Goal Setting
I hate goal setting!
In fact, up until a few years ago, I would have told you I don’t set goals, except I do.
I just don’t do it in a way that is S.M.A.R.T (you know Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bound) except they are.
Let me explain…
I am a journaler, a vision board maker, a post-it notes, and meditation gal.
So, for years, I thought since I didn’t “officially” make goals on paper in December I wasn’t doing it right. The truth is I am setting goals all the time. Envisioning concepts, implementing ideas, trying new programs. It might look different than list making but that is what has worked for me.
Until someone taught me this method – and I apologize – I don’t know who the originator of this simple concept was… I just know that once I learned this method it has stuck.
Here’s how I’ve used it, maybe it will work for you…
A few times a year I draw a circle in my daily planner.
I put the date in the middle circle.
I set a time for 5 or 10 minutes.
I write down everything I want to achieve personally and professionally under each time slot.
That’s it.
Periodically – I flip back in my planner and notice that I have achieved many of the goals I set for myself. I know that might not be the best business plan. I know it probably needs more but it works for me.
In 2016, the first year I attended our National Speakers Association Influence conference, I wrote a goal in my planner that I wanted to earn my CSP (Certified Speaking Professional designation) by 2025. The CSP designation is the speaking profession’s highest-earned international measure of professional platform competence. Fewer than 800 speakers of NSA members worldwide have earned the CSP designation. It is a rigorous and significant designation, and as such, it is difficult to obtain.
As we start, 2025, unfortunately, I am not yet ready to submit my application for CSP. During the first year of COVID my income dipped just a few thousand dollars below the yearly requirement, and I didn’t realize it until 2022, so I will need an extra year to complete the application.
Am I mad at myself that I didn’t hit my goal? No way. That goal honestly felt like it was 100% out of reach in 2016. I am so proud of how far I’ve come professionally, and I know I will be ready to apply for this designation in 2026, the perfect time for me.
I have a note on my desk that I wrote to myself many years ago during a professional gathering of peers, it says, “I trust and know that everything happens in divine timing.”
May your goal setting for 2025 be fun and fluid and make you happy even if it takes you a little longer to hit your goals.
