QT: Tilting the Odds of Hitting Your New Goals in 2022 in Your Favor

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Few things in life are guaranteed.

Death. Taxes. And Diz talking about goals toward the end of the year.

Yeah, yeah.

New Year, New Goals?

What can I say, I love a good goal!

And while there’s nothing that says that you have to set new goals for the new year, it’s certainly not a bad time to set some new goals for yourself.

That said, we all know the statistics when it comes to goal setting in the new year.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s not a reason to avoid setting goals for a new year.

But it is a reason to avoid setting goals that you really don’t care about.

Start the Process Early

When it comes to setting goals, one of the worst things you can do is rush the process.

There have been many times where I’ve been watching football on New Year’s Day and felt the need to come up with a few goals for the new year because it was now the new year.

Let’s just say my success rate on those goals has been less than good.

In the last few years, I’ve done a better job of starting to think about what I want to achieve in the new year in November and December.

To be clear, I didn’t commit to any new goals in November or early December, I just let the ideas percolate a bit in my mind.

Some of the ideas I had didn’t survive the percolation.

And this isn’t because they were bad ideas.

It just means that at that point in my life, they were not the right goals for me to pursue.

Similarly, some of the ideas became clearer and more fully formed, so I was better able to hit the ground running once the new year kicked off.

If you haven’t started thinking about your goals for the new year yet, you might want to get cracking.

Letting those ideas rattle around in your head takes some time, and you can’t really speed up the process.

Take Your Goals for a Test Drive

If you start thinking about your new goals early, you may have a chance to try them out before the new year gets started.

Sometimes what you think is doable, and what is actually doable, are two different things.

If you can use the last couple of weeks of December to test out what’s required in the new year, you can give yourself a better idea of what works and what doesn’t.

You can then tweak your new goals, as needed, to make sure that you’re not taking on too much (or too little) in the new year.

There is No Deadline

You know you don’t have to have your goals for the new year locked and loaded on 1 January, right?

If you need to wait another few days, or even a few weeks, to really nail down the right goals for you for the new year, that’s fine.

In fact, it’s more than fine.

It’s what you need to do.

If your ideas need a bit more time to simmer in your brain? Let them simmer.

If you need to do a bit more brainstorming? Have at it.

If you need a little longer to test drive your goals before you commit? Take all the time you need.

When you’re ready to lock in your new goals, do it.

But that doesn’t have to happen on the first of the year.

It’s OK to Call an Audible

It’s ok to change your mind about your goals.

I’m not saying you want to be all willy nilly with your goals.

And if you take the time to set yourself up with the right goals for you, odds are you’re not going to want to chop and change too often.

But if at some point in the year your goals are no longer the right goals for you, let go of those goals and set your sights on something else.

Doing so doesn’t make you a failure or a quitter.

In fact, perhaps it’s quite the opposite.

Being willing to let go of a goal that is no longer right for you and replace it with a new goal that is better suited for you at the moment keeps you growing and improving, both as a human and as a runner.

Have a Great 2022!

I wish you nothing but the best in the new year.

Take your time in setting the right goals for you in 2022, and absolutely crush them!

And if you need a little help along the way? Just let me know.

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Setting the right goals for you in the new year may increase your odds of success. #runchat Click To Tweet

How Soon do You Start Thinking About New Goals for the New Year?

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