My Bulletproof 2022 Goal-Template You Can Copy
A step-by-step guide to not only set powerful goals but also achieve them
I didn’t use the word ‘resolutions’ because they don’t work—in fact, New Year Resolutions are memes by this point.
Setting a zillion unrealistic goals, starting on January 1st, giving up within a week, consoling yourself with a zillion excuses, and in December, setting them again.
This year, let’s break this vicious cycle. But I won’t spew motivational wishy-washy b.s. — I’ll give you my exact goal template and explain the rationale behind it.
I’m 100% certain I’ll achieve the 2022 goals I’ve set using this template — by the end of this article, you’ll feel the same.
A 4-Step Checklist to Set Brilliant Goals
The #1 reason most people fail their resolutions is because they don’t set them right.
A goal isn’t something you jot down in a heartbeat — it’s an art piece that involves meticulous planning and mindfulness.
It took me years to learn the various intricacies of this art, but I’ll save you the hard work by providing a simple checklist:
Ask yourself, “Why do I want to achieve this?”. If the answer’s, “To impress my friends,”, ditch the goal. Willpower doesn’t work, meaning does. So have powerful reasons— “I want to reclaim my health”, or “This is ruining my relationships”.
Lofty but realistic. If a goal isn’t realistic, you won’t achieve it. But if it isn’t challenging enough, you won’t find it exciting enough to pursue.
Chisel your goals so they’re SMART. This is an acronym for “Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Realistic-Timely,” — “Lose weight” isn’t SMART. “Lose 14 kgs in 4 months through portion control and swimming” is.
The visualization test. Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Science agrees — the neural response from visualizing something is the same as actually doing it.
So, if you cannot visualize achieving a goal, it’s too unrealistic — scale it down.
Set only These Many Goals
When you set 100 goals, you’ll achieve none of them — plus, end up with fractured focus, frustration, and burnout.
But when you set only 2 or 3 goals, you’ll be cutting yourself short — not to mention being rudderless if they go awry because of some unforeseen reasons.
8 to 12 goals strike the perfect balance. If you’re unsure, go down to 6 and if you went, “That’s too less!”, bump them up to 14.
The more conservative you are with the number of goals you set, the better it is.