Six Life Coach Strategies to Set and Keep Your New Year’s Goals

How the successful set goals to meet their dreams each year

You can set goals at any point, but I love the clean slate a new year gives us to map out changes we’d like to see and the dreams we’d love to unfold.

A new year is like a fresh blanket of winter’s snow gleaming in front of you. Untouched and ready for you to dive in.

If you want this to be a productive as well as a happy new year — here are six methods used by life coaches to help their clients achieve what they truly want. To help you make this year your best one yet.

Firstly, reflect on the past year:

Think about each month of last year. Include where you were, who you were with, how you felt and what you achieved. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and answering these questions can help you steer the future in the right direction.

Set aside 20 minutes with your journal or notes. Then, put your phone on airplane mode. Sit with your favorite cup, and music that helps you focus and relax. Light a candle or incense, snuggle under a blanket and write down your answers. For the last year:

• Which people made it brighter — who you did and didn’t know before?
• What are three magical memories?
• How have you changed?
• What are the most significant things you learned?
• What are you ready to leave behind in 2022?

Looking back on your growth, who you met and what you learned sparks gratitude and wisdom to nurture our future goals. You’ll likely find achievements to celebrate, life-changing lessons and beautiful connections you made.

Then, set goals for the year ahead:

Being intentional about the new year ahead also helps give us precision and clarity. Visualizing what we want to happen is a researched back way to help us reach our goals. This method helps successful business people, entertainers and athletes reach their highest work and life aims.

Six practical ideas to make and set your new year’s goals:

There may be one or more you haven’t tried yet but really suits your style.

1. Journal self-enquiry questions: If you like the journaling answers method above, here are question suggestions to illuminate your goals for 2023: What would make this the most epic year yet, professionally & personally? What are your top 3 intentions for 2023? What’s something you enjoy doing and you’d like to do more of? How can you commit to taking good care of yourself? Which 3 things would you like to stop doing?
2. Choose your word of the year: Decide what you want to prioritize in 2023. For example, your: community, health, self care, relaxation, love, focus, productivity, service, creativity, home, stability, financial abundance or joy. Choose 1–3 words or themes that could steer your year in the right direction. Write them down somewhere you see them often, like your phone background or cover, your desk or fridge. When you are making decisions in 2023, keep these priorities in mind and think of big or small ways to bring them into your life.
3. Keep a daily planner for your priorities: Personally, I’ve started my new Productivity Method planner by entrepreneur Grace Beverly. These are sold out for now. However, others like Intelligent Change’s Productivity Planner can help you limit procrastination, keep up with your goals and daily habits. Having your priorities planned out the night before your day, week or month helps you get straight into what’s most important first thing. You can see Forbes’ suggestions for top 2023 planners here.
4. Meditate to know what you really want: For you if you enjoy visualization meditations to get beyond your mind and dive into your deep desires. I first tried a future-self meditation in 2017, when I actually foresaw my current partner and the apartment I live in now. Here is my guided meditation on Insight Timer to help you see and connect with what you really want for the year ahead.
5. Work out your big goals and make them actionable: Think of 1–4 BIG things you’d really like to achieve in the next 5–10 years. Then break them down into annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily actionable goals. The Timestripe app / website helps make this easy. Make goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant & time-bound) — but take care with the achievable part. According to Gates’ Law “most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.” Try to go BIG for the 5–10 year goals — why not 10x what you initially think is possible and go for it!
6. Brainstorm everything you’d like to achieve next year: A more free-form journal exercise can be to brainstorm specific things you’d like to achieve or happen in 2023. You can split this into lists of different categories, for example: places to visit, things to do, achievements etc. These can include: learning a new language to a certain level, finishing a certification, reading books, visiting a country, trying a new hobby etc. You can then schedule check-ins with your list(s) once a month or quarter and see how you’re doing. I find simply writing things down from the heart can help them happen for real.

To conclude:

Choosing one (or several) of these methods can help you get clarity on what you want to achieve when you set goals. This, in turn, can make it more likely that you make your dreams happen. I hope you find them useful, and wishing you a happy, successful and focused year ahead.