In his book, Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals, Michael Hyatt examines goal setting and how to achieve one’s goals. He also discusses work-life balance, relationships, productivity, and happiness.

Goal setting is about more than just professional aspirations. It’s also essential for your emotional, intellectual, and physical lives. It will help if you spread goals across those areas to ensure that nothing gets too much attention or is ignored altogether.

Hyatt’s five-step plan is to first examine the ingrained way of thinking. If it doesn’t work, you should change the habits and challenge them if necessary. Many people have doubts about their ability to succeed, which makes those self-fulfilling prophecies come true, so they are better off being optimistic and generous towards others daily. People often assume that there aren’t enough resources available when there are more than one can possibly need; therefore, assumptions about yourself and your surroundings should”t be taken at face value since they distort reality.

The second step in improving your work is to examine what failed last year and why. It would help if you took the time to analyze the differences between expectations and outcomes and congratulate yourself for anything that went right.

The author suggests that people should set goals to motivate themselves. They must be specific and written down, and they should be habitual as well as for one-time purposes. People’s motivations vary; some might want to lose weight before their wedding or get healthy for other reasons, while others might do it because of personal values or interests. External rewards can also help people achieve their goals; for example, someone who wants to go to the gym every day could use a calendar tool like Google Calendar to keep track of his streak. Social networks are also powerful motivators: if you have friends who work out with you regularly, you’re more likely to continue.

When you have a goal and know why you want to achieve it, the next step is to start working on it. It would help to celebrate your small victories as they come, but don’t forget about your long-term goals. List all the tasks that will help you reach your ideal daily so that you can stay motivated and focused throughout the process.

Periodic reviews help keep goals on track. If a strategy isn’t working, it’s acceptable to try something else. Two people with the same destination will pursue it in different ways. Goals are fixed, but strategies are flexible.

Specific, measurable goals are more likely to be achieved than vague ambitions. It’s essential to use the SMARTER system (specific, measurable, actionable, risky, time-keyed, exciting and relevant) when setting a goal because that will ensure it’s clear and can be measured.

It’s essential to be specific when setting goals. In this case, a person who wants to watch more movies should specify the type of films she wants to see, whether they need to be seen in theatres or at home, and if any particular genres are acceptable.

This is a must-read. We encourage you to get the complete book and read more about it. This book will surely leave no stone unturned regarding any question you might have, even as we look forward to the new year. 

Happy reading!