I’ve been spending the start of the New Year planning.I’ve been formulating a plan on how I’m going to reach my own goals this year and I’ve been having one to one sessions with my team to help them create their own success plans.Some people might think this is a long-winded approach to goal setting.Why not jump straight into action you might ask?It’s simple: Having a goal without a plan is like having a ship with no destination.Giving yourself time to create a plan, with a clear focus is key to achieving our goals long term. It allows us to break down our end goal into smaller, achievable tasks that we can monitor the progress of.These smaller steps towards success are integral to our motivation levels and give us a clear vision of what needs to be done in order to reach our bigger goals.Once I’ve broken down my end goal into bite-sized tasks, I find it useful to allocate myself a rough deadline to reach each task. This encourages me to manage my time responsibly, keeps me motivated and holds me to account.Whilst I might not hit every task on time, it pushes me to stay focused even when I’m having an off day.I read a fantastic quote recently from the record-breaking sprinter, Usain Bolt. He said:“I trained 4 years to run 9 seconds and people give up when they don’t see results in 2 months.”This puts the importance of giving yourself time into perspective and it’s so true! In the age of social media, people are becoming more and more conditioned to expect immediate gratification.They see someone driving a Porsche and they want one. They see someone with a Rolex watch, and they want one. What they don’t see is the work that’s gone in to getting those expensive things.Reaching your goals, whatever they might be takes time and energy and for me, the planning and preparation stages are non-negotiable.It’s been great sitting down with my team over the last few weeks and really honing into what their goals are.It’s not uncommon for people to hold back initially because there’s a sense that once we say our goals out-loud or write them on paper. we’re committing ourselves to them and this can feel scary! It opens us up to the possibility of failure, a word that’s been tarnished with negativity when in fact it’s the greatest teacher.Once we get over this hurdle and nail down our goals together, it’s a real delight to see people start getting excited about the prospect of what they can achieve, and this becomes even more tangible once we start breaking it down into smaller tasks.Success very rarely happens over-night, it takes hard work and it takes time. There’s an element of patience and self-belief involved in order to focus on the long-term gains.I’ve had great feedback from everyone I’ve met up with for a planning session and I’ve found each of them extremely valuable myself but whether you’re setting your 2022 intentions alone or with a business colleague, mentor or friend, here are my 3 tips.

1. Put pen to paper – write down your goals in as much detail as you possibly can. Read over them regularly, visualise yourself achieving them and ask yourself how you’ll feel when you get to that end goal.
2. Prioritise one goal at a time and break it down into smaller, achievable tasks. Then set yourself a timeframe to work on each of those smaller tasks.
3. Assess potential obstacles and set backs and think about how you might feel if you run into them. Pre-empting these set backs can help to minimise the impact they have on your progress and help you handle them when they do inevitably happen.

Good luck with your goal setting and remember, time really is the key to unlocking your full potential.