
2025 is here. You’ve likely already chosen some goals for the year. You’ve probably laid out the plan to accomplish these goals.
Now, what?
Obviously, get to work. But what about the goals? Do you keep them front and center? Do you ignore them and get to work?
I used to be a big “front and center” advocate. I would write my goals on index cards and put them where I would see them multiple times per day. I would use them as screensavers back in the day when you would see your screensaver all the time. These days, that would be equivalent to the home screen image on your phone.
Not anymore. Now, I’m a fan of setting a goal that is realistic but challenging, creating a plan to get to the goal, then setting the goal aside and getting to work on the plan. I’d like to explain why.
There are three primary reasons I like this approach: it doesn’t leave you selling yourself short, it doesn’t discourage you if the goal was too aggressive and it lets you focus on and fully enjoy the process.
Don’t sell yourself short
What happens if things go very well and you are ahead of plan? Ideally, you simply adjust the goal and go for something harder. However, if you are seeing that goal on an index card or your phone’s home screen multiple times per day, it can be harder to do so. It can feel like a goal that is set in stone. I’d rather think of the goal as something you really want but that is written in pencil, adjustable if the situation warrants it.
Then, if you’re ahead of plan, you will happily adjust the goal to something more aggressive.
Don’t discourage yourself if the goal was too aggressive
Likewise, what if things don’t go according to plan? What if there are setbacks? If you’re too focused on the goal, you may get down on yourself. Worst case scenario, if you see the goal that’s in your face all the time slipping out of reach, you may give up.
Instead, if you’re focused on doing the best you can day in and day out, you’re more likely to accept that you’re doing your best and adjust the goal based on the circumstances you’re facing.
Enjoy the process
If you’re fixated on the outcome, the day to day work you’re doing might turn into nothing but a means to an end. You can still be productive doing this but the day to day might become more of a grind.
On the other hand, if you’ve set the goal to the side and are focused on the process you set out to achieve the goal, you can more easily embrace the day to day work and enjoy it. Sure, you might not enjoy your 800s, mile repeats or long run in the midst of the hard effort but you can enjoy the sense of accomplishment, the feeling of the fitness you’re building over the course of weeks and months. You can more readily embrace the enjoyment of the moment without a constant fixation on that one day in the future.
As a bonus, if that one day doesn’t go according to plan, you’ll be more ready to embrace the accomplishments you had along the way.
So definitely set goals. They are good targets to have. But once you have your goal and the plan to get there, consider fixing your focus more on the process and less on the goal itself.