15 quick tips to prioritize your goals, schedule, and focus this year
The new year is here and with it typically comes a renewed sense of excitement, energy, and motivation to do things differently. To finally finish that project you started, to make more friends, to stick to your workout routine, to eat healthier, and the list goes on.
After helping hundreds of people with their goals, mindset, and motivation over the last five years, I've seen a few key areas that tend to get in people's way the most with their new year's goals or resolutions. You can read or watch more about them here: 5 Reasons Your New Year's Goals May Not Stick.
Photo by The Wilson Media Co.
When it comes to simple ways to make your new habits easier to stick, I've got lots of ideas for you. These habits, tips, and routines help me and my clients to keep us focused on our goals, by removing distractions, and making life easier for ourselves.
I'd recommend you start with the first tip in each section below (they are the most hard-hitting for high impact) and work your way down each list.
One of my favorite coaching techniques with my clients is the 'do it now' coaching where they quickly implement something we just talked about while we're in a session together. It's high-level accountability for them to do what they said they'd do, take a first baby step to get their momentum going, and boost their confidence which can translate into taking bigger steps between our sessions.
So I'll challenge you to do the same now. Set a timer for 5 minutes and see how many of these you can get through. If it's not something you can do right now, add it to your calendar or planner to complete in the next week.
This is the big differentiator for people who actually make progress on their goals and projects: their habits and discipline. Most people know they need to be doing these things but they don't follow through on them. I challenge you to be one of the few that commits to yourself and makes your life better and easier for yourself.
Prioritizing your goals throughout the year, not just in January
One of the biggest issues people have when sticking to their goals is that a year is a long time to stay focused on something. We've probably all heard the stat that 80% of new year's resolutions get abandoned by the end of February. To counteract that, these tips will help you prioritize your goals and stay accountable over the long term.
Make sure your goals are measurable and realistic. These are the two most people are missing when they set their goals for the year. For a goal to be measurable, you need to be able to define what success looks like (and how it's different from today). It's best to avoid emotion-based goals because emotions change like the wind and you can't necessarily control them. When a goal is measurable, it's also easier for us to break it down into smaller steps. For a goal to be realistic, think about all the other priorities and goals in your life and work, think about what it will take to complete the goals, and ask yourself if it's realistic to complete in the time you're giving yourself? A lot of us overachievers tend to overcommit then beat ourselves up for not being able to do ALL the things perfectly.
Post your goals somewhere you'll see every day. I like to use post its in areas like the bathroom mirror, refrigerator, and my office desk for daily reminders of my goals and intentions. You may need to move them around or rewrite them in different colors over time because your brain will naturally start to ignore them after it gets used to seeing them.
Choose a word of the year as your intention of what you want to be focusing on. Use it as motivation when you're feeling stuck or disconnected from your bigger vision.
Share your goals with friends to hold each other accountable and cheer each other on. You may event want to schedule check-ins or 'power hours' where you both spend an hour working on your own goals or projects and are there together (or on Zoom) to hold each other accountable to stay on track.
Reflect on your goals each month and adjust as necessary. Consider adding reminders to your phone or calendar to check in on your progress consistently. And remember, it's okay if things change along the way.
Organizing your schedule to create more time for you (and your goals)
Another thing I hear a lot from people is that they 'don't have time' to focus on their personal goals. Most of the time, we are wasting a lot of time and don't realize it. So once we focus our time and schedules, we'll find a lot of extra time and energy for our goals.
Each day choose one to three things you HAVE to get done that day, and do them first. This 'eat the frog' technique helps you get the most important work done first in your day so that you're focused on highest priority items that have the biggest impact, instead of avoiding those and doing the easy or low impact work instead.
Plan your week ahead on Sunday or Monday. Take about an hour to review your schedule, block time on your calendar when you'll need to prep for meetings, drive to and from appointments, or follow up after a meeting. This helps you be more proactive with your schedule so you're not simply reacting to what's getting scheduled by other people. It also helps you be more prepared for what you'll be doing and gives you the space to follow up quickly after meetings (hint: most people don't do this so you'll stand out).
Review your personal and work schedule together. This has been a game-changer for both me and my clients. Not all weeks or days will be the same level of busy - we need to be able to handle the ebb and flow of life and work cohesively. One area that really helps me and my clients is meal planning in advance. My husband and I start our meal planning by talking about our schedules for the week to know who is able to cook which nights and how much time we'll have to dedicate to cooking and prepping. This technique also helps my clients to plan in advance so that if they'll be in all-day meetings and exhausted by the end of the day, they know to prep a crockpot in advance or ask their partners for help on those days. We all need to eat everyday so this adds up to a lot of time saved during the week when you already know what you'll be making and have the ingredients you need.
At the end of each week, reflect on your wins and learnings. This is super helpful for learning and adjusting your habits and goals along the way as needed. Remember: just because it works for someone else doesn't mean it will work for you. You may need to keep tweaking your habits and routines to find what's best for you. This habit also helps you acknowledge and celebrate your small wins to stay motivated over the long term.
Add reminders and important dates on your phone or calendar. This is an extra layer to help you be more proactive at work and in your life. At work, add project deadlines, milestones, and other recurring checkpoints for yourself (weekly, monthly, quarterly goals) to your calendar. For your personal life, think about adding important recurring dates to your calendar (including birthdays and anniversaries), blocking your calendar for upcoming vacations, and always set reminders for free trials ending.
Reducing distractions from technology to help you stay focused and motivated
Almost every client of mine has mentioned that they waste their extra time on their phone or social media specifically instead of doing things that they care about (like working on their goals). For most of us, it's an automatic habit that's hard to break. These tips will help you start to break these habits and instead, focus on what's most important to you.
Turn off as many notifications as you can on your phone and laptop. Another game-changer here. I turned off email and social media notifications off both my phone and laptop at least 5 years ago and now, I don't know how I ever had them on. We're all so distracted by our phones as it is, so why do we need more distractions with constant notifications? Let me further reiterate this and remind you that your DM's can wait, it doesn't matter if someone likes your post, and most emails are not urgent.
Delete or move social media apps around on your phone regularly so you break the habit of just clicking into them when you're bored, anxious, or overwhelmed. Better yet, put a 'productive' app (learning, reading, calendar, notes list, task manager, etc.) where the social media apps used to be so if you still click out of habit, you'll end up doing something productive instead.
Hide your email inbox (if you can) to get into focused work. Most people working in corporate settings do not need to be constantly checking their emails. For the vast majority of us, the emails are not life or death, and most of the time they're not even urgent. So next time you need focused time to work on something, close out of your email for an hour or two. You'll likely find you can get more done and you haven't missed anything important.
Use silent or do not disturb modes on your phone every night. You can set these up as an automatic setting on most phones. This can help reduce the amount of time you're on your phone at night which in turn will also help you sleep, which will then help you be more productive the next day. Our evening habits and routines have a huge influence on how we feel the next day. If you're already doing this, an advanced version is to put your phone in a black and white screen mode at night so it makes social media apps less visually appealing so you won't stay on them as long.
Unsubscribe from email lists that you don't need or want to receive anymore. A lot of us are inundated with emails that we don't even look at anymore. So take five minutes to go through your inbox and unsubscribe from as many as you can. If there are some that you want to refer back to in the future (for coupons or research) you can set up a rule where it skips your inbox and goes into a folder for when you're ready to review it.
Want more support to stop the bleeding of your time and energy? Join me for the 12-week accountability coaching package and you'll become less stressed, more confident, and in control of your time and energy. The first step is to schedule a free discovery call with me.
Brittany Canaski is a highly-rated Leadership Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hello Velocity where she builds confident leaders and high-performing teams. When she's not building her business, you can find her planning her next travel adventure with her husband, watching Formula 1 racing, or volunteering in her local community of Charlotte, NC.
