Falling behind on your resolutions?

Forgotten goals?

Less than 2 weeks into the new year, many of us have already fallen behind on some of our new year's resolutions and completely lost sight of a couple things we hoped to accomplish this year.

How do we keep from loosing sight of our goals?

One of the most successful ways to keep focused on our goals is setting aside time each week to review the progress made in the last week and plan next steps for the coming week.

Schedule a weekly meeting with your goals.

Many of us have weekly meetings with our team to check on progress and next steps. This keeps the ball moving and corrects any movement that's getting off course. If we spend time each week planning other people's goals, why not make sure we spend time each week planning our own personal and professional goals?

I know what some of you are thinking, "Weekly meetings with my team are a joke!" Just because your boss can't plan and run an effective weekly check in doesn't mean the practice isn't fruitful when done well. Take this opportunity to employ effect strategies for a weekly goals assessment.

Reflect

Reflect on the week that's ending. 

• What did you plan on accomplishing this week? 
• How far did you get? 
• Are their any top priority items you didn't accomplish? 
• If so, what got in the way? 
• Is there anything that could be done differently to make sure the high priority items are getting completed?

Consider

Think about the coming week. Look at your calendar. What important commitments are taking place in the coming week that need to be planned for? This is an important step because your prior commitments impact what you can plan to accomplish next week. If you have a required 2 day training next week then you have 40 percent less time and energy available next week. Plan accordingly.

Plan

Look at your annual goals you worked on late in December. 

• Does everything still belong? 
• Is everything still in the right place? 
• Does something you planned for the 3rd quarter need to be moved up to the 2nd quarter? 
• Did you complete any goals this week? 
• Is it time to pick up another goal and begin working on it?
• Is it time to reevaluate a goal in light of recent developments?

Review any outstanding tasks from last week. Are there any that need to be eliminated, delegated, or planned for the coming week?

In light of what took place last week and the commitments you have next week, decide what few steps need to be accomplished next week to make next week a success. Don't go crazy here. You're only working on a few goals at a time, you should only have a few next steps to complete in the coming week.

Don't plan your daily tasks for every day next week. These will likely change as the week progresses. Your goals for the week are where you need to be in 1 week. They are not your daily tasks. It is a very good idea to plan your daily tasks for Monday so you can hit the ground running.

Timing

There are many options for the timing of your weekly check in. Many people like to do this on Sunday night or Monday morning. This makes sense because it is the beginning of the week when we need to get focused and figure out what needs to get done by Friday. I know this works for many people but I can't help but wonder if this is the most ideal time to review last weeks progress and plan next week.

Some people do their weekly goals assessment on Friday. I have to admit, I haven't practiced this yet, but I'm giving it serious consideration. Here's why:

Typically, it's better to make observations when they are fresh in our mind. Trying to recreate meeting minutes 2 days (or a week) later is never a good idea but we've all been there. So, reflecting on the past week's successes and shortfalls is going to be most effective when it's fresh in our mind. 

Spend the weekend doing a project around the house and going to church or watching the game at a friends house and you're going to have to take some extra time getting back into the work flow on Sunday night or Monday morning before you reflect and adjust plans for the coming week. 

Sometimes, when the week was especially challenging, we spend the weekend preoccupied with last week's mess and miss out on the moments of connection and joy that we live for.

Friday morning

A Friday morning goals assessment might give you the opportunity to salvage a difficult week with a Friday win and put the stress to bed for the weekend by planning next week's response to this week's disaster.

Friday afternoon

Friday afternoon allows you to prepare for next week and put this week away right before walking out the door to enjoy your weekend.

Do this every week and you won't lose ever lose sight of your goals.

A great resource for this process is the Full Focus Planner.