#44 The Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting to make 2024 awesome 😎

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It’s one of my favourite times of year. That time between Christmas and New Year, when all the excitement of Christmas is over but I’m not working and I’m able to spend some relaxing time with my family and friends and also to reflect back on the past year and look forward to and plan my goals for the next year. 

And the more I read about it, the more I realise (a) “man setting goals is ridiculously important”. And (b) “man, most people (including me), don’t give anywhere near enough attention to goal-setting as we should".

I want to give you three frameworks for you to use to make 2024 a year where you make meaningful progress towards living Life to the Full.

Head over to find me on Instagram @dafyddmorse and @lifetothefullpodcast and let me know what goals you're setting for 2024. Now. Do it. Do it. Pop the trunk. Do it.

Transcript

The Ultimate Goal Setting process to make 2024 incredible

Shwmae shwmae guys and welcome back to the Life to the Full podcast…

It’s one of my favourite times of year. That time between Christmas and New Year, where all the excitement of Christmas is over but I’m not working and I’m able to spend some relaxing time with my family and friends and also to reflect back on the past year and look forward to and plan my goals for the next year. 

I recently got an email from Ali Abdaal. It wasn't personal. It was a mailing list email but hey. 

Quote from Ali Abdaal’s email. 

And the more I read about it, the more I realise (a) “man setting goals is ridiculously important”. And (b) “man, most people (including me), don’t give anywhere near enough attention to goal-setting as we should”.

If you don't know who Ali Abdaal is, he's a former doctor and Cambridge graduate who is now a YouTuber and general productivity guru. By many earthly Metrics, this guy is hugely successful and he still sees the value in setting goals. If Ali sees the benefit of it, then surely, we will reap the benefits of goal setting. if we set Goals that are appropriate for us, then it’s hard to imagine how our lives won’t be somehow enhanced in 2024. 

There are two incredibly important reasons to set goals. 

1. This is the most important. To become the type of person who hits their goals. 
2. To make your life better. 

The irony of setting “make my life better” as a goal is not lost on me!

I usually set annual goals but you could also set quarterly goals, 5 year goals, 10 year goals etc. That reminds me actually, I should go back and look at my five year goals from 2 years ago and see how things are going!

I started goal setting around 5 years ago and looking back at how much has changed in the last five years compared to the previous 10 is just a joyous experience. 

So much more exciting and fun stuff has happened simply because I've been intentional about what I want to do and achieve. I trust the same will be true for you too if you are a goal setter or want to become one!

I did do fun stuff before but my attitude towards improving my career and relationships was so laissez-faire that I didn't make anywhere near the meaningful progress that I might have made if I was more intentional in my goal setting. 

One of my goals this year will be to take my daughter skiing. This is a result of a goal I had 5 years ago to buy a rental property. When I bought my first rental property I had the goal of borrowing against that property to fund something fun. I love a good frugal tip and I love taking a minimalist approach to life when I can. I don’t like to buy stuff so when I think about purchases and expenses my thoughts aren’t how can I earn enough to pay for it but rather how can I buy assets that will pay for this expense. This is how to live like the rich. 🤑 

Whatever your thoughts on what it is to live like a rich person, the point is that without that goal, my other goals would be different. Your goals continue to compound over time. 

If you don't know where you're going then you can't start figuring out how to get there. You'll end up just wandering aimlessly and you'll look at your life in 10 years time and think, nothing has changed. If your life is already 100% awesome then no worries. No need to worry about goal setting. I am inclined to believe though that maybe not everything in your life is perfect and so by setting goals that are meaningful to you and your loved ones you can give yourself the best chance of hitting financial freedom, deepening relationships, running a marathon, buying a lambo, living abroad, take up beekeeping, developing a giving strategy or a solitude practice, whatever it is that's meaningful to you. 

So how do you go about goal setting so that you know that your life will more awesome 12 months from now?

I've read different books and articles on goal setting and I've listened to various people give their opinion of how to do it to maximise your results and I'll just condense my thoughts on the matter to give you a framework to developing your own goal setting process. I'll let it out in the layers going from simplest and easiest to more involved and intense. I've tried all of these and I've adapted things to my own process, which is in constant tweaking mode. 

But first let me give you my number one tip for goal setting and it's one I haven't heard anybody else talk about. 

You have to actually want the thing. 

You have to actually want to do whatever it is you set as your goal. 

You might be thinking, well duh! Of course you'll want the thing you have as a goal otherwise you wouldn't bother having it as a goal in the first place. 

Well yes and no. Have you ever thought of a goal because you've seen someone else with that goal? Or set a goal you think you SHOULD set? Or set a goal that someone else has given you?

It'll be much harder to reach these goals if they don't come from deep within and even if you do, you won't have the same sense of satisfaction. 

Once you've spent some time thinking about what you really want You're ready to get going with your goal setting. 

I've split this section into three levels. Each one has its pros and cons. They essentially trade simplicity for intensity as you go up the levels. 

Level one. 

Go back through your calendar and photos from the last year. What were the things that brought you most joy? Do more of that in 2024. What were the things that drained you and didn't bring you satisfaction? Do less of them in 2024. It's that simple. 

If you do this simple strategy, all things being equal you'll have a better 2024 than you did 2023. 

Level two. 

Answer the question what lessons have I learned this year? That will begin to give you some insight into how you can start to shape this year differently to last year. 

Have 3-4 goals you want to hit. When you make your goals, take a look at different areas of your life and write down what would be a meaningful change that you are committed to making this year. You may wish to go on monthly dates with each of your children. Or spend time every Friday in prayer and fasting. Or complete an Ironman triathlon. Or read 24 books or whatever it is. Make it specific and time bound. The most important thing is to have a practice of reviewing your goals daily and even more importantly have a plan of action which will make sure you hit your goals. 

Take for example my mate Dave. He wants to get fitter next year. He's got a plan to set a baseline assessment of his rowing, then is going to hit the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and he's going to repeat that baseline test at monthly intervals. Contrast that with someone who has the vague idea of I should get fitter. Who is most likely to hit their target? 

Make a plan. Always knows what your next most important next step towards your goals is. Always have a time in the diary to make it happen. 

Level 3. 

You have 1 year and 3 year and 10 year goals for each of these 9 areas in your life, with accompanying daily actions and next action steps written down. Are you ready for this?

Financial goals

Career goals

Family goals

Significant other goals

Social goals

Spiritual goals

Physical goals 

Personal Development goals

Positive Impact on the world goals

This means you'll end up with 9 things to do every day and 9 things that will be awesome 12 months from now. 

Take for example a career goal. You might have a goal to get a new job. Your daily action might be to check LinkedIn for potential opportunities. Your first next step might be to update your CV. Then when you've done that, apply for one job. Then prep for an interview. Maybe your daily action is to reach out to someone who might know of a role that might suit you. As long as it's something you can do daily that will move you closer towards hitting your goals, your good. 

This really is the ultimate goal setting system. If you follow this plan of having 1,3 and 10 year goals with accompanying daily actions, your life in a few years will be unrecognisable, in a good way! But you know what they say. The best system is the one you will actually use. 

That's why I'm more recently a type two kinda guy. I found with 9 categories I was writing goals down that weren't really vibing with me. I wasn't focused on anything enough to get things done. This year I'll have four goals. One family. One spiritual. One physical. And one other in my journal I'll have a section on the back where I have my four goals written down and underneath I'll have the most important next step written. Then when I've done that I'll write the next most important next step down and so on until I reach my goals. 

Here are a couple of extra bonus tips for you to think about that will help you with living life to the full. 

Make one time decisions and actions which negate the need for a goal or make it inevitable. 

Example. If you want to save £6000 this year then set up a standing order for £500 pm and you don't have to give it another thought all year. 

If you want a date night with your wife every week, you could book a baby sitter every week. Or you could agree with another family to alternate every week you look after their kids one week and they look after yours the other week. 

Write your goals down every day. This serves the purpose of keeping your goals forefront of your mind. It's a constant reminder to keep you on track. 

Finally, Take time to celebrate reaching your goals. That’s what I’m doing by taking my daughter skiing. I’m celebrating the financial goals win by making memories with my precious girl. I’m making tangible something that otherwise remains just a number on a screen. If you never take time to look at how far you've come and appreciate it and enjoy it. What are you even doing it for?  The path of the way, yes but if we keep moving the goalposts with no consideration for the present moment then we miss the entire point. 

I've quite enjoyed this episode, I hope you have too. I might end up expanding on this ultimate guide to goal setting in the new year, but then again, the winds may take me elsewhere! 

I'd love to hear what goals you're setting for 2024. You can get in touch on Instagram. I'm @dafyddmorse and @lifetothefullpodcast. 

Don't forget if you want to check out my audio course "Quit Teaching, start living" the link is in the show notes. Happy New Year, thanks for listening in 2023 and see you in 2024. Peace out.