How to Set Measurable Goals in 2021

The year 2020 is finally behind us. Goodbye 2020, hello 2021. And while it’s true that the world hasn’t changed dramatically with the turning over of the clock, a lot of people are optimistic that the New Year has a much rosier outlook for us than the past 12 months.

Despite uncertainty, people are still eager to look ahead and to set those big hairy audacious goals for 2021. New year, new me, as the saying goes.

So, what are my plans for the year 2021?

Like many people, my 2020 was chockful of ups and downs. I lost my job only to gain a new one in a completely different industry, along with a fresh new mindset on writing that I hope will carry me regardless of where I spend my 9 to 5.

I had a short story accepted for publication, and I am excited to see my writing in print in the first half of 2021. I’ve also made some considerable progress with my first YA novel, and am looking forward to revising and completing the project as well as some other stories I wrote in 2020.

In the end, here are my goals for Sylvie Soul Writing for 2021:

1. Monetize the blog
2. Make more videos for the Youtube channel
3. Do less freelancing, more promotion of the brand

I intentionally chose goals that were lofty, that carried with them a high rate of failure with a possible low ROI. I wanted to push myself and sylviesoul.com to the limit in 2021 and see if it made smart business sense to double down on my investment of the site and bank on my success.

But if I am to achieve any sort of long-term success, I need to ask myself the following question: Which of the following is the most important step in the process of setting goals? Is it the planning or the execution?

In my mind, it’s the execution; I can choose to push blindly full steam ahead with my goals, but without setting up an action plan on HOW I intend to achieve my personal goals, I run the risk of grinding my gears without getting much at all accomplished.

Therefore, I reached out to holistic life coach Caitlin B. Hyde for some actionable tips on goal setting, and she offered some very valuable advice.

Here is how I intend to set and achieve my writing goals for 2021:

Step 1: Establish what your goal is

Step 2: Don’t be afraid to ask yourself why

Step 3: Break your goal into smaller, realistic steps

Establish Your Goal

My ultimate goal is to garner more traffic for sylviesoul.com. I’ve been combing through the site analytics, comparing the pageviews and organic reach from 2019 to 2020 and I’ve been disappointed with the lack of growth.

My main goal for 2019 was to make money from my writing, hence why I took on so many freelancing projects and nearly succumbed to burnout in the first quarter of 2020. But I recalibrated and reworked my strategy, and I’m happy to say I achieved my financial goals and then some with taking on more freelancing work.

The downside, however, is that all the time I spent writing for other sites and publications, I neglected my own brand.

In 2019 I wrote an article almost every week for the entire year.

In 2020 my output dropped considerably; in the winter months, I focused on churning out content for Screen Rant, and in the months following my furlough and termination I focused on writing to supplement my income.

As such, content for creation for my site took a backseat, and my numbers suffered and remained stagnant as a result.

According to Google Analytics, my best day of traffic is May 15, 2019. My measurable goal for 2021 is to produce more consistent content so that I can break the streak on this nearly 2-year-old record and get some meaningful growth for my site.

Determine Why You are Setting the Goal for Yourself

My ultimate motive is to garner a sizeable following so that I have an audience when I publish my first YA novel. Throughout the years, I enacted different strategies to achieve this goal:

In Year 1 (2018), my main focus was to guest post on other people’s sites. This provided middling results; any traffic I obtained was short-lived and ultimately not worth the return on investment in terms of time and effort spent.

In Year 2 (2019), I set my sights on achieving my goal by creating content on a regular, consistent basis. This offered some measurable growth, and I intended to build upon this success in Year 3.

Well, obviously, 2020 was not a typical year; I made a sharp pivot in my strategy and devoted more focus to making money over getting pageviews. While I maintain that focusing on the money was a wise decision, I can’t deny that it hurt the growth of my own website and detracted from the initial goal of building an audience.

Therefore, in 2021 I will be focusing more heavily on content for sylviesoul.com, and will be promoting my weekly newsletter more aggressively in an effort to increase my mailing list.

Break the Goal into Smaller, Realistic Steps

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I start setting my goals for the following year as early as October and November. This allows me ample time to mentally plan what I hope to achieve in life.

In order to set realistic goals, an action plan needs to be set to break the goal down into smaller pieces that have measurable benchmarks.

This is why I am such a huge proponent of journaling as a way to write down your goals.

In 2019 I became familiar with the practice of writing down my goals while I wrote my morning pages.

In 2020 I co-opted a guided gratitude journal to also allow me space to write out my goals.

In 2021 I am going to be more intentional with how I write down my goals in order to achieve success. That is why I purchased The Human Being Journal from Mahara Mindfulness, a monthly guided mindfulness journal designed to get results not just in writing, but in all aspects of life – health, career, relationships and more.

As someone who doesn’t start her goal setting on January 1^st, The Human Being Journal is the perfect companion to productivity, as its monthly layout can be started at any time, on any day of the year.

So far, I’ve used the journal to lay out how I intend to achieve some of my big hairy audacious goals for 2021. Here are just a few examples:

1. Create at least one Youtube video a month
2. Write at least 1000 words a week (for the novel)
3. Save a portion of every paycheque on top of every monthly automatic withdrawal to savings

This strategy, combined with the previous two steps for achieving goals, have laid a strong framework for myself in how to set a goal and achieve it successfully

So here’s to 2021: it could be better or it could be a whole lot worse. Regardless, I can tackle the year with the confidence that, regardless the outcome, I am in control of my own dreams and progress.

Do you agree? Do you think 2021 is your year? Are you prepared to put 2020 behind you? And do you wish 4YE Entertainment would make a 2020 Edition to New Year, New Me: The Movie (a bit NSFW but hilarious)?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!