Welcome to Jessica Anne TV. Hi, I'm Jessica Anne, the founder of The Key Planner, and this is a tutorial series to teach you how to design your best year so you can achieve your goals for 2020 and beyond.
By the end of this video, you'll know how to set your goals as well as creating a blueprint around achieving them so you'll wake up each day with absolute certainty around what you need to focus on each day.
For business and productivity tips and advice, subscribe to this channel. And hit the bell to be notified for when I post a new video each week on Wednesday. In the description below is a link to download a free PDF sample of The Key Planner, which will be sent straight to your inbox with a code to get 10% off your purchase.
Last week, I uploaded a video called How to Design a Life That is Meaningful to You. If you haven't seen that video yet, I suggest you watch it first before continuing.
So now that you have envisioned your best life three years from now and you've created a compelling vision for your life, got clear on what you want and why, the next step is to grab out your notebook and pens so you can turn your vision into SMART goals that matter to you.
So before I dive in, I would like you to remove all the current learnings you know about SMART goals, as I would like to share with you a version that's similar but an upgraded approach.
Firstly, what's a SMART goal? It needs to meet the following criteria. Let's go through these.
It's specific. Your goals must be specific.
Why? Because it allows you to focus your efforts with clarity, and clarity is powerful. Being vague doesn't inspire action. However, being clear ignites that fire in your belly. Now let me give you an example of a specific goal and a vague goal. A vague goal, I want to be debt free. A specific goal, finish paying down my student loan debt.
Two, it needs to be measurable so you can track your progress and know when you've achieved your goal. Again, vague goal. I want to be debt free. Specific and measurable goal, finish paying down my student loan debt of 10,000.
Step three. It's got to be actionable. What's the action you need to take while pursuing towards achieving your goals? Vague goal, I want to be debt free. Specific, measurable, and actionable goal. Finish paying down my student loan debt of 10K by allocating 5% of my monthly income towards payments each month until paid.
So under the SMART goal setting formula, the R stands for realistic. I just like that word realistic. Sure, you don't want to set yourself up for fail. But at the same time, if you're sitting realistic goals, you're not necessarily creating goals that push you outside of your comfort zone. They don't excite you, nor do they require you to grow into a better version of you. Therefore, I prefer that R to represent real. It's emotional. It inspires your hopes and dreams. Goals that emotionally connect to your soul will be the major difference in you overcoming those mundane tasks you might have to do. It sparks imagination to create innovative ways of pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, but not so much that's a fairy tale fantasy goal but it does inspire your imagination to demand your creativity and liberate your energy.
In the previous videos, step number four, define your why. Head back there and don't miss this step, as defining your why will help you overcome your thoughts, fears, doubts, and procrastination. Because if something is truly important to you, you'll make time for it.
On another note, when your goals are aligned to your core values, your purpose, and your why, you'll be able to be honest with yourself and ask, "What are you willing to consistently work for? Why is it so important for you to achieve your goal?" Quite often, we self-sabotage the effort as they aren't in alignment to our authentic core values of who we are, hence why I started with discovering your why first before creating goals. In The Key Planner, goal-achieving system prompts you first to discover yourself, define your vision, your values, and get a sense of purpose of meaning by your key statement.
Fifth criteria is it's got to be time bound. Now, there are two ways to measure time, as there are two types of goals you can create within the criteria of time. So firstly, you have key milestone goals which have a deadline of an estimate time of arrival. It focuses on a one-time accomplishment, like paying off your student loan debt. Then you have habit goals which are reoccurring practices to work towards on a consistent, normally daily, weekly, or monthly basis. So in the next video, I'll show you how to track your habit goals in a more concise manner.
Here's an example. Creating the habit so every time you get paid you allocate 5% of your monthly or weekly income towards paying down your student loan debt. Here's another example of a key milestone and habit goals. If your key milestone goal is to lose five kilos, your habit goal would be to work out at the gym four times a week. So habit goals, they have a start date but not necessarily an end date until you've either achieved your key milestone goal or the habit has become an automated response habit. In summary, placing a deadline on your goals by having it time bound also creates a sense of urgency.
And finally, criteria six, you need to review your goals by rest, reflect, and refining your steps. No doubt life will throw curveballs at you sometimes, so ensure your goals match the season of your life. For this reason, this is why I do not like creating year-long goals because it allows me to procrastinate, put things off like, "You know, I've got a whole entire year to do that," or worse, life throws you a curveball and you take a detour. For some it's a few days. For others, it could be a few years. This is why I created The Key Planner goal-achieving accountability system to be undated so you could start planning your goals at any time as well as being time blocked into a 13-week or 92-day layout so each month, or quarter of the year, you can review your progress towards achieving your goals. Drop a comment below. What's one goal you're focusing on achieving for the next 13 weeks?
Step number two, find a resource. When you're looking to create goals that you have never achieved before, the shortest way to achieving them is by finding a resource. As the saying goes, you don't know what you don't know. So find a resource or a person who has achieved what you're seeking to achieve and stalk them, just not in a creepy way. Have they written an autobiography or book, blog, YouTube channel detailing these steps to success? Have they created an online course or training you could invest in? Are they local to you? Could you invite them for lunch and pick their brains? If you do do this, please make sure they're aware of your intentions and just be honest about it. Most successful people I know would be more than happy to do this or may even feel flattered.
Your homework for this step is to find a source or internet research a step-by-step guide to jot down in your key planner. This step is essential because it'll help you to create a blueprint using the key map. And this is the best way to figure out what your action steps will be, is to find someone who has achieved what you're seeking and find what steps they took.
Another way is to purchase a book or an online course that outlines the steps. And if you're unable to do all that, guess what? Your imagination is powerful and free. You can imagine yourself in the future already achieving your goals and work backwards. What was the last thing you did? And the last thing before that and so on until you arrive at the very first action step that you started with.
So once you know these steps, create a mind map using the key map to chunk it down into actionable steps and tasks. So if you're seeking clarity and understanding of what your purpose is and why, and you'll like a resource to help you keep your goals, thoughts, and ideas for managing your time and tasks all in one place, then head to thekeyplanner.com. Use the code JESSICAANNETV at checkout to get 10% off your purchase. We ship worldwide, and you could check out in your preferred currency.
Step three, design your blueprint using the key map. Now that you've brainstormed or researched your action steps, essentially what you've done is you've created a working to-do lists. And now is the time for you to refine your goals to meet the SMART goal criteria, to set deadlines, and start breaking down your activities then assigning each task to a specific date and time, committing to a completion date for each one task. You've got a lot to do, so get started.
In the next video, I'll teach you how to create habits and rituals so you can streamline and automate your progress towards achieving your goals. Do subscribe to this channel so you'll be the first to know when I release a new video next week on Wednesday. Once again, if you haven't established your why and created a compelling vision for your life, do watch How to Design a Life That's Meaningful to You here. I'll catch you back here next week. Bye for now.
