The Master Plan for 2016! aka My Goals for the Year

Can you believe it? 2016 is a week old and I haven’t written a New Year’s resolutions post yet outlining my goals for the year!

Yeah, about that…

It’s time for some goals!

My Goals (Running and Otherwise) for 2016

My 2016 Goals (Running and Otherwise)

• 1500 Miles Following 80/20: This is my biggest running goal for the year. Last year my goal was 1200 miles, and I didn’t come close. This year, I’ll need to do a better job of being consistent with my running while also doing a better job of managing the intensity of each run. After reading 80/20 Running and doing the book club last year, I’ve pretty much bought into the concept. But this year I’m also going to practice what I preach, and stick to the formula: 20% of runs will be medium/high intensity, 80% will be easy/low intensity. I’ll let you know how it goes.
• Keep a Running Journal: This is something I’ve never done before, but I plan on actually writing about each run in detail in a journal so I can reference back to it and actually learn from what I’m doing. I don’t have a set formula yet for how I’ll be keeping each journal, but as of today I have 4 entries. And I’ve only run 4 times. So that’s an early win.
• Improve My Writing Ability: This is one of my big business goals for the year. If I’m going to run a successful online business, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with the written word is vital. I feel like I’m a halfway decent writer, and that I’ve definitely found my voice when it comes to how I write, but I definitely think I can improve. I’m not exactly sure that there is a specific way to measure this goal, which is a bad thing, but hopefully by the end of the year we will all be able to agree that I’ve gotten better. We will see.
• Continue Creating Content Consistently: How’s that for some alteration, eh? Honestly, I think this goal is pretty much a gimme. I’m not planning on going anywhere, so I’ll be continuing to put new posts up Monday-Friday. But I wanted to make it a goal to help hold myself accountable.
• Publish 6 Posts on Other Blogs/Websites: This one goes along quite well with my goal of improved copywriting, but I want to increase my visibility. And one of the best ways to do that is by guest posting on other blogs and writing for other sites that accept articles. I most likely won’t get paid for these posts, but the goal is to increase the awareness of my brand.
• Book 4 Speaking Gigs (One Paid): This is the other big professional goal that I have this year. I love being on stage. I love motivating and inspiring people. But now it’s time to do more of it. And that starts in 2016.

I have a couple of more goals on my list for 2016, but they are a bit more on the personal side.

I also don’t have a specific goal for running races this year, but I’d definitely like to get a couple of marathons in this year, and hopefully knock a few more states off the list along the way.

Why Bother With Goals or Resolutions?

Last year I set some lofty goals, and didn’t do a very good job of keeping up with them.

So why bother doing so again this year?

Honestly, I think there’s something powerful about having a goal out in front of you that you’re working towards.

But simply setting a goal isn’t enough, as I found out the hard way in 2015.

When you set a goal, you need to keep it in front of you on a regular basis so that you can continue to make progress toward that goal. And that’s something I’ll be doing differently from last year, I’ll be reading through my goals for 2016 every single day so they stay top of mind and I keep making incremental progress on a regular basis.

The problem with big goals/New Year’s Resolutions is that they are typically really big, and require a long time until they can be successful.

Look at my goals again. It’s going to take me most of the year to accomplish each of those goals, and I’m not going to be able to wait until the last minute to get stated on them.

I’ve already started working on all of my goals for 2016, and it’s going to be a long time before I’m able to say that I’ve been successful on any of them.

But, when I knock them off of the list, it’s going to be awesome.

Like, scoring a goal to win the World Cup awesome.

How I’ll Celebrate Achieving My Goals for 2016

That’s going to be me in December, y’all.

Well, minus the sports bra and pony tail.

Where Do You Stand on Goals? Are You a Big Goal Maker, Especially at the Start of the Year? Let Me Know Below!