Goal setting can seem daunting at times, right? But, with the right process in place, what used to be painful can now be easy (and maybe even a little fun too).

I used to hate December because the weather gets cold here. The skies get grey… and they stay grey… for what seems like forever! And it’s the time of year when I’d look at my goals.

For a long time, December would come and I’d start feeling anxious because I knew I was nowhere near accomplishing my goals – and so it would get me upset. I’d feel awful because I’d realize I was falling further and further behind where I wanted to be.

The contrast between the goals that I set in January (at the beginning of the year) and where I actually ended up by December was depressing. There was always this massive gap between the two.

After a couple years of hoping things would just “change” and I’d suddenly get better results, I knew that I had to refine my process. The bottom line is that you and I can continue to do things the old way and continue to moan and groan about the results that we’re getting (or not getting)…
OR
… We can learn a process that works. And that’s what I did. So let me reiterate. If what you’re doing isn’t working for you, you’ve got to…

Learn a process that works

Here’s the thing…
It’s not our fault. We were never taught goal setting in school – at least I wasn’t. And that’s why, for me, my “make shift” goal setting process never worked in the past – no matter how much I read about setting smart goals. It just never happened.
However, now, things are totally different and I want to share one little trick with you that made all the difference. But first, let me show you just how well this trick has worked for me.

2016 was, by far, my best year ever.
So, here’s what happened. . .
From a business standpoint, we launched a whole new business that took off like a rocket ship, far exceeding our goals. That gave us the ability to contribute WAY MORE than we had ever thought to causes that we are passionate about. And that super lights me up.

The other thing it did, was give me more time to be with the people that matter most to me – like my wife, Amy, my kids, my family, and my friends.

There were seven goals, in total, that I made for 2016. Here’s the actual screenshot from my phone:

My 1st goal was to build an e-mail list of two hundred thousand small business owners by December 31, 2016.

My 2nd goal was to attract twelve thousand paying members to Platform University by September 30, 2016. That was the goal, but it actually became obsolete, because Michael Hyatt and I, we ended our partnership in February that year, so that I could concentrate on my new business.

My 3rd goal was to conduct a two million dollar launch of my membership course and donate two hundred fifty thousand of that to World Teacher Aid, which is our charity that my wife and I run. The goal date for that was October 31, 2016

My 4th goal was to exercise three times per week.

Goal 5 was to schedule two ‘couples only’ getaways with Amy by July 31, 2016.

Goal 6, to organize one friend get away by October 31, 2016

And, my final goal, #7, was to raise one million dollars for World Teacher aid by December 31, 2016.

So, here’s the deal. Of these seven goals that I set . . .

• I hit or exceeded four of them.
• One goal I just missed. I didn’t quite hit it, but we were really close (raising $1M for our charity).
• One became obsolete (that’s the one with Platform University). And, that’s OK. Oftentimes you’ll set goals and then, for whatever reason, like in this case, the goal becomes obsolete and doesn’t matter anymore.
• And then one goal, I completely missed (adding 200,000 to my email list). Although we put every effort into that one goal . . . I just completely missed. And that happens sometimes too. I made some good headway on this one, but we got started late in the year and I think that was the big difference.

Even though I underestimated the time it would take for me, in terms of getting started, I made progress on the one goal that I missed. And guess what? When you reflect on your goals, don’t look at what you didn’t do, but focus on the progress you have made.

Overall, I was happy with my progress for the year. And this year, I’ll be reviewing my goals again (I’ve still got a few days before the deadline to squeeze some magic in 😛 ).
The point is, I’m able to achieve most of my goals like this, year after year, because of a goal planning process I learned from my friend, Michael Hyatt.

When I first started using it, I had my best year ever. And then the next year, I bettered my best. And, the year after that, I bettered my best. And, this year, I will better my best again!

Before that. I would always fall short of my goals. Now, I’m constantly hitting them. And now, I’ve got momentum on my side. I’ve got a great track record the last few years because of this process.

It’s called Best Year Ever.

So, every year I continue to refine the process so that it gets easier and easier for me.
And it’s going to get easier and easier for you the more comfortable you get with it. Because then you can begin to tailor it to what you want to accomplish.

My recommendation is that you first learn the process and follow it to a tee. That’s exactly what I did. Then, once you’ve got the process dialed in, you can begin adapting it to your own specific needs

Michael will be sharing more about the process in this presentation.

I want to encourage you to go and follow his process. It works. It has helped turn December around for me in terms of it being a month that I would not look forward to. Now, it is one that I absolutely look forward to. In fact, when a whole bunch of snow gets dumped on us, I go home and build a snowman with the kids. That’s always fun.

And when you start to use this process, you’ll have something to look forward to each year too!

So, go check it out at Best Year Ever .

Disclosure: When you join Best Year Ever, we get a little something for recommending it to you.