Be Intentional to Meet Your Goals

Be Consistent and Intentional for Success

The new year is a time for deep reflection. In last week’s WW meeting, we delved into the past year while preparing for the new one. I was asked to evaluate what went well and what I needed to improve. While I excelled in consistency, I was not always intentional. I regularly posted blogs and recorded podcasts on wellness and diligently practiced my wellness habits. However, despite this steadfast execution, I failed to meet some of my goals. This led me to a profound question – what went wrong?

I realized the answer to this question during a new year goal-setting session. The National Speaker Association Austin chapter meeting lecturer said that consistency without intentionality is not a recipe for success. Executing a plan not consistently aligned with your lead priority wastes time. Even if actions initially seem aligned, assessing whether your actions bring you the expected outcomes is crucial. I realized I had been consistent without being intentional in some key areas last year. 

Some Examples of Consistency Without Being Intentional

Here are some examples. Although I created a podcast with good content each week, I did not align some content with my mission of teaching people to balance mission with well-being.

Another example is the refinement of my website. My services and products will deliver on my mission. However, I focus on the complexities of search engine optimization that I never released them. Also, I spent too much time in my office working on my website and blogs instead of meeting with clients.

Reflecting on these and other examples, I have decided to double down on intentionality this year. I will not practice rote consistency but reflect, prioritize, plan, monitor, and modify my actions to achieve the desired results. For instance, I will ensure that every podcast and blog post I create aligns with my mission.

Reflect on Your Progress toward Goals

As you read about my experiences, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on your progress. Are your actions intentional and directed toward your desired vision?

When planning for the next year, the first step is to reflect on your progress from the previous year.  At the start of last year, I established a three-year vision based on the process in the book 12 Week Year by Brian Moran.  I established a three-vision for the following areas:  Spiritual, Spouse, Family, Community, Physical, Personal, and Business.  Next, I reviewed each vision statement and graded my progress in that area for that year.  Surprisingly, I only received one A and many C’s. 

Three Findings

I then went through the whole year to determine why I had not made the progress I wanted.  I did this by going through my daily journal, calendar, and emails of the prior year.  What I found was three things.

1.  I consistently executed the tactics I thought would progress toward my three-year vision.  For example, I posted a blog weekly and delivered a podcast or other type of media each week. 
2. However, when I dug into the details, I had created some blogs and podcasts that did not match the wellness and business content needed to grow my audience.  I was meeting my planned leading metric, but my lagging metric (new subscribers, additional revenue) were behind. A lagging metric is a measure that indicates the success or failure of an activity after the fact. In this case, it was a clear indicator that my actions were not intentional as they should have been.
3. Reviewing my calendar, I found that I had diverted my attention from my focus areas; I was devoting more time to the urgent and less time to the necessary actions to realize my vision. 

My reflection showed that I was consistent but not always intentional. I vowed this year to evaluate my tactics more often to confirm that they were getting the desired result.

Be Intentional When Prioritizing Goals

My reflection from the year before showed that even though I had established three priority goals for that year, I had not stuck to those priorities. One of those goals was to write a book completely. But what I found was that I soon became distracted when writing the blog or poem of the day. I had written an outline of what I wanted to put in the book, but when I found a topic that was more of interest or type top of mind, I worked on that instead of the chapter I should have been working on.   

This year, I again established three goals, which will be the focus of the first quarter. I have set forth a schedule that will allocate my weekly time to each goal in order of priority. I have already blocked out the time to focus on my calendar.

Establish a Plan that Executes Upon Your Intention

Now that I’ve set the three priorities for this quarter, I’ve outlined a plan with milestones and tactics to achieve these goals. Each week, I’ll assess how I executed my tactics and whether those tactics have achieved the expected results. But remember, the plan is just the beginning.   You must continuously monitor and adjust to stay on track.

Monitor and Adjust to Meet Your Goals

The best plans will not work if they are not monitored and adjusted when needed.  This is the big lesson I took away from last year. Here are two examples of what occurred.

One of my priorities was to grow revenue by what I, in hindsight, determined to be an unrealistic amount. When I did grow revenue but not at the pace I wanted, I started pursuing opportunities that were not aligned with my vision simply to meet the goal. This prevented me from growing in the direction that I wanted to go. I soon realized that I should have adjusted my goal to something more reasonable and stayed aligned with my vision. 

Another goal was to lose an undisclosed amount of weight. In this case, I executed the tactics that had worked before under a similar circumstance. However, I did not try to do something new when they did not work this time. When something isn’t working, even if it worked before, you must change what you are doing. 

Be Intentional

In closing, be intentional this year as you drive for your vision and goals:

1. Reflect on the year before and ask, “Were my actions intentional and directed toward my desired vision?”
2. Establish no more than three goals and schedule time and tasks to accomplish them.  Also, establish metrics to monitor how you execute your tactics and whether those tactics achieve their results.
3. Adjust at least monthly, with a complete assessment each quarter.  If your interests and intentions have changed, change your priorities to better align with your intentions.

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