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Setting Goals (& actually hitting them)

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Quick Spin:

Goal setting can be an exciting moment in time. A chance to think about the things we want to accomplish or priorities to shift.

But most fail to recognize the process of setting goals isn't the means to the end. It requires breaking them into actionable tasks and holding ourselves accountable.

"There is only one way to eat an elephant....one bite at a time."

Today we will review:

• Why most goal setting fails
• OKR 101
• Stove Top Goals
• 7 steps to setting your Q4 Goals

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Back to today's topic: I first learned about OKRs when I was leading a team of 50 at The Knot. Our CEO come from Google and brought over the methodology and it changed everything for me.

Why most goal setting frameworks fail:

I’ve worked with many startups who use OKRs as a “check the box” activity. A “hey look we can do this thing too” moment in the calendar year.

The problem?
They never revisited those docs until the next year's goal setting process.

Goals are not a one and done moment in time.
They are a GPS destination for your day to day activities.

Today we'll talk about how to create your goals and actually use them as a guide for your day to day life.

Today’s newsletter will be particularly useful if you are:

• Embarking on a new chapter
• Spending a lot of effort but not seeing the impact
• Struggling with staying focused on priorities
• Stalling in personal or professional development
• In need of an adjustment of your current priorities

I’m not going to sit here and show you some fancy Notion template or spreadsheet with Zapier integrations.

What I am going to show you is my quarterly check-in process for making sure I don’t let any one thing fall off my plate. And I do all of the below in my notes app on my phone.

Stove Top Goal Setting

A reminder: Balance is unachievable.

I like to picture my life as a stove top.

Some quarters I bring career and ambitious goals to the front burner……with relationships, travel, fun and fitness to the back.

Other quarters I move fitness goals, parenting or fun to the front and career to the back. Everything is still cooking but this quarterly exercise is an intentional moment to move things around so nothing gets too cold or too burnt (out).

Skip the next paragraph if you already know about OKRs

OKRs 101

Before we dive in – let me do a quick OKR 101.

OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, are a framework and goal-setting methodology.

O = "Objectives"

Ambitious, qualitative goals that outline what you want to accomplish. Objectives are meant to be inspiring, challenging, and aligned with your values (check out this values exercise). They provide a clear sense of direction.

Examples:

• Get better at public speaking
• Become a thought leader at X
• Improve physical strength
• Be a great parent
• Be a great partner
• Run a marathon
• Increase content creation

KR = "Key Results"

Quantitative, measurable milestones that track progress toward achieving the defined objectives. These results are specific, time-bound, and ideally, they are both attainable and stretch goals, pushing someone beyond their comfort zone.

Some examples:

• Write 15 posts a week
• Hip thrust 2x my body weight
• Do 4 free public speaking engagements a quarter
• Connect with my partner phone-free for 1 hour a day

Lastly you focus on the tasks that drive toward the key results. This is the "what will I do to get there?" part of the planning.

Things NOT to do when setting OKRs

• Generalizations (“workout more”)
• Setting key results that don’t tie to the objective
• Creating unrealistic / unattainable KRs
• Not thinking about the "how" to achieve the KRs
• Having no accountability

Ready to set your Q4 OKRs? Let’s do this.

♟️ YOUR TURN:

Have you completed goal setting exercises before only to wonder where that piece of paper or deck went a few months later?

Today we will explore my 7 step goal setting process that will actually impact your day to day. Sound good?

Step 1: Pick 5

Choose your 5 pillars for the quarter. Here are some examples to choose from:

• Love
• Friendships
• Parenting
• Financial Health
• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Adventure / Play
• Spirituality
• Hobbies
• Personal Growth
• Professional Growth
• Travel
• Stability / Peace
• Play
• Learning & Development

Below are mine for Q4:2023. Reminder... I just quit my corporate job to become a content creator and right now it’s important to focus on stability, revenue streams and keeping my mind, body and close relationships healthy. I am deliberately removing things like fun, adventure and community for this quarter as I know I need to be heads down to recoup my salary and launch new products.

My 5 pillars for Q4: 23

• Money
• Career Growth
• Family
• Mental Health
• Physical Health

Step 2: Prioritize them

Now is the time to put 2 on the front burner and 3 on the back.

Front burner:

• Money
• Career Growth

Back Burner:

• Family
• Mental Health
• Physical Health

Step 3: Create your Objectives (O)

Ambitious, qualitative goals that outline what you want to accomplish.

Here are mine:

O1: Money
Transition to a full time, paid content creator.

O2: Career Growth
Become a better writer.

O3: Family
Create intentional time and stay connected to my family.

O4: Mental Health
Ensure I stay grounded during this time of transition.

O5: Physical Health
Train for a half marathon.

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Step 4: Add your quantifiable Key Results (KRs)

These are the milestones you'll hit that you believe will achieve your Objectives.

Here are mine:

• O1: Money
  Transition to a full time, paid content creator.
  KR1: Secure 2 newsletter sponsors a month
  KR2: Secure 1 Fractional CMO/consultant client a month
  KR3: Launch 1 recurring revenue stream by end of October.
  ​
• O2: Career Growth
  Become a better writer.
  KR1: Grow my newsletter subs by 20% while keeping open rates at 58%
  KR2: Secure a publisher for my book by EOY
  KR3: Grow LinkedIn to 25,000 followers
  ​
• O3: Family
  Create intentional time and stay connected to my family.
  KR1: Wednesday date nights with my partner
  KR2: Plan 1 family vacation for Q4
  KR3: Plan monthly 1:1s per kid
  KR4: No social media/phone from 6-8pm
  ​
• O4: Mental Health
  Ensure I stay grounded during this time of transition.
  KR1: 1 Weekly Therapy Session
  KR2: No alcohol 5 nights a week
  KR3: Conduct 1 Ketamine therapy session in Q4
  ​
• O5: Physical Health
  Train for a half marathon.
  KR1: 1 Long Run a Week Adding .5 Miles a Week
  KR2: Bi-Weekly PT Sessions
  KR3: 20 minutes of stretching a day

Step 5: Add your Tactics

You will now go through each OKR and come up with 1-3 tactics you believe will drive each KR results you just outlined. Some KRs are self explanatory and you can skip to Step 6. Others need a bit more tactical planning.

Sharing one example below.

• O2: Career Growth
  Become a better writer.
  KR1: Grow my newsletter subs by 20%
  KR2: Secure a publisher for my book by EOY
  KR3: Grow LinkedIn to 25,000 followers
  ​- Tactic 1: Post 2x a day and be active for 30 mins
  - Tactic 2: Engage with 10 creators a day

Step 6: Make a Plan. Add it to your calendar.

After you've broken down your tactics, it's time to move to your calendar. Time blocking is a quarterly exercise I use to ensure I am making space for the things I just said were most important.

I use different colors to separate work, health, social media time and family.

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Step 7: Bi-Weekly Review

After much trial and error, bi-weekly seems to be the right amount of time to review my OKRs and tactics to ensure:

• The tactics I outlined are making a dent towards my KRs
• The calendar blocking is working and I am sticking to my blocks (this is a great time to audit which blocks I tend to skip and ask myself "why". Is it not that important? What am I getting distracted by?)
• I still feel like those are the right KRs to achieve my larger Objective.

Add the Bi-weekly review to your calendar to stay on track.

To recap:

Step 1: Pick your pillars (stove top burner categories)
Step 2: Prioritize them
Step 3: Create your Objectives
Step 4: Add your Key Results
Step 5: Identify your tactics
Step 6: Make a Plan
Step 7: Bi-Weekly Review

Ready for an impactful Q4? You've got this!!

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