A simple system to fix the mistakes of 2023

People always start conversations with the same question every new year…  

“So what are your New Year's resolutions?”

“What do you want to do this year that you didn’t do last year?”

Chances are, you set goals that went live on January 1. But by February, many of us will have already abandoned those “gym goals” and fresh starts. 

The harsh reality is that more than 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by February. 

We start off with high hopes and good intentions, only to lose steam and completely give up. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In today’s post, I’ll show you why “new year, new me” resolutions fail, what components make a goal successful, and a blueprint you can follow to crush any goal you set for yourself in the months ahead. 

Why do goals fail?

Who do goals fail? 

Well, some are just unachievable or realistic. 

Find a genie in a bottle … exercise for an hour a day each day when you didn’t do that all of last year … find and develop a cure for cancer …

Right now, none of them are realistic, or even possible.  

But more than likely – and this is something I see in many people regardless of age – the real reason goals fail is that they lack clarity. 

And the right process.

Any goal that’s vague, or not fully planned out, or even unsupported by other people around you… you can be sure that it will not succeed. 

It’s just not enough to journal your goals or recite them in your head. You need a model. You need a plan. 

I’ll give you the model – but for it to work, you need to understand what makes a goal successful. 

The traits of a successful goal

Good goals are smart goals. And by smart, I mean SMART.

• Specific 
• Measurable 
• Achievable 
• Relevant 
• Time-based 

If you can stick to this formula, you don’t just have a goal, you have a path forward. You’ll know the who, what, where, when, why, and even how of a successful goal. 

Specific. 

First, your goals should be specific. If your goal this year was to lose weight, good. But it’s not specific enough. How much weight? What about losing body fat? Or gaining muscle? Think through these types of questions when setting your goals to ensure you have a very clear goal you can work towards. 

Measurable. 

Your goals should be measured against some metric. If we’re talking about weight, how many pounds will you lose? If we’re talking about fitness, how are you measuring that? Strength? Flexibility?  Whatever your goal, it needs to be measurable and …

Achievable. 

Your goal needs to be realistic. It has to be possible to achieve your goal. Otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up for failure. Don’t set something so far up in the clouds that you’ll never reach it. It has to be within reason. For example, learning to fly a plane is a great goal. And achievable with hard work and a thorough plan. Learning to fly by flapping your arms on the other hand… well, not quite achievable, is it? Achieving world peace is a little unrealistic, but you can volunteer locally for a good cause. Feel free to make big goals, but don’t make them so big that you can never achieve them.

Relevant. 

Your goals need to be consistent with something you want to achieve. That seems obvious, but I’ve seen a lot of goals like …

I want to do a triathlon. So my goal is to do 200 push-ups each day.

Sure, that’s a lot of push-ups, but that has nothing to do with a triathlon. So maybe a goal of running 5 miles every other day, biking 10 miles every other day, and swimming for an hour every few days would be better. 

If you’re serious about completing a triathlon, these smaller goals help you achieve your bigger one. 

Time-based. 

There’s a reason I said “every other day” in my example above. Your goals need to be bound to some sort of time frame. When do you want to have this goal done by? It’ll give you a deadline and something to work towards throughout the year. 

Let’s go through an example together. 

Bad goal: I want to do my first deal in 12 months. 

Seems like a good one right? But it’s not achievable or specific. What kind of deal? What will you do to achieve it? 

Better goal: I will analyze 3 deals per week … or contact 5 potential investors so that I have one meeting per week so that I can do my first deal in 12 months. 

How to set goals 

Now you know why goals fail and the traits of a successful one. But how do you go about setting them? 

The key to setting goals is to start with the end in mind and focus on your “WHY”

What’s your end goal? What do you want and why is that important – or non-negotiable – for you?

Your “why” is the driving force behind the success of any goal you set. 

Intentions – the first step is to set your ultimate life vision through “I am” statements. And these should cover all aspects of your life …

Not just financial or physical, but relational, spiritual, and even lifestyle-oriented visions like adventure.

5-Year Vision – we overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in 5. So I want to ask you, where do you want to be in 5 years? 

What do you want to be doing? Who do you want to be? What does your ideal life look like in 2029? 

Visualizing these things will paint a picture of where you want to be so it becomes real to you. 

1–Year Goals – as we zoom in to a closer, 12-month window, identify what you can do this year to move the needle toward your 5-year self. 

Remember, all these goals should be SMART. 

90-Day Rocks – This is where the heavy lifting starts. Rocks are the small things you can do to achieve your yearly goals. 

Usually, this breaks down by quarter and they are 3–5 high-impact activities that you do daily or weekly. 

How to stay on track 

Writing your goals down is a great way to put your goals from your mind onto paper. You’re more likely to achieve them when they’re stored somewhere permanent.

But I think the best and most effective way is to surround yourself with people who help each other achieve their goals. 

I’m in a mastermind that does this, my wife is in a group of other women that does the same thing, and all 4 of my children are in mastermind groups full of other people their age who want to achieve meaningful goals.

There are online forums and communities out there (like our Facebook group), but you can also start an accountability group with the people in your circle back home. 

You can also download the exact template I use to track and set my goals by clicking here. 

I call it the Living Fully Compass.

Living it out 

So what are you going to do over this next week?

I’ll give you a simple action plan:

• Carve out 1–2 hours to establish your “why” for your goals 

• Download the Living Fully Compass (it’s free!)

• Start with your intentions and zoom into quarterly rocks 

• Find 2 peer accountability partners to meet weekly or bi-weekly to discuss progress

And remember, your goals need to be SMART.

Hope this helps you brainstorm, set, and ultimately crush your goals from one year to the next. 

Thanks for reading, 

Michael