How to Review Your Goals and Finish the Year Strong
I can’t believe that we are halfway through the year already. It feels like the times slips by faster each year. That’s why I think it’s so important to take time part way through the year to review your goals so you can finish the year strong.
Taking the time to review your goals can help you make sure you’re still on the right track.
Many of us spend time at the beginning of the year setting goals for what we want to accomplish. They were important enough for us to write them down and make a plan for how to reach them.
As the year gets going it’s easy to forget or lose sight of our goals in day to day life. Life happens, things get really busy or chaotic, and before we know it summer is here and our goals may have drifted to the realm of out of sight, out of mind.
Taking time to review your goals throughout the year will not only help keep them from getting forgotten, but it will also help ensure you’re working towards goals that really matter to you.
How to Review Your Goals
A goal review doesn’t have to be complicated or even take a lot of time. You can go through them as quickly as you like. Personally, I like to set aside an hour for this kind of task or plan it for an evening or afternoon when I know I don’t have anything else going on. This gives me freedom to take as little or as much time as I need.
When I do a review of my goals I follow four simple steps.
- Mark Progress
- Evaluate
- Adjust
- Celebrate
All you need for a review is a copy of your goals and your writing tools of choice. Personally, I use a pen and paper and I print a fresh copy of my goal setting pages. This way I have a few spares if I need them.
Mark Your Progress For Each Goal
A review of your goals begins with figuring out where you’re at with each goal. You can start by looking over the goals you set and crossing off any steps, milestones, and/or mini goals you’ve reached.
Then take a few minutes to reflect on each goal. How are you doing with the goal? Are you on track? Behind a little? Totally forgot about it?
There are no wrong answers here. You’re just taking stock of where you stand with the goals you set at the beginning of the year.
Evaluate Your Goals
This step is the most time consuming step, but I also think it’s the most important. Once you know your progress for your goals, you need to evaluate them. To do this, ask yourself the following questions about each goal.
- Is this goal still important or relevant to your life right now?
- What is working to help you achieve this goal?
- What isn’t working?
- Are there any changes you need to make to this goal to make it fit your life better?
- What changes or steps can you take to make it easier to reach this goal?
It’s important to give yourself some time to really reflect on these questions and answer truthfully, especially that first question. Make notes about your answers so you have something to reference when you get the next step.
Life is fluid and it changes constantly. Sometimes the goals we think are important no longer fit with where we are in life. There’s no point giving your time and attention to something that isn’t really relevant to you anymore. That’s why it’s so important to take time to review your goals every now and then.
Make Adjustments to Your Goals
Sometimes we need to make a few adjustments to our goals to help them better fit our lives. Use your answers from the evaluation step to help you determine if any of your goals need adjustments and what those adjustments might be.
The first and easiest adjustment to make is to decide if the goal is really worth your time and effort to keep pursuing. It is ok to decide to stop working towards a goal. You can set it aside for later or just get rid of it all together.
I did that with two of my goals this year. I still want to reach those goals, but right now they don’t fit with where our life is. I’m a dig in my heels and get it done kind of person, so letting go of a goal isn’t always easy. But you know what happens when you let go of, or set aside, a goal that isn’t working for you? You make room to work on ones that matter more.
Once you know which goals you’re going to keep and which (if any) you’re letting go of, use your answers about what isn’t working to figure out how to adjust your goal to change that.
This might mean changing the steps or milestones. Maybe you need to give yourself more dedicated time to work on your goal. You might decide you need to ask for some help or delegate some tasks to others.
Write down your adjustments. Sometimes I like to write out my goals on a fresh sheet when I get to this step, but you could just write them wherever you have your goals written down or use sticky notes to add them to your pages
Celebrate Your Success with Your Goals
No matter how small your progress or whether or not you think you’ve come far enough, you need to make time to mark your success. Progress is still progress, and to me, that’s success.
Even if your progress is throwing out all the goals you set at the beginning of the year and making new ones.
Celebrate!
You know what you no longer need or want, that’s success!
Maybe you’ve only made the first step towards your goals.
Celebrate!
You’re still moving forward. Baby steps are still momentum.
You set goals at the beginning of the year and then forgot about them until right now.
Celebrate!
Planning your goals is an important action. It deserves recognition. Life happens to us all. You know what your next step is and you can get started at any time.
It is so easy to look at what we haven’t done and feel like we’re falling behind or not measuring up. We need to take the time to celebrate all our smallest victories just as much as we need to celebrate the big ones. It helps to motivate us to move forward and it put the emphasis on the positive.
What To Do After Your Goal Review
You’ve taken the time to review your goals and celebrate your successes, now what do you do? Well, you identify the next steps you need to take for your goals and you do them.
Maybe you’ve decided that you need a new goal or two, or you want to spend some more time tweaking your plans for your goals. Your next step is to set aside time to do that.
If you need some extra planning help with your goals you can check out the posts linked below for some printables that might fit your needs.
- Plan Your Goals so You Can Reach Your Goals – goal setting worksheets
- Keep on Track with the New Project Planner Printables – a set of printables designed to help make planning projects a little easier.
- Black and White Project Planner Printables – same set as the post above, just designed in black and white.
That’s all there is to it. Making time to review your goals at least once throughout the year is a great way to make sure you’re still on the right track for you. It’s also a great way to remind yourself of what you’re working towards and ensure that your goals fit your life.
Now It’s Your Turn
I’d love to hear how you’re doing on goals. Do you review them often or is this the first time? How are you celebrating your success so far this year?
Drop me a line in the comments below to let me know.
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