It’s hard to believe, but 2022 is just around the corner. Now is the time to reflect on what we’ve learned from last year before setting goals for 2022. Also, how we should carry ourselves into the new year. By setting goals now, we can visualize how to accomplish them, increase productivity before we even hit January. 

Here’s how you can get started with setting your goals for the new year. 

Review Accomplishments

To look forward, we must first look back. Grab a pen and a piece of paper, and begin jotting down your progress throughout the year, month by month. 

Writing by hand has an important link to learning and memory. By putting pen to paper, you make a stronger connection to what you’re writing and think critically as you put the words on paper for greater effectiveness. List what your victories were throughout the year, and what you’d like to improve.

It’s important to review how you spent your time as well. Are there areas in your life you can rearrange to increase productivity? Look back at how you managed your time last year to see if your work-life balance tipped too far in one direction. Time for yourself is vital and shouldn’t be neglected, but you also want to maintain your professional productivity to accomplish what you set out to do. 

Now that you’ve written it all out, evaluate how you feel about the accomplishments made over the last year. What, if anything, would you change? Once you know that, you can figure out how you can make those changes. 

Setting Goals

You’ve reflected on what worked in the past, and what didn’t. Now you can move forward and begin outlining the goals you want to see come to fruition in 2022. Knowing what you want from the next year helps narrow your focus on what needs to be accomplished. 

For starters, look at what projects you wanted to finish in 2021 that you didn’t get around to. Should they be a top priority in 2022? Or was there a good reason they weren’t completed, and for greater effectiveness, you should focus on an alternative solution next year?

Now set aside time to go over the plans for the coming year and consider how you’ll get there. Without these reflections, you’ll be without a clear path forward. As a personal example, my team is taking a three-day retreat to outline our goals and set ourselves up for success in 2022. We’re getting a head start on our goals to begin forming the habits and routines that support us in what we’re setting out to do.

Follow Through

The effectiveness of our plan is directly impacted by our commitment. Allotting time to plan is essential, but so is the act of following through. One method to help with follow-through with our goals is to frame them in a positive light and hold ourselves accountable. Working as a team, each member is responsible for keeping one another on track so that we all succeed.

It’s okay to stumble as a new routine is implemented, but as a team, we must work together to ensure we all achieve. Goals cannot be met by planning alone. Plans require action and cooperation to be effective. Working under a set schedule can help alleviate some pressure, and checking in with one another assures that all members of the team are productive.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to outlining our goals for 2022, we have to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses from 2021. From there we can decide on the best course of action in pursuing our goals and create a plan we can stick to. As a team, we must hold each other accountable and continue to increase our effectiveness to accomplish our goals.