What Are Your Goals For 2024?
I started my Accountability In Action jam sessions last week, and it was MIGHTY! I personally got so much done in one week toward my homemaking goals, I could hardly believe it! I was also glad to see several new people joined my supporting subscribers over the week.
Thank you ever so much for your support!
During the week, we kick off each call with a topic or question about goal setting. We talked about our different processes for setting and accomplishing our goals each day before we got jamming.
Since this call starts with a bit of a mastermind, I learned some very valuable tips from my conversations this week.
One of the biggest goal setting and attainment tips was to keep a positive outlook on ourselves and our productivity throughout the week (or even the day). It’s really important to keep momentum going by keeping a high vibe, specifically about ourselves in action toward our goals.
As we talked in the group, we got more specific about how to maintain this “high vibe.” Adjusting goals by assessment of Outcome Goals vs. Process Goals was one discussion. Outcome Goals are the original ganstas! Your Outcome Goal is general. It’s your why. It’s your big vision. An example of an Outcome Goal for a job would be pulling in 5 new clients this month. An Outcome Goal for health would be losing 5 pounds this month or looking great in a swimsuit this summer. The Process Goals are the daily grind. Process Goals for each of the previous Outcome examples referenced respectively might be: calling 20 leads a day to get new clients or doing 30 minutes of exercise per day and starting a food journal to track what you eat for weightloss or fitness goals. Outcome Goals aren’t guaranteed, because we can’t always control our outcomes. We do have control over what processes we get done most of the time as long as we level our expectations appropriately.
The next thing we discussed was about leveling our expectations. We want the processes to get done and to inch us closer to achieving our Outcome Goals.
How do we level our expectations?
We can start by making our daily and weekly process goals, working towards them with diligence and consistency, and assessing them weekly, monthly and quarterly.
We can look weekly at how close we came to our targets for our Process Goals during the week. For example: Did I get most, less than half or all of my targets? If you hit most, that’s a good sign you are on track. If you hit all, are you fatigued or was it too easy? Do you need to push a little harder next week or leave something in the tank for tomorrow? If you hit less than half your processes, maybe you need to see what other priorities are getting in the way or re-evaluate if your Process Goal expectations are too high. Weekly tracking of your checklist, chart or whatever way you pool your results each day can really help you look objectively at how close you are to your aim and perhaps more importantly, to how you feel about it.
Monthly assessments of Process Goals are the time to review if you see a steady increase in output and in positivity or the way you feel about your processes. If you are feeling better and better about what you accomplish and you find yourself hitting more targets at the end of the month, you are on track. However, again, if you feel fatigued or discouraged, go back to the weekly goals to see if you can adjust some of those processes. Post sticky notes on your planner, computer screen, mirror or refrigerator to remind you to check in with your feelings throughout the day. If you feel lagged in some way, maybe do an EFT tapping video to raise your vibration. They take as little as 5 minutes to reset yourself and get back into having FUN hitting your targets.
Last, quarterly assessments tell you how well the achievement of your Process Goals with joy and streamlining them throughout the weeks and months is taking you to your Outcome Goal. We don’t want to lose sight of our “why.” Sometimes our Outcome Goals get lost in the Process, literally. With quarterly evaluations, I might realize that doing all my processes of calling new leads hasn’t brought me the new clients I had hoped for. So, I may keep up the same processes while incorporating a sales training lesson each week to develop new sales techniques in making those calls. Another example is that I may not have lost weight as I had hoped, so I might look into a monthly visit to a trainer or look into other impediments to weight loss such as hormones or stress in my environment. After assessing possible pivots or other ways to address weight loss, I can set up processes to mitigate these potential weight loss hurdles while tracking exercise and caloric intake as before. Quarterly evaluations are where the real growth toward Outcome Goals can take place.
Next, to really hone in on the feelings, always remember that “Doing 80% of your best each day is a win!” One of our members, Barbra, mentioned this last Thursday, and I think it’s the key to everything with goal planning and attainment. It’s possible that if you have hit 100% of targets you set and feel energetic that you haven’t set high enough goals for yourself. Or, if you hit 100% but feel wasted and aren’t going to get much done tomorrow because you are physically ill from fatigue, you are going to hurt your progress, your processes, and potentially delay your outcomes. Hitting 80% of your goals and still feeling invigorated: that’s the sweet spot. Always leave some gas in the tank for tomorrow. You may feel good today, but tomorrow, you can wake up practically disabled from pushing too hard.
Lastly, if the rest of your life is in any way compromised by all the processes, look at that. It’s easy for some people to get consumed by or mired in processes to the point our family or other parts of our life suffer. Boy, do I know about this one. Balance is the key. Make sure you are still getting proper sleep, nutritious meals, snuggling your kids and growing in all aspects of your life while pursuing your goals. Spending a focused two to four hours per day on your processes can be the key to maintaining balance and making big progress toward your life’s vision. Accountability in Action meets 4 hours per day Monday to Friday to work on those processes. Come for all or part of it each day to gain headway!
Remember, you can always step back to reassess the Outcome Goal. Maybe it’s not the time for this goal to happen or maybe, it cannot happen at the pace you first intended now that you are considering a healthy, whole life in balance. At those realizations, the Outcome itself may need to be reconsidered. In any case, having accountability partners and people to talk over your goals with can help you maintain objectivity about your work.
Don’t ever let the small picture obscure the bigger picture of your whole magnificent, splendorous life!
To get more information about Accountability in Action, refer to my previous post (It All Starts Today). Go back to that post after becoming a paying Substack subscriber for as little as $9 per month to access the jam sessions link and join us in magnificent ACTION!
Oh, and here’s some photos of what I achieved this week while jamming!
Suffice to say, we moved into a pretty dirty house. I didn’t realize how bad it was when we were unpacking in a hurry as my aim was just to start living my life. I also hadn’t completely decluttered or organized. As I got everything off my pantry shelves to declutter, I found this on the surfaces of the shelves. Pretty nasty. After I cleaned and organized, it looked really nice and I can access everything I need.
It really flows now in this “after” photo and the next one.
As you can see from this “after” photo of the pantry closet, my rack on the far right, outside the pantry is jam packed with clutter. Next is the after photo of that rack.
Now, my grocery bags are assorted in the top, center and bottom racks according to fabric, plastic or paper respectively.
The light fixtures were grimey, and covered in dust and spiderwebs full of dead bugs!
Now, they shine!
Our food pantry was clogged up, but now it’s more functional and organized. Sorry, no “before” photo.
My laundry cabinets were a hot mess of old mail from prior tenants, my laundry stuff shoved in where I could fit it and other, random utility items the owners had left behind.
It was a bit of a quagmire of knick knacks, junk and stuff I need to be able to use on a daily basis.
It’s now organized and functional, as well.
I also had time to make a sugar free, dairy free, chocolate mousse with some left over, ripe avocados before they turned!
Nothing like a tasty, nutritious treat after all the accomplishments this week!
So what are your goals for 2024 and how many have you accomplished already?