One dozen goals

How to plan an ambitious, balanced year

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
new world of work, where location and ours are more
flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to set
one dozen goals for the new year. Well, that might

(00:28):
seem like a lot, structured the right way, a dozen
goals will feel incredibly doable. This goal setting strategy will
help you succeed professionally while having a balanced life. For
the past few years, I have greeted the new year
by setting quarterly goals. Three months seems like a great

(00:50):
amount of time to focus fully on something, and setting
quarterly goals allows me to set multiple goals while pacing myself.
I can set a goal to say, write a novel
and launch a podcast without having the to compete against
each other. I don't worry while I'm writing the novel
that I should be thinking about the podcast. I know

(01:13):
there's a time for that, and now is not that time.
Whenever I make priority lists, I make them in three categories, career, relationships,
and self. Putting something in all three categories means I'm
thinking about all three categories, and I think that's a
good thing. It's good for weekly planning and it's good

(01:36):
for goals too. So that is how we get to
a dozen goals. Each quarter gets three goals, a career one,
our relationships one, and a personal one. Three goals a
quarter for four quarters is twelve goals for the year. Now,
none of these dozen goals has to be particularly huge,

(01:57):
though it's nice if they are substantial enough to feel
meaningful in I set a first quarter personal goal to
get outside for twenty minutes a day. I did that.
I set a third quarter personal goal to make a
decision about our housing situation, and lo and behold, my
husband and I had our offer on a house accepted
in August. Of course, with the pandemic, some goals didn't happen.

(02:20):
I did not make it to Germany for the boch
Festival I planned to attend, so it goes. I think
setting goals allows us to articulate what is important to us.
And knowing that I cared about the box festival inspired
me to sign up for a local virtual box lecture
and sing along series. It's not Leipzig, but it's something.

(02:41):
If you find the idea of a dozen goals appealing,
then I encourage you to set some time aside in
the next few days to brainstorm potential goals for each slot.
Some you'll already know. I know that my third quarter
goal for next year is turning in the manuscript of
a book called Tranquility Tuesday. My contract specifies that it

(03:03):
be done by October one, so there we go. We're
doing renovations on the new house and then moving in,
so that will be a family goal, though I guess
the question of which quarter depends on how ambitious I
intend to be. Make sure the goals feel like they
matter to you, But in any case, I found it
appealing to know that I've designated goals for later in

(03:24):
the year and that I planned to devote time to them.
Even if I'm not devoting mental effort to them right now,
I know I will be doing cool things in my
professional and personal life all year long, and that makes
the start of the new year feel more exciting. In
the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's

(03:48):
the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New Corner
Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts,
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