As the New Year is quickly approaching us we will be inundated with articles regarding setting resolutions and goals for the upcoming year.

I take a two-prong approach: I set my guiding intentions using the 3 Words method that Chris Brogan has been using since 2006 (here’s his for 2020). A quick Google search of “3 words Chris Brogan” returns 799k results. While not every one of those is a post on someone setting their 3 words, randomly clicking through the never-ending pages shows how far and wide this has spread. Though I haven’t published my 3 Words every year, I have thought through and set them every year since 2008.

The other prong is setting between 3-5 actionable goals, per a set of categories, that I want to improve or change. Some of these goals are achievable by taking a single action while others are achieved by developing a habit.

Throughout the year, I review where I am with both of these areas and make adjustments where needed, ending the year with an Annual Review similar to what Chris Guillebeau conducts.

While I’ll publish what my 3 words are for the upcoming year on January 1st, here is how I structure my goal areas. As I set these goals, I ensure that they’re specific, actionable, and achievable:

Financial

Within this section I set goals around saving for my 401(k), IRA contributions, paying off student loans, or other similar financial areas. For others this may be saving a certain amount of money in their rainy day fund. To make this actionable, you need to break it down by how much of each paycheck you will transfer into that account. Better yet, take an action to set up an automatic transfer between your checking and savings account so that you never “see” that amount moving between the accounts.

This is probably the section that I set the least number of goals simply because they can be major goals such as maxing out 401(k)s or setting up a mutual fund with an initial amount.

Donations

As many know, giving back is important to my wife and I therefore each year I set specific goals to ensure that we either increase or maintain our donating efforts. As two examples:

1. Each year we increase the amount we donate to Feeding America by $10. While this only amounts to $120 on the year, it provides 1,200 additional meals to those who need it the most.

2. An area that we’ll maintain is ensuring that we donate to Family Giving Tree for back-to-school and Christmas as well as Feeding America for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Generally these amounts stay the same yearly. No matter what changes in our lives financially, such as being out of work, we will contribute the same amount because there are still millions around the world that have far less than we do.

   Usually during the holidays, either major contributors will match 2:1 all donations made to Feeding America during the holidays therefore extending the amount donated.

Wellness

Health and fitness is important to me. I don’t believe in setting goals such as “lose weight” because it is neither specific nor actionable. It may be achievable but there is no “how” in how it will be achieved (read: what actions you will take). Additionally, even if you have a goal of the number of pounds you want to lose, there are several other measurements that matter more such as body fat percentage or waist circumference. These will have an affect on the overall weight that you lose and weight is a directional indicator but shouldn’t be the actual goal.

However, setting a goal around the number of steps you want to take per day, especially if you’re mostly sedentary due to your job, is something that you can work on increasing. It is something that can be measured on a daily basis and tracked over time.

Another area of wellness that is achievable and good for your body is to increase your water intake. Actions you can take there is to purchase a water bottle that is a certain number of ounces and then set a goal of many bottles of water you want to drink per day. Set up a spreadsheet or area within your notebook where you can check off each day you achieve your goal.

In addition to other goals I have this year, I have set an average number of skips that I’d like to achieve. After using a cheaper jump rope for a number of months, I received a full set of Crossrope. To ensure that I can measure my goal, I have a spreadsheet set up that tracks daily skips with weekly and monthly averages.

Fun

Fun encapsulates several areas. One of the easiest to capture this is by taking a vacation. Though 2020 took away that option, forcing us to cancel or reschedule several trips, including heading back home for the holidays, we have looked at ways to make up for it in 2021. For example, our family has a vacation scheduled in July to Hawaii. Of course we’re monitoring what will happen between here and there with the vaccinations but it something that we’ve booked so that we have something fun to look forward to.

Others may have a family game night that they want to start a routine around or a date night with their significant other. This could take the shape of gardening or starting a hobby. Whatever it is, it has always been an important area for me, even if I only have 1-2 goals for it (one of which is almost always travel).

While these categories or structure may not be for you, hopefully it provides insight into how I have found success with achieving my goals. These goals are often flexible and evolve over the course of the year. Being out of work for the majority of the year changed my goal of maxing out my 401(k), for example. But, at the same time, I’ve achieved and set other goals.

What are some of your goals for 2021?