Goals & Priorities

Welcome to Rise and Thrive, a dynamic three-part series designed to prepare you and your creative mind for a powerful year.

As mentioned in our last Thrive Guide, it is easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day tasks that we forget what our mission is all about. We may lose our vision and get burnt out midway. This is where your roadmap comes into play.

Your roadmap is the crucial piece of your business journey that shows you exactly where you are and reminds you of where you’re going. It tells you what you will be doing and when, helping you stay on track.

In today’s Thrive Guide, we’ll give you the roadmap for making big plans to accomplish big things.

Reflection: Where are you coming from?

Why go backwards?

Many people view reflection as a way to dig up their dark past and feel bad about their mistakes. However, we can benefit from reflection if we set aside these negative feelings. The purpose of reflection is to learn what we should and should not carry with us as we go forward into the year. Reflection also serves as a means of encouragement; you would be amazed at all the progress you’ve made if you took a second to look back.

2023 Year-in-Review

Time flies. We are quick to forget all that takes place. Take a few moments to think about your past year. What happened professionally, creatively, or personally? It helps to look back on your old photos, journal entries, text messages, etc. to get an idea of what headspace you were in. You can break down your findings month by month. The goal is to find common trends from the last 12 months that can give you insights on how to proceed through this year.

Below are some prompts to help you reflect. It may help to write them down as you recall.

Key Achievements:

What were your most significant accomplishments in 2023?
Which projects brought you the most satisfaction?
Did you achieve the goals you set at the beginning of the year?

Challenges and Learnings:

What were the main challenges you faced throughout the year?
How did you overcome or adapt to these challenges?
What did you learn from the obstacles you encountered?

Adaptability and Flexibility:

How well did you adapt to unexpected changes or disruptions?
Were there moments where flexibility played a crucial role in your success?
What strategies did you use to stay agile in a dynamic environment?

Creative Growth:

In what ways did your creative skills evolve or improve during the year?
Were there specific areas of your craft that you focused on or explored further?
How did you push your creative boundaries?

Personal Growth:

In what ways did you grow personally as a creative?
Did you develop new skills or enhance existing ones outside of your creative realm?
How did your mindset and approach to challenges evolve?

Balancing Work and Life:

How did you manage the balance between work and personal life?
Were there specific strategies that helped you maintain a healthy work-life balance?
What adjustments could be made to improve this balance in the future?

Business Milestones:

Did you reach any significant milestones in your business or creative projects?
How did your business metrics (revenue, audience, etc.) change over the year?
Were there any unexpected successes or breakthroughs?

Customer Feedback and Satisfaction:

What feedback did you receive from your customers or audience?
How did you address any concerns or suggestions?
Were there notable positive experiences shared by your audience?

Back to the future: Where are you going?

Now that you know what areas you did well in and where you can improve, you can start thinking about 2024. You will need to forge the path ahead with intentionality, clarity, and purpose. This is where alignment between your creative plans and personal life becomes crucial.

You may want to consider:

What are your aspirations for the upcoming year?
Have your long-term goals or vision for your creative venture evolved?
How can the lessons from 2023 inform your plans and strategies for the future?
What goals from 2023 are you keeping for 2024?

Once you find that alignment, write down your main goal for 2024 in one sentence. Simplicity is key here.

How will this goal affect others in your circle? You will need to prepare them for any transitions that are about to take place.

How will this goal affect you? Your needs and wants are probably the most important of them all. Think about where YOU want to be and how your creativity can take you there. Think about what sacrifices you’re willing to make and the costs associated with them. You will need to create your roadmap in a way that takes these costs into account. Think of it like paying tolls on a road trip.

Create Your Roadmap

Now that we know where we came from and where we’re going, it’s time to start planning.

Setting Goals

First, a disclaimer. If you believe you are exactly where you need to be, stay right where you are. You don’t always have to chase new goals and push yourself to the limit. Think about what you want in the long-run and pace yourself accordingly.

If you’re ready to advance, start big but don’t get overwhelmed. Identify milestones at consistent intervals. Then, fill in the path with smaller steps to reach each milestone. Eventually the steps on your roadmap will be small enough for you to take day by day.

If all of your goals are money related, think about what you will do with the money once you get it. Having money just to say you have it is nice, but using money as a tool to get what you really want is even better. Think about the life you want and how you can help others get the life they want. We’ll talk more about money in our Money & Finance Thrive Guide.

Working Towards Goals

Once your goals are set, you need to learn how to reach them. It is important that you do each step in the right order. This is where proper priorities come into play.

How to set proper priorities:

Eliminate steps that are not getting you closer to your vision or improving your life in any way.
Always take the steps that will have the biggest impact first.

It’s very important to remember that a roadmap is not always a clear path. There may be times when you make mistakes, get off course, take the wrong turn, or have to change the path all together. It is a tough, but rewarding journey. Whatever you do, keep pushing forward. No negativity pit stops allowed!

Accomplishing Goals

Everyone talks about reaching your goals, but they never explain what happens once you do. Do you keep setting new goals for yourself? Do you settle down and retire? Do you start teaching others how to reach their goals? Here are a few common cases you may find yourself in and what you path could look like:

Case 1: The Builder

If you’re working on a specific vision, you probably will not be satisfied until the entire vision has manifested. Meeting individual goals may not be enough. Continue setting goals until your vision becomes a reality. Then, your work is done.

Case 2: The Visionary

If you like keeping yourself busy and have a plethora of ideas constantly appearing that you want to work on, keep setting new goals. Keep yourself challenged, but don’t let the ideas take over. Put them all on a calendar and work on one at a time.

Case 3: The Teacher

If you have already seen your vision come to life and you’re enjoying the manifestation of it, you may extract even more fulfillment from teaching others how to do the same. Teach classes, offer consulting services, write books, and do anything to spread the good news that they can do it too.

Conclusion

Congratulations on taking another step towards shaping your success! Now, you should begin working on the key takeaways from today’s Thrive Guide:

Keep your eyes on the mission to avoid burnout
Don’t be afraid of reflection; it’s how we learn
Remember where you’re going; only take steps in the right direction
Build your roadmap with an exit strategy in mind

In our next Thrive Guide, Productivity & Operations, we’ll discuss exactly how to get your big plans in motion. Stay tuned as we continue on this transformative journey together.