Reviewing your achievements is a great place to start. This will remind you that your goals are doable, and will give you the enthusiasm to get down to business with your new set of goals. After acknowledging your achievements, take a look at your uncompleted goals, revise them as needed, and start your list for next year with those. If you are like us you will have several to get you started!

So how can you better prepare to achieve your goals in the coming year? Here’s the checklist we use:

1. Clearly State your Goals. Seems simple enough, but it actually requires some thinking. Adding in details will create a stronger image in your mind. So, under the goal of “Clean the attic,” for instance, write “Reorganize the boxes into categories of tax files, holiday decorations, camping gear, etc.; toss out the unused items; donate old clothes.” Be sure your goals are reasonable. What kills most goals it that they are unreasonable.
2. State your Deadline. Just putting a deadline on your goal throws a switch in your brain that says, “We’re really going to do this!” Is it doable in just one year? Or is it part of some master five-year plan? If you want to use that camping gear next summer, then put in an earlier date. Be sure to include your life goals – some people call this their “bucket list” – and record the progress you make towards them throughout the year.
3. Identify your Strategic Allies. Make a list of the folks who you will need to work with in order to achieve your goal, and what is in it for them. List what you need from each person. Again make sure it’s reasonable. They are helping you, so don’t blame them if they don’t come through.
4. Lay out the Sequence. Plan the chain of events that are dependent upon each other to bring your goal into fruition. Understanding the interdependencies will give you the confidence to keep going. What has to happen first, second, and third? Determine the milestones. Important – get started on the first milestone immediately.
5. Identify the Lead Times. How long does each sub-section of your goal take? Who has to be notified, give approval, or complete a project? How much notice do they need? Work backwards to discover when each detail needs to be accomplished. This way you won’t be surprised by a road block you could have seen coming and easily removed with adequate preparation.
6. Track your Status. Put your goal and your strategy to achieve it at the top of the page and enter your progress weekly. If you have no progress one week, that’s a great time to review your past progress posts. This will give you the confidence that you are making progress. It’s also a great time to review your goal, your plan, your allies, and your lead times. It is okay to make practical adjustments as you go.
7. Celebrate! Yes, plan a reward for yourself and others for achieving the goal. Maybe it is a camping trip once you clean the attic! Maybe it’s a dinner out, a party, or a purchase, but it is an acknowledgement that you have succeeded. Plan the reward when you set your goal to create the mental picture of yourself as happy and fulfilled after having achieved your goal. There’s nothing like a prize to make you want to win!

We have kept a goal book for years, which we regularly review. So, what’s stopping you now? Use this checklist to begin achieving your goals today!

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post 7 Steps to Setting and Achieving Your Goals for the New Year appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

1. List Your Achievements. How have you progressed so far? How many goals have you achieved this year? Reviewing your achievements is always encouraging because you can see the value in setting goals.
2. Identify Your Incomplete Goals. What goals did you set for this year that are yet to be achieved? Are they still relevant? If so, they need more time, so those are a great place to start your goal list for next year.
3. Write Your Annual Goals. What are the big goals you want to achieve for the New Year, for your business, your career, your health, and your education? Add those to the list of this year‘s goals that need more time. Now you have a core goal list.
4. Study the Year Ahead. Take a good look at a calendar with holidays and events already printed on it. This is the landscape of the New Year. This is the layout you can’t change, the one you must work within.
5. Set  Your Deadlines. Break down your annual goals into achievable milestones to be completed before each  3-day holiday weekend and post them on the calendar. Make a list of the milestones for that period and keep it handy throughout the period as a reminder to keep you on track.
6. Set the Lead Times. Calculate how long it takes to prepare for any event. Look to see if there  are there overlaps. By working backwards from the events, you will see when you must begin preparations.
7. Post the Must-Attend Dates. Identify the dates that you absolutely must attend, whether it’s at work or for a social affair. Those are the dates you can’t be on vacation.
8. Identify the Holiday Periods. When does school begin and end? Vacation spots are less crowded and often less costly when students return to school. When are the three-day weekends? These are great for short getaways. When are the key selling seasons? Some business people must plan months ahead to assure all is in place for essential selling seasons, and can take a break only after this essential work is completed.
9. Book Your Vacation. Now that you understand the fixed landscape of the coming year, when would be the ideal time for you to take your vacations? Buy your tickets now! You’ll get a better deal and you will have some hard dates by which to accomplish your goals. The rest of your work will fall in “magically” around your vacations.

By working with your goals on an actual calendar, you will be more likely to achieve them. When you discover the existing dated landscape that you must work within, you are setting yourself up for success. You will see the practicalities of the New Year and use it to your advantage. Your personal time-off rewards will be visible and your milestones will be more realistic.

You’ll be surprised how much you can achieve when you can see the end of the tunnel whether it’s a booked vacation or a three-day weekend. Nobody wants to come back to unfinished business and you won’t either. Be practical about your goals, the calendar, and your much-deserved rewards. Book your vacation now!

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post 9 Steps to Achieving Your Goals for the New Year appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.