Beyond resolutions: Lessons from a leadership coach on setting goals

As we return to work and clear away the clutter of Christmas, there is something symbolic about  turning the calendar from one year to the next. It is a time of renewal when we reflect back on the year just gone, what we achieved, what mistakes we made, and what we got right. The arrival of January allows us to turn our attention to what we want to achieve in this year, and we hope for renewed energy, focus and a sense of purpose as we set out our intentions.

New Year's resolutions may feel cliché, but when we consider them as guiding lights to take us into the spring, they can lose that inevitable binary feeling of success or failure. New habits take time to embed and any that last just a few days probably weren’t really that important to you in the first place.

If you are keen to set yourself up for success, there are some coaching tips that can translate across quite nicely. I use these types of questions with clients who are trying to make changes in their working lives, but they apply to any kind of goal setting situation. 

When setting your intentions, firstly, try to use positive language to define what you want to do, rather than what you don’t want to do.

So, for example, rather than saying I want to stop smoking/drinking/overeating, try to reframe it as a positive action: I want to breathe fresh air into my lungs; I want to wake up every morning with a clear head; I want to eat mindfully and enjoy healthy homemade meals that satisfy my appetite. 

And then think about why you want to do these things? Is it to be healthier, save money, be fitter? Or is it peer pressure from others? (Spoiler alert – that probably won’t work out!) Try to dig a little deeper into the reasons behind your goal. Why is stopping smoking important to you? What would better health look and feel like? What could you do with the extra money you save? How would you feel if you were fitter? What more could you achieve? How would that achievement make you feel?

All of these questions that you ask yourself will then help you to set really clear intentions. The more specific and measurable they are, the more likely you are to achieve them.  By making your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound you will set yourself up for success. Write them down, keep track of them, and celebrate your successes. If things change, you can adjust your goals – you don’t need to give them up entirely.

Another good tip from the coaching world is to take yourself forward in time, to this time next year. If you were to reflect back on 2024, what would you have achieved, having set out your goals clearly and intentionally? Sit with that image for a while, and try really hard to imagine what your year was like. It can help to write this all down in a journal that you can look back on throughout the year, or when you are wavering (we all do). Even better is to chat this through with a trusted friend, and, if you are both setting intentions together, you can hold each other to account and be support buddies. Then you have the bonus of sharing each other’s successes together as well!

Nicola Barclay, Managing Director, Athena Leadership Coaching and Consulting and Senior Advisor, Housing Growth Partnership