Goal Setting For The New Year And A Reflection Of 2020

By: Katryna Pona of Kinspires

We are at the very end of 2020, and I’m sure we can all agree that it has been quite the year! No matter who you are, or where you’re from, all of us in this world have seen and felt a lot of things together.

With that said, it is the perfect time to focus on making 2021 our best year yet! (despite the chaos that is happening around us) And what better way to do that by reflecting on this past year and making goals for the up and coming year?

In this post, I will be explaining why reflecting before the new year is important to know where you’ve been and where you want to be in the future. As well as some ideas for goal setting for the new year.

A Year In Review: 2020 Reflection

Now, as excited as we all are to push forward and start thinking about our goals for 2021, it’s necessary that we review the year that’s about to pass us by- 2020.

I would recommend journaling about any successes ( big or small) that you’ve accomplished this year, and also some adversities you’ve had to overcome. Just everything that was amazing and meaningful to you overall in 2020.

I think before making any plans or goals for the upcoming year, it’s kind of nice to reflect back on the year you’re about to leave. You can feel appreciation and gratitude for all the things that were learned and experienced throughout the year.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself and journal about for a year in review reflection:

What valuable lessons did you learn?
What were the happiest times you experienced?
What could I have done differently?
What is something I am proud to have accomplished this year?
What challenges did I face and/or overcome?
Describe 2020 in one word (based on your personal life)
In what ways have I changed this year?

These are some good personal journal entries to ask yourself and reflect back on to contemplate on what you want to continue doing in 2021 or not.

Check out these websites that list out a variety of self-reflection questions that will guide you in your “year in review: 2020 reflection journaling.”

Your 2020 Year In Review: Questions to Ask Yourself

100 Personal End of Year Reflection and Review Questions

Goal Setting For The New Year!

Okay! Now let’s get into the exciting part, goal setting for the new year-2021.

There are many different types of ways to set goals and plan them. However, I want to share with you 3 effective ways you can start planning for the new year NOW! And these goals can be implemented any time of the year and throughout your life, it isn’t strictly meant for new year goal planning!

And actually with these 3 goal setting strategies you can combine them, or if one strategy works best for you than the other than that’s totally fine too! They all work together combined or alone, I’m going to briefly explain each strategy and how they work!

Quarterly Planning

Since, we are entering a new quarter in January 2021. This type of goal setting is perfect to implement and discuss first.

So what is Quarterly Planning?

Quarterly goal planning is a plan to set out and achieve your goals within a 3 month time-frame.

This 1st quarter would be from Jan-Mar 2021, and what I suggest is contemplating on what you want accomplished in your life during those 3 months. I really enjoy quarterly planning, because it allows you enough time to get things achieved in a certain amount of time. It is an effective way to think ahead in the upcoming months with a plan and vision in mind to accomplish things.

For this specific planning, I encourage you to have 3 main goals to focus on every quarter, so you can keep your focus on a few things at a time and not get overwhelmed.

For more in depth information on quarterly planning, check out my blog post on the 5 Effective Ways To Plan Quarterly Goals

5 Year Plan

This type of goal setting is perfect to plan ahead and make intentional plans and goals in your life. Developing a 5 year plan is a good foundation for quarterly planning. It better helps determine what actions need to be taken every quarter and every year up until the 5 years of what you want accomplished.

What is a 5 year plan?

The 5 Year Plan consists of goal setting, helps you achieve your goals and visualizing where you see yourself in 5 years from now.

I like to think of a 5 year plan as a very detailed and intentional plan to make all your dreams a reality. There is no right or wrong way to create a 5 year plan, in fact it is very simple.

What I like to do is brain dump on a piece of paper all the ideas I have that I would like to do or achieve in 5 years. Then I get another piece of paper out to outline and detail the specifics and actions that need to be taken to make it happen. And finally, I like to journal my 5 year plan by writing everything out as if I had already reached my 5 year plan goals. Doing this makes 5 year planning fun and exciting! It’s also nice to look back on and see how far you’ve come.

S.M.A.R.T Goals

S.MA.R.T goals are necessary to use with any type of goal setting or planning, because the only way to be successful is setting achievable goals. SMART goals consist of setting “smart” goals that will actually get you to achieve your goals through a method that works.

What are SMART goals?

SMART goals stand for… specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound

Here is an example on how to outline a SMART goal plan.

S- (Specific) Be specific and clear on what goal you want to be accomplished
M- (Measurable) Define what evidence will show that you’re making progress, and what will not
A- (Attainable) Make sure your goal is realistic to accomplish in the amount of time you want it
R- (Relevant) Make sure your goals makes sense and relevant to your overall plan
T- ( time-bound) Make sure there is a time-frame for the goal to be accomplished