Stepping up in life and achieving something big is not easy, but it will be easier if you start by thinking about what you want to achieve next year and then set up your personal and business goals for 2024.
Personal and business or career goals often overlap as we regularly define ourselves by what we do in life. It’s just how it is.
Start To Plan Now
The end of 2023 is the perfect time to set goals for 2024. You still have plenty of time to contemplate about the direction of your life.
Below are my top 4 areas in life you can improve and work on. You should break down each of them into smaller steps so they are more achievable. Don’t bite more than you can chew on!
Let’s see an example.
Both John and Mark decided to run a marathon in 2021. They noticed that plenty of successful and powerful people do awesome things like that.
They were both couch potatoes and hadn’t run since high school. John started off by trying to run 10k his first time because he is a man’s man, and that’s what he does. Mark is no wimp. He wanted to do 10k on his first day as well, but he started off by walking the route.
They both made a great effort straight away. John wasn’t a happy camper, though. His knees were killing him because his body wasn’t used to that much physical activity. In fact, he couldn’t walk properly for the next few days. He’s lost his momentum and that, unfortunately, prompted him to give up.
Mark, on the other side, was feeling great. He liked that he was getting fresh air and sun on his face. He felt alive again. In fact, this gave him a chance to do something else he hadn’t done since high school.
He started reading books. Yes, audiobooks are real books! He couldn’t wait to come home from work and go for a run. Yup, after the first week of strictly walking, now he was running like there was no tomorrow.
He would go through plenty of great books on his evening runs. It was a win-win situation. Learning and physical activity in one! After a few months, he ran his first marathon. And another one and another one. He loved the new Mark.
By being smart and knowing how much you can take when starting up, you are setting yourself up for success. Start by walking the first week or month. Bite-sized efforts are what you need to aim for in the beginning.
Once your body and mind settle a bit in the new role, it’s time to push the boundaries. Time to step up and crank it up.
If you already know which parts of life you want to improve, don’t wait for next year. Start now! Move as quickly as you can from the planning phase into action.
Break down your goals into smaller chunks, and start chewing!
Let’s cover the top four areas of your life that can always be improved.
1) Health Goals
There’s a famous proverb:
A healthy person has a thousand wishes, a sick person only one
I, personally go back to this one all the time in my mind. Think about the last time you had a common cold, nothing major. What was most likely your top wish at the time? I feel miserable, please let me be healthy, right?
That is why I put health in the top position of goals for 2024. Even in front of the family. You might say, but Adrian, shouldn’t family be number one? Don’t you love your kids, your partner in life, your parents more than yourself?
Yes, I certainly do. But if you don’t put the oxygen mask first on your face, you won’t be able to help anyone around you! If you’re dragging through the gutter physically and mentally, how are you going to take care of your nearest and dearest?
Read more about health goals in our article The Only Health Goals You Need.
Sound health goals for 2024 should be your top priority. There are so many resources online and offline about getting yourself in shape. Getting information on how to get both your mind and your body into peak health shouldn’t be too difficult.
Clean eating, exercising, and meditation will propel you into a new state. A new you!
Cheat days are vital for your success. Give your self a vent here and there just don’t slip up back into old habits.
2) Family Goals
Now that you’re working on your health, you can think of others. Namely, your family and its members.
How are you going to step up as a unit? How are you going to spend more time together? Are you going to communicate more?
Important questions and issues you can work on fixing and improving.
Jot down those family holidays and daily or weekly dinners. Monthly meetings are also great to see eye to eye. Sit down, have a meal, and discuss what you want to achieve, where you want to be in a year, five years, and so on.
Share your individual goals with each other to put yourself out there and make yourself accountable. It is easier to achieve your goals if you can hold each other accountable. Make a list, preferably so it’s easier to track goals.
Does someone need a little push, a pep talk, or a (small) motivational speech?
Help them see the future versions of themselves. Help them feel the emotion of achieving desired goals.
Learn your way up to the podium. See how formal and informal education can help you meet your future self.
3) Education Goals
Whether you’re still in school or you’re a part of the workforce, you must never stop learning. Learning new skills is essential for your development as a person that people will look up to and want to mimic.
It all depends on which stage in your life you are. If you haven’t picked up an educational book in 5 years, maybe start with that. Start with reading or listening to an engaging book.
If you are still in school or college, see how can you better specialize in what you already know or what you are interested in.
Maybe take a course in that field. If you don’t have the money to take additional courses, the best way to learn is to find a mentor who is willing to teach you what he or she knows. By shadowing your mentor, you will earn a new skill set in the fastest and easiest way possible.
It is not necessary to go back to college to learn a valuable and high-paid skill. There are plenty of free and paid resources online. From YouTube to Skillshare. Each one has its pros and cons. Which brings us to:
4) Career Goals
Career progression is often slow and tedious. You work your butt off, and often times the desired promotion seems like Mt Everest.
To make the climb easier, it is vital to prepare. Often you see people making huge leaps in what seems like overnight. What you don’t see is all the work that was put in behind the scenes.
That is supercharged by social media today. We all want everything now and we quit too soon if instant gratification doesn’t happen.
Your career goals for 2024 are waiting. Are you gunning for that big promotion? Are you sick of working in one department and want to switch to another? Or maybe you want to start your own business?
Starting a business is very appealing to many people, and it was never easier to set up one. It isn’t the best choice for everyone as it will take up all your time. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. Focus most of your time on the big tasks and try to outsource menial things.
Set your short-, mid-, and long-term goals for your career. Do not give up at the first hurdle. Pivot if you have to, it’s what all the cool kids do.
A pivot is where a start-up company decides to switch direction in how they make their revenue. This is often after their first plan results in failure. But pivoting doesn’t necessarily mean desperation. It can be a tool to discover additional growth–growth you might otherwise have overlooked.
Remember Why You Started
Here’s the secret sauce to set up your goals for 2024, 2030, and for life.
You have to reaffirm your goals all the time. Reaffirm your why. Reaffirm and picture yourself in the future when you accomplished some of your goals.
See yourself in your future, successful shoes. Try to imagine how it feels like.
That’s how you are going to accomplish your goals.
Conclusion
There is a key to achieving it faster and easier. The single most important part of the equation for achieving goals in 2024. And that is:
CHOOSE ONE GOAL IN YOUR CATEGORY AND STICK WITH IT!
According to Pareto Principle, that will help you achieve more. It is also called the 80/20 rule, and you’ve probably heard of it.
I am fascinated by this powerful “force,” but there’s nothing magical here – it’s just math.
If you make a list of 10 goals, let’s say, 2 of those goals will make you achieve more than the rest of the 8 goals.
You have to identify those more important goals and work on them the hardest. It’s nice to get easy wins but the hardest goals are the most gratifying and are often the ones that will make for a sweeping win!
