. You may need to have multiple copies of your goals. Do what works for you but be sure that you see your goal on a daily basis. You must be able to see it to believe it and achieve it; not just conceive it. Making your goal visible will help you to remain focused on what you’re working towards and provide the reminders you need to conquer your goals this year.

7. Use other strategies to conquer your goals this year.

You may have heard of the anti-resolution movement, choosing a guiding word for the year rather than making a resolution, per se. As more people are moving away from setting New Year’s Resolutions, what they are doing is choosing one single word to guide them throughout the upcoming 365 days.

Having a guiding word is another way to stay focused on your intentions without setting resolutions that often go out the window before the first quarter of the year is over.  Choosing your word may involve envisioning what kind of person you want to become, or the kind of life you want to be living. You’ll draw a clear picture of the features of that person (you) or that lifestyle.  Something that can help to facilitate this process is a vision board. The vision board exercise is very powerful as it helps to bring together the various aspects of the life that you desire.

Now, I’d love to hear from you. How do you start off each New Year? Do you make resolutions, set goals or intentions, or choose a guiding word? Let me know in the comments.