Got goals, or not sure what goals you want? Here’s my guide on how to set intentions for the new year. So if you’re not sure how to set goals and intentions for the year, or even know what these words mean then do keep reading as here are my four top tips for goal setting success.

How To Set Intentions For The New Year With Words 

First start with your intentions. Intentions are the aim, the purpose and the goal you want to achieve. And a great way to do this is by selecting a word that you can expand on. Also when it comes to setting intentions they don’t always have to be business-related, they are goals you want to achieve. It could be that you aren’t very confident so this may be an area you want to work on for yourself and even in return could help your business. So examples of words for intentions could be:

• Collaborative 
• Focused 
• Fun 
• Strong 
• Confident 
• Established 
• Calm 

From these words I would select at least three and think about why, what do they mean to you, what do you hope to achieve? 

How To Set Intentions For The New Year And Reach Them With Goals

We now move into setting goals to meet those intentions and from this depending on what intentions you set, sometimes a month might be a bit too short to get some of the big goals done.

So, it’s important to have both yearly and monthly goals, but between those, also quarterly goals. 

And if you’re not yet doing it, I absolutely recommend you try it! It can take your goals setting (and achieving!) to a whole nother level!

Here are four tips for setting actionable goals supported by intentions.

1. Identify Your ‘Why’

Before you actually set any goals or intentions for the year, first identify why you want to achieve them and how your life may be better as a result. “Any type of change is hard, and this ‘why’ is something you can hang on to when things get challenging,” think about how your current business is meeting those why(s)? and then think about how you want your business to look and feel by the end of the year?

2. Get Clear On What You Don’t Want

If you’re not sure exactly which goals or intentions to set, it can be helpful to reverse engineer the process and first get clear on what you don’t want to experience moving forward. Often thinking about what we want can feel overwhelming and sometimes looking at it in a different way of what we don’t want allows this to become an easier process and clearer. 

3. Focus On It Step By Step

While setting big, dramatic goals is great in theory, they can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Trust me I know! I am not a great goal setter and always am too high. I am someone full of ideas that I can’t seem to choose a goal or goals that are dreams as well as the reality of being achievable and the problem with this is as humans when we don’t achieve something we want its natural to feel down and this isn’t the goal we want. 

So when thinking on your’s, yes dream big but also make sure at least some are realistic.

4. How To Set Intentions For The New Year In A ‘SMART’ Way

Once you’ve nailed down your goal, I recommend turning these into SMART goals. This means you are allowing your goals to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.  

This then allows you to determine what metrics you will use to measure and track your progress because how do you know you’re meeting those goals if you’re not monitoring and measuring them! When I think about how to set intentions for the new year this tips here is the BIGGEST!. In point three on focus we mentioned how as humans we feel disheartened when we don’t achieve what we want and this is why this point brings so much value and allows us to not feel upset because when we measure we see the errors and can action these to then make a change. 

So like we say, metrics are a way to measure your goals, they are an indicator of success but ensure you pick ones that are relevant to what you need. Metrics can include things like sales, enquirers, how many followers gained on social media, how many messages.  

From these tips, if you are still not sure, then here is an example of the process. 

Set The Intention For the New Year 

• Communicative – to connect with current and new clients through retention on email marketing to make new sales. 

Create the Goal You Want From This 

• To increase online sales by 20% in the next 12 months 
• To retain current customers by 20% through email marketing over the next 12 months 

Measures Your Success And Make Changes To Reach Your Goal

• Email sign ups 
• Click throughs 
• Enquires/sales

So, from this it allows you to investigate things further and see what is and isn’t working to meet those goals and how you can make a change. For example, if one email had a 20% email open rate and the second month had a 30% email open rate, what changed, why? It allows you to see what’s changed and how your next email can be improved to meet the end goal. 

I hope you have found this useful on how to set intentions for the new year and are now ready to action it in your business planning. If you are unsure of anything or want a little support, I’d be happy to help. You can read more about my strategy services here, you can even book a one off power hour to tackle together here or alternatively lets book a free chat!