Clarify Your 2021 Goals With These Three Questions

It's coming up to that time of year again, the time when we all take a notion to write down our goals and resolutions, only to abandon them before February flies in. Whatever your goal—whether it's to meditate more, get fit, or even find your soul mate—it's easy to write down what you want to achieve, and even easier to forget all about it two weeks into January. Each year we declare "this time it'll be different"! Each year it's the same. But it doesn't have to be that way.

2021 can be the year you finally achieve your resolutions. To increase your chances of sticking to your goals this year, grab a pen, a notebook, and a cup of tea (optional, but very much recommended). Jot down your resolutions or New Year goals, and for each one, write down your answers to these three questions...

1. Why is this goal important to me?

One of the most powerful ways to achieve your goals, is to get clear on your why. Why is it that you want to achieve this goal? How will you feel when you achieve it? How will your life be different with success in this area? Reflecting on these questions will help you understand why your goal is important to you. With a greater understanding of why you're bothering to pursue a goal, comes greater motivation to actually put in the hard work and excel at the task at hand. When the why comes first, the how naturally falls into place.

Your why should be crystal clear to you, you'll need to review it throughout the year to remind yourself when times get tough and you feel like giving up. If at some point your stated motivation no longer speaks to you, you'll need to revise it.

I'm a big believer in the power of why, read more here.

2. What does success look like?

Now that you've a clear idea understanding of your why, it's time to clarify what success looks like to you, if you were to achieve this goal. This is especially important with New Year's resolutions because they are often so vague. Take a common New Year's resolution: to eat healthier. Well, great, but how will you know if you've achieved your goal? Is it cutting out meat on weekdays, or is it more about eating your greens? It's time to get specific with your goal.

As you write down what success looks like to you in this area of your life, you'll find that some points actually help reinforce your why, such as "I'll know I've been successful in getting fitter when I feel less sluggish."

Other points will help you with your how, such as "a healthier me goes running three times a week."

These whys and hows build up to paint a picture of what you're looking to achieve, and offer a road map to get there.

3. What is the one thing you can do to achieve this goal?

Finally, for each of your goal areas, choose one specific action you will do to work towards your goal. This can be one big step—say, starting at a gym and getting a personal trainer—or it could be a daily or weekly habit that you will incorporate into your life, like going for a walk every morning.

This step is inspired by the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. The authors suggest that to help you achieve your goals, you should ask yourself: "What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?" This allows you to focus your efforts on the one step that could lead to success. By choosing your one thing, you get to ignore the unhelpful and less effective tactics, and put all your energy into something that will make a difference and propel you towards achieving your goal.

Even if you have the same goal as someone else, your 'one thing' might be different to theirs. This question is all about reflecting on your life and your own personal motivations, quirks, strengths, and weaknesses, and ultimately coming up with one actionable commitment that works for you.

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There you have it, three simple questions to ask yourself to help you achieve all your 2021 resolutions.

If you want to follow along with my own goals and other musings, follow me on Instagram, @byclairep.