How to Set Goals and Achieve Them in 2020

Every year, I send out the same email to my newsletter subscribers, right before the start of the new year.

In it, I ask them to tell me the one thing they hope to do in the coming year – and then I respond back with the biggest change I hope to make as well.

I’m a firm believer that email is better as a two way street. Not only can I be more valuable when you email me directly, but it helps us build a relationship in the process – and isn’t that what this whole thing should be about? Let’s start the conversation.

If you want to learn how to set goals and achieve them in 2020, look no further than this week’s Small Win Wednesday YouTube video. There’s one simple shift you can make in your goal setting to make your chances of success much higher.

How to Set Goals and Achieve Them 

Every year, I’ve noticed a trend in the responses I’ve received from that email.

Over 90% of people are setting themselves up for failure.

Why?

Because your goals are too results oriented.

Now, let’s be clear, part of this could be on me and the way I phrased the question. “Tell me the one biggest change you hope to make in the coming year.”

When I responded, I would recognize that whether you wanted to make passive income, leave your job, get in shape – or something else – that it was a worthy goal.

Because just recognizing that there is something you want to change is a positive start.

But each time I’d say, if you want to achieve this goal, you need to switch it from being a results oriented goal to an action oriented goal.

And the secret to success with goal setting lies in making this change.

What is an Action Oriented Goal?

When I responded this year I told each person about my personal goals as well.

And over the years I’ve made the same mistakes.

“I want X amount of revenue….”

“I want X number of new email subscribers…’

“I want to lose X pounds…”

All results oriented goals.

And the problem with these is I have no control over them. I can’t control whether someone gives me money, signs up for my email list, or if my body decides to shed pounds.

And neither can you.

But I can take actions that make these things more likely to happen.

So in this year’s response, I told readers that the main change I wanted to make for 2020 is to create action oriented goals that I can control.

Here are a few of mine for this year:

• Workout 175 times
• Read 26 books
• Write 200k words
• Publish 100 videos on YouTube
• Never go to bed in an unmade bed

While I can get more granular with the business goals, these are all things I have control over.

And if at the end of the year I’ve successfully done each of these things? Not only will I be a healthier, happier person – but I’m confident my business will have grown as well.

So that’s the secret to setting goals and making them more achievable:

Switch from results oriented goals to action oriented goals.

If this concept is appealing to you and you’ve been considering building a new business this year, then I’d check out The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Lifestyle Business. We have a whole chapter on action goals and what I call the “milestone mindset” to help you build confidence throughout your journey through entrepreneurship.

Sean Ogle is the Founder of Location Rebel where he has spent the last 12+ years teaching people how to build online businesses that give them the freedom to do more of the things they like to do in life. When he's not in the coffee shops of Portland, or the beaches of Bali, he's probably sneaking into some other high-class establishment where he most certainly doesn't belong.