For years, I used to write New Year’s resolutions without any real plan to achieve them. I’d jot down what I wanted and feel accomplished just having it on paper. Did I ever achieve anything on those lists? Yes—but only the goals I pursued with deliberate effort.

Sometimes, we stumble upon our goals without much strategy. For instance, if we want a higher income, we look for a higher-paying job, and bam! Goal achieved. But there’s a huge difference between reaching a goal with purpose and sustainability versus merely hitting a short-term milestone.

Over time, I’ve learned that effective goal-setting starts with defining your long-term vision and working backward to establish short-term steps. This approach has been a game-changer for me over the past three years. It’s taught me the value of patience, the power of intention, and the importance of trusting the process.

By dedicating 12 to 36 hours to personal planning, I’ve learned to discern between quick wins and sustainable action plans. This has helped me embrace delayed gratification—a skill essential for long-term success. After all, as the saying goes: “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.”

The Leadershift Goal Setting Kit

This year, I used Joe Hunt’s Leadershift Goal Setting Kit, which walks you through a step-by-step process to identify your three most important goals for the year. It all starts with a “wishlist”—a comprehensive list of what you’d like to achieve in various areas of life: mental, physical, family, social, spiritual, career, and financial.

I highly recommend this toolkit because it helps you assess how far you are from your goals, determine their urgency, and pinpoint what needs your focus now. One powerful exercise in the kit is answering this question:
“What would your goals be if you had only six months to live?”

This question, applied across all life areas, brought clarity to what truly matters. It gave me a strong sense of purpose and helped me zero in on my priorities. After all, you can’t excel at something if you’re not clear about why it’s important.

A Simple Goal-Setting Process

Here’s a quick process you can follow for effective goal-setting:

  1. Identify Your Top 3 Goals
    Focus on the three most important goals you must achieve this year. Write them down as if they’ve already been accomplished. For example:
    “My business generates an annual revenue of $3,000,000.”
  2. Find Your Theme
    Often, one of your three goals will naturally support the others. That goal becomes your theme for the year. For instance, if your theme is Financial Responsibility, your focus will be aligning your efforts toward that.
  3. Define Supporting Characteristics
    List the traits you need to embody to stay aligned with your theme. For example:
    • Resourceful
    • Budget-conscious
    • Hardworking
    • Committed
  4. Create a Plan of Action
    Break your theme into actionable steps. For example, under Financial Responsibility, you might:
    • Track daily spending.
    • Set a monthly budgeting session.
    • Review weekly savings goals.

By focusing on these habits and tracking your progress, you’ll set yourself up for sustainable success.

Share Your Tips

Do you have a personal goal-setting strategy that works for you? I’d love to hear it! Drop your thoughts in the comments. Let’s inspire each other to make this year purposeful and impactful.