Setting three goals for 2020: Why you shouldn’t have more

This time of year tends to make us reflect and look forward at the same time, what you want to change, what you want to achieve. It can be a confusing and worrying time for some if you try to change too much…you make the to do list too long. This article will show you that three big goals is all you need.

Don’t try to change it all

If you’ve already decided to overhaul your entire life in 2020, you’re already up against it. The pressure you put on yourself combined with the lack of clarity and difficulty in managing 50 goals means you’ve probably already failed.

Why we hear you ask? Have you ever heard someone trying to explain their job or their business in one sentence? If you can’t you aren’t clear enough, exactly the same principles apply with setting your goals, if you aren’t clear about them how are you going to achieve them?

By choosing 3 Big goals with 1-5 Daily Objectives you don’t over-pressure yourself, it makes you think clearly about what you’d like to achieve and allows you the space and ability to achieve it. This is why:

Find out what you really care about

You can do anything but not everything. We’re busy in our lives, professionally & personally; we’re bombarded by adverts at every turn and it’s becoming harder to know what we truly care about deep down amidst the noise. By reducing the amount of goals, you not only stand more chance of actually achieving them, but also in the process find out what you truly care about.  Achieving three goals is better than 10 unfinished plans.

Growth is ongoing

You might achieve all three before April…that doesn’t mean that you put your feet up for the rest of the year. We see time in chunks, minutes, hours, days and years…and we usually work to deadlines. For example, if you have a day to finish a piece of work or 5 days, the task will fill that time. By editing down your goals for 2020 and understanding that just because you have a year, doesn’t mean it needs to take a year, you begin to see that this process is just an ongoing task that you can implement into your daily life rather that once a year.

Realism

The ‘R’ in SMART goals stands for Realistic. By creating wildly difficult and unachievable goals you set yourself up for disappointment, you may become unmotivated and ultimately give up. We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a day and underestimate what we can achieve in a year. Make sure that when you plan your goals that you aren’t going too far, as we’ve said before if you complete it early…it’s time to reassess and maybe dream bigger.

Action over planning

We can sit and plan and agonise over where we see our life going for hours, days and even months. It makes us feel good that we are thinking about change…planning it. However, you won’t achieve anything through constant planning, you need to move into action. Make sure you stay flexible, you can always change your goals if you find that it isn’t quite what you wanted, but you will never find out unless you move into the action phase…

If you have any questions related to business goals and strategy for 2020, do get in touch with our Managing Partner, Melanie Richardson using the contact details below:

Email: melanier@swindellsaccounting.co.uk

Tel: 01825 763366