Every year I go through an exercise of defining my personal yearly goals and I track them throughout the year. My system is a combination “stuff I made up that works for me” and OKR’s**.
**Objects and Key Results (OKR) is a is a goal-setting framework used by individuals, teams, and organizations to define measurable goals and track their outcomes. The development of OKR is generally attributed to Andrew Grove who introduced the approach to Intel in the 1970s.
I tweak the process every year so it’s been an ongoing work in progress. Guess what? We are approaching 2024 and Its about that time of year again so let’s roll through my process.
The rough methodology is as follows —
- Take in the bigger picture
- Define goal categories
- Define directional / motivational statements per category
- Define category objectives with key results
- Define how to track the key results
- Simplify and simplify again
- Lock in and revisit throughout the year (repeat monthly)
Let’s dig into the steps!
Step #1 — Take in the bigger picture. Before I get into the tactical details, I like to make sure to spend some thinking time taking a step back and answering a few higher level questions.
How were things in 2023?
Who am I? Where am I in life?
How are Sarah and I doing? How are Molly and Brooklyn doing?
Where an I with my family? Where am with my friends?
Where am I in my career? What are next 2-3 career moves?
Where are we with our finances?
Where am i with my health & fitness?
How much risk can I take this year?
Yearly goals need to be motivating and aspirational for me. The bigger picture helps me craft goals that get me out of bed in the morning. Plus, its just nice to reflect on things every year.
One of my favorite questions is how much risk can I take this year? There is no reward without some risk. Risk can define you as a person like it does with Elon Musk or Alex Honnold but I think they are “calculated risk takers”. I believe it’s important to take calculated risks in life because it pushes you beyond your limits. Plus, isn’t life boring without some risk and adventure?
Step #2 — Define goal categories. The categories help me shape the areas I want to focus on. They have stayed fairly consistent from year to year but there have been times when new categories make it on the list or the priority order changes. For example, after my stroke I had prioritized recovering from my stroke as a category. Below are the categories I have for 2024 —
- Family & Friends
- Career
- Health & Fitness
- Knowledge & Mental Health
- Creativity
Step #3 — Define directional / motivational statements per category. Each category needs definition and statements that get me motivated. Motivation is a fuel that can come from external and internal sources. An external source might be getting fired from a job or being told you can’t do something. An internal source might be a statement like “Disrupt an industry”. A statement like that motivates me to power through the headwinds.
Family & Friends
- Be the best husband I can be
- Be the best dad I can be
- Be the best friend I can be
Career
- Keep building
- Disrupt an industry
- Solve meaningful customer problems
- Take risks
- Work with an amazing people
- Innovate & be creative
- Make money
Health & Fitness
- Find excellence in my health & fitness
Knowledge & Mental Health
- Constantly expand my knowledge
- Find balance with my mental health
Creativity
- Create new things and introduce them to the world
Step #4 — Define category objectives with key results. Within each category you define an objective and a measure able key result. This is where we can start to overthink traditional goal frameworks and come up with a big mess. My suggestion is to keep things simple.
Example: Knowledge & Mental Health
- Objective: Elite mental conditioning
- Key result: Read 15 books throughout the year (Track in Goodreads)
- Key result: Journal/Meditate/Reflect once a week (Track with habit tracker)
Step #5 — Define how to track the key results. Tracking is critical. You need to form the habits that support key result which in turn supports the objective. Habit trackers are great tools to build positive habits. I use Today but there are so many habit trackers it’s hard to keep track of them all. Find one that works for you and start building those positive habits. Alternatively, I use Evernote to track more coarse grain key results.
Step #6 — Simplify and simplify again. Every time I do this, I end up with too many categories, too many objectives, too many key results to track. Now it’s time to create maniacal focus. Cut out 30-50% of the categories, objectives and key results. Focus is absolutely a super power for any person or organization. Save the ones you cut for later.
Step #7 — Lock in and revisit throughout the year (repeat monthly). Done. Lock it in. Track habits daily. Check in on broader progress monthly. Update with comments on how things are going. Make it part of your existence.
Few addition comments —
- Stick with it. You need to have the discipline to keep at it. This is isn’t once a year activity.
- Find your Zen. Life is series of interconnected problems to solve. Some in your control, others not. Focus on the things you can control and be mentally ready for the unknown.
- Setbacks make you stronger. Use it as motivation.
- Things can change. Don’t be afraid to adjust as you go but keep pressing forward. Keep making progress.
- Life is short. Don’t waste it. Find your happiness. Continue to be a better version of yourself every day.
Hope you enjoyed the post. Thank you for reading. Leave a comment or reach out!
-rjm
Memory Leak 