What do you want this year? It’s not too late.

It’s the last day of January. How are you doing on those 2013 resolutions goals? Still going strong? Given up? Forgot about them? Finished already? (If you are, then set a few more for the REST of the year!)

For those of you who are struggling, given up, or didn’t set any goals in the first place, this is for you.

Truthfully, I haven’t “officially” set my goals yet for the year. I have my top priorities, and I generally know what my goals are, but I haven’t gotten down to specifics yet. In goal-setting terms, they aren’t SMART. And if you’re at all like me, even once I do get to that point, they often get filed away in a folder on my computer or buried on my desk under a pile of stuff, and I don’t regularly assess where I’m at with completing them throughout the year. (Stop cringing all you Type-A goal-setter people. What can I say? I’m human…and life happens.)

Rather than putting a bunch of pressure on myself to have this tidy list of action-oriented/time-bound goals that I can check off—I’ll get there eventually, just not yet—I’ve found something else that works really well for me. It’s a More of/Less of list.

The mechanics of it are pretty straight-forward. Get out a sheet of paper, divide it into two columns, and write “I want More of in 2013” in the first column, and “I want Less of in 2013” in the second column. You could do this on the computer, but personally, I’m over creating spreadsheet trackers, and there is also something about the physicality of writing things down that I like. (I end up feeling more committed, because they get cemented it in my brain.)

Once you’ve got your template, start filling it in. What do you want more of this year? What do you want less of? That’s it. There are no other requirements. Make it long, make it short. Whatever. Give yourself the freedom to write down things that only make sense to you—for example, one of the things I wrote down on mine says, “crossing to the ditch; stooping”. I’m sure nobody else understands it, but I know exactly what it means. Make it yours; that is what’s important.

Your More of/Less of list is a list of goals in itself, but if you would like to take it further and set detailed, measurable/actionable/time-bound goals, this list serves as a great starting point. That’s what I’m going to do. My More of/Less of list is done, and when I get to writing my detailed goals in the next couple of weeks, I’ll have much less stress around the whole process.

I have a challenge for you today: create your list right now.

 
Jot down what you want more of and less of throughout the rest of 2013. I bet it will take less than 10 minutes. (Give yourself a chance! You already know what you want this year. I’m sure of it—you maybe just haven’t thought about it quite like this yet.) When you’re finished, hang it up somewhere you will see it every day, such as the refrigerator door or the bathroom mirror. And here’s the important part: Read it frequently, to see how you’re living into your More of’s and out of your Less of’s and to remind yourself of what you’re working to achieve. Not so hard to do when you see it every time you brush your teeth!

I’d love to hear how it goes for you. Feel free to check-in throughout the year via the comments or send me an email.