You are excited to have seen 2024, and in the back of your mind, you know you need to plan for the year, but you are not confident if you should do it. Why? Because you did not achieve most of your 2023 goals. What’s the point, you ask yourself? I will probably give up on them by March. You then consider rewinding the same goals for 2023 and psyching yourself that this year you’ll keep at it till December. 

But you remember the old saying by Albert Einstein: insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. You are definitely not insane and wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistakes. That’s why you are here. You want to understand how you can use last year’s failures to set goals that you can achieve by the end of 2024. You are in the right place. This article will help you reflect on last year’s mistakes and then guide you on how to develop realistic goals that you can achieve.

What Happens if You Did Not Meet Your 2023 Goals?

It’s natural to feel disappointed or even like a failure if you did not accomplish some or all of the goals you set for yourself last year. The first response would be to beat yourself down, become extremely sad, and feel overwhelming guilt. You may even hate yourself for giving up, yet overlook that you still managed to get things done even though they weren’t in your goals. 

But rather than beat yourself up, it’s important to reflect objectively on what prevented your success. Afterward, adjust your mindset and implement your new strategies. Don’t view those unmet goals as failures but as learning experiences to shape more intentional, realistic goals this year. Let’s dive deep into this discussion in the following section. 

Why You Did Not Meet Your Goals in 2023

Mukami eagerly wrote out her 2023 goals in January, determined to finally organize her finances, start a catering business on the side, and exercise three times a week at a gym. But by March, little progress had been made. Mukami reflected on what caused her plans not to work. For instance, organizing her finances required additional financial knowledge that she did not currently have. Between her job and family responsibilities, she simply did not have time to take classes or read books to gain that knowledge.

In terms of the catering business, Mukami underestimated the amount of capital needed to purchase ingredients, supplies, and licensing in order to get started. She also realized that without determining her target clients and market niche ahead of time, she did not know who to start marketing to once she was ready to launch.

Finally, while well-intentioned, exercising three times a week at the gym required her to make multiple trips back and forth with an already packed schedule. Without assessing what workout commitment was truly sustainable week-to-week with her current roles and lifestyle, the routine quickly became an overwhelming burden rather than a productive health habit.

Even though Mukami had excellent New Year goals, she had not realistically assessed her goals and how she would achieve them. Did you? 

How Realistic Were Your Goals?

Mukami’s experience offers insights into evaluating how realistic your own goals truly were. Clearly analyzing your capability to achieve the goals is important. Consider your current lifestyle, resources, and abilities to determine if your goals are achievable. For example, Mukami assumed organizing her finances would be a simple task without assessing her available time for learning more about money management. As you reflect on how realistic your 2023 goals were:

• Carefully examine what circumstances or components of your goals were within your control versus out of your control. 
• Be honest with yourself about the tasks you were to perform and if they realistically fit into a typical week or month with your roles and responsibilities. 
• Identify any skills training or mentoring you needed that you would have taken to better equip you for success. 

The more informed your self-assessment is, the more empowered you will be to set achievable, fulfilling goals moving forward.

Want to learn how to self-assess and manage your emotions in 2024? Sign up for an eye-opening emotional intelligence class.

What Did You Do Towards Achieving Your Goals?

It’s understandable if, reflecting back, you feel you came up short taking tangible actions towards your goals last year. Your day-to-day demands may have become overwhelming, and your aspirations to achieve your personal goals took a back seat. But you may have started working on your goals before other matters took over. Let’s use Mukami’s example to illustrate. 

When Mukami reflects on her unfinished goals, rather than self-criticize, she can highlight the effort made toward progress. Though she did not fully organize her finances, Mukami did track her spending over two months and discovered areas for improvement in her budget. While the catering business never launched, she did some market research, asked friends about what services were needed, and explored business names and recipes that she could implement in 2024. And even without completing her gym routine, the first month of exerting herself three days per week made her realize she preferred doing dance classes instead of aerobics.

The little steps you made when you began the previous year can be used as stepping stones to help you set more realistic and achievable goals in the new year.

Were the Goals You Set Holistic?

When looking at all the parts of your life, did the goals you set last year work for you as a whole person? Or did they only focus on one area and leave the rest behind? Using the “wheel of life” can help you see how balanced your goals really were in 2023.

The wheel has eight sections: career, money, health, family, friends, personal growth, fun, and physical space. First, rate how happy you feel in every area today on a scale from 1-10. One means very unhappy, and ten means totally happy. The results create a wheel with high and low scores.

Image by Scott Jeffrey

Now, look back at last year’s goals. Did they primarily aim to improve just one or two sections, like career and money? Meanwhile, maybe you ignored building friendships, having fun, or taking care of your health. When part of the wheel stays small while another grows too fast, your wheel rolls unevenly and your life feels off balance.

The lesson? Set goals across more sections of your wheel each year. Include career goals but also ones for your health, relationships, personal hobbies, and home. When each area grows step-by-step together, whatever you plan to do becomes fulfilling. 

Plan Your Goals Differently in 2024

Armed with insights gained from self-reflecting on your 2023 goals, you now have the power to approach goal-setting from a wiser, more empowered mindset. Instead of randomly selecting goals for the New Year, thoughtfully create a list aligned with your core values, current lifestyle abilities, and available resources. Establish a step-by-step roadmap breaking down large goals into digestible steps that you can measure biweekly or every month. The following table compares how you may have set goals in 2023 and how you should set them in 2024. 

The trick to reaching your yearly goals is not about making up totally new things you want each January. It’s more about slowly changing the way you go after them. From the table above, turning big goals into step-by-step plans that fit your life makes hitting targets feel possible.

What if You Do Not Feel Like Setting Goals? 

It’s understandable to feel disinterested or even actively resistant to setting New Year’s goals, especially if past years ended in disappointment. The process can seem tedious and even meaningless if you struggle to see positive outcomes. However, avoiding goals altogether comes at a cost—you lose out on their long-term benefits. Here are a few advantages to committing to intentional goal-setting:

• Creates sense of purpose and direction 
• Fosters self-discipline as you build routines that stick
• Allows you to notice personal progress and celebrate growth
• Uncovers opportunities for self-improvement you may overlook
• Provides structure but leaves room for adjustments
• Keeps passion projects moving rather than staying as dreams
• Promotes accountability and expands support of community
• Builds self-confidence as you tackle bigger challenges
• Leads to insight on how you operate at your best

Rather than see the exercise as a difficult task, reframe it as an exciting experiment tailored just for you. Commit to goal setting for just the first three months and assess from there. You may surprise yourself.

Need Help Recovering from Past Failures and Planning for the New Year?

As you plan for the New Year, Clarity Counseling and Training Centre stands as a valuable partner in your journey towards personal growth and success. Our dedicated team of counselors specializes in assisting individuals in setting realistic and achievable goals while providing support in recovering from past setbacks.

At Clarity, we recognize the importance of understanding and learning from past failures. Our counseling services focus on cultivating inner strength, and self-reflection, and empowering you to overcome challenges. Through personalized sessions, we guide you in developing a strategic plan for the upcoming year, promoting a positive mindset and increased self-awareness. Book your New Year’s appointment with us today.