2020 was full of surprises for all of us. I doubt anyone anticipated what happened last year. I certainly did not. How hard 2020 would be did not really sink in for me until around April of last year. I spent the rest of the year trying to keep my head above water. I cannot complain many people had a tougher year than me. None the less, I want 2021 to be a better you for me. I bet that you do as well.
2021 needs to be a better year for all of us
I am sharing the process I use for my annual goals. Hopefully, it helps you make 2021 a better year than in 2020. This week I am discussing why you should track your progress during the year. I believe you should review your annual goals every month to see how you are doing. At the beginning of each month, I spend time reviewing my goals, measuring my progress, and making adjustments. I recommend you do something similar.
Making your goals happen is hard
Setting my annual goals for 2021 was easy. Making them happen is much more difficult. It is a struggle this year. It is every year. Michael Hyatt (one of my virtual mentors) likes to say that goals need to put you in the discomfort zone. That is where the most personal growth happens. I sure hope he is right. My experience tells me that he is.
Discomfort is a catalyst for growth. It makes us yearn for something more. It forces us to change, stretch, and adapt.
Michael Hyatt
It is easy to give up on your goals
It is only February. I am already struggling with my annual goals. If you are like me, you are behind schedule on your goals too. It is easy to get discouraged quickly and give up. Many people do. I refuse to quit this early. Instead, I will keep plugging along. I hope that you do too.
Project management reviews (PMR) at work
A lot of the work I am involved in is project based. That means customers pay us to complete specific projects. They tell us what they need. We do the work, and then get paid. It is a normal practice for us to conduct project management reviews, or PMRs, with our customers. These reviews allow them to track our progress along the way until we are finished. PMRs are a crucial way to hold us accountable for delivering what we promised.
I conduct a personal PMR every month
In order to hold myself accountable, I conduct a personal PMR every month. For personal PMRs, the project is my life. I pull out my personal goals slide deck and review my current status. I know it sounds geeky, but it actually works. What I am going to do in the rest of this blog is to describe how I conduct a personal PMR. It is not a hard habit to build.
1. Review my annual goals list
The first thing I do during my personal PMR is to review my annual goals. I ask myself – are they still the right ones? Are they aligned with the word I chose for the year? These questions may seem silly, but I think they are worth asking. Things change during the year. Some goals that seemed important at the beginning of the year, may not be relevant anymore. Eliminate those ones. Don’t be afraid to get rid of a goal.
Fewer goals by the end may be better
It is okay to end the year with fewer goals than you started with. Don’t waste your time working on goals that do not make sense to you anymore. I would rather achieve a few really important goals than making limited progress on a long laundry list of irrelevant goals. It is rare that I end the year with the exact same list of goals that I wrote back in January. You may want to prioritize your goals to include only the essential ones. The more focus you give the better your results will likely be. I highly recommend the book Essentialism that explains why focus helps.
Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
Greg Mckeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
2. Measure my progress to date
Next, I measure my progress to date against each goal. This step takes some time. It is usually the most painful part, especially if I am making little or no progress against a goal. One of the reasons I recommend conducting personal PMRs is that they provide you with clarity regarding your progress. For example, I usually try to run a race every month. Some years I achieve that goal. Other years, not so much.
Consistency provides proper accountability
Years ago, I struggled with tracking my progress against my goals. I did not conduct personal PMRs. Instead, I would pull out my list of annual goals every now and then. That approach did not work. One year I wanted to lose 10 pounds. I made no progress during the year and then tried to lose all the weight in December. Not the best time of the year for losing weight. It was a total failure. I was miserable and did not lose any weight.
3. Identify adjustments that are needed
After you are done tracking your progress -it is time to identify adjustments that you need to make. You may want to adjust your timeline. For example, you may want to delay the deadline for your goal if you are behind schedule and cannot reasonably make up ground. Or, perhaps you are making better progress than expected and you want to raise the bar for your goal. Yes – this does happen at times, although it is uncommon for me.
A word of caution about deadlines
Avoid making all your goals due on the same day. They should be spread out across the year instead. If you are not careful, you will make little progress against them and delay all of them to the end of the year. Don’t be shocked if you achieve lackluster results with this approach. Once again, fewer goals is likely a better option if you fall into this trap.
4. Record when you reach the finish line
Once you have accomplished a goal then mark it as complete. I simply put a checkmark next to the goal so that I know it is done. By the end of the year, I usually have some check marks for goals that I achieved and X’s next to goals that I did not complete.
5. Establish my plan for next month
The last thing I do during my monthly personal PMR is to establish my plan for the next month. If adjustments are needed I will integrate those changes into my plan. If I decided to eliminate a goal I will stop working on it. One of the reasons I use PowerPoint slides for my annual goals is that they are easy to edit.
Don’t stop – keep going until the end
I will end on a positive note. Conducting a personal PMR is some tough self-love. After all, who wants to review their goals every month. I do. Mainly because I find this accountability useful. It helps me track progress, make adjustments, and create plans for success. It is easy to get discouraged. We all do. Don’t stop – keep going to the end. After all, you will never achieve any of your goals if you decide to quit. Stick with it. You may be amazed at the progress you make one step at a time. RLTW!
Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission though I be the lone survivor.
Six stanza of the US Army Ranger Creed
I am Doug Keating and this is my letter to sons.