A Podcast That Helped Me Set My Course for the New Year

Sometimes things find you just at the right time, and that’s exactly what happened this past weekend for me. The new year had begun, and here I found myself five days in with still a lot of confusion about how I was going to structure my year. What goals I wanted to focus on. How I was going to navigate this new career path I was on. Where I even begin.

Where My Inspiration Took Off

During a slurry of household chores, I pulled up a podcast called On Purpose with Jay Shetty titled The ONLY 7 Step Goal Setting Method You Need to Become Who You Want to Be in 2024, which had a side note to not skip this one. Well, okay. Listening to this had to be at least a good way to take my mind off of folding laundry, vacuuming, and picking up stray socks the dog had decided to carry off and deposit in another room. And maybe I’d learn something.

Turns out, for me, this was a great podcast in which to listen as it helped reframe the way we think about setting goals and the start of a new year. I don’t know about you, but the new year can be both exciting and intimidating, especially when you have some things you’re still trying to figure out. I had wound myself into this feeling of uncertainty, which practically left me frozen, unable to make any progress.

Let me tell you, it was not a good feeling.

What Type of Year is 2024 for You?

For many, we come into a new year with goals or resolutions or changes we want to make, without any regard to where we are in our journey. It can be intimidating, and might be the reason why so many people ditch their resolutions by January 17th. But this podcast provided a way for us to reframe our thinking. To consider what type of year 2024 is for you. It could be a year:

• Of Learning
• Of Experimenting
• Of Performance
• To Thrive

Wait, I don’t have to go directly to perform and thrive? I don’t have to already have it all figured out? My plan doesn’t have to be perfect? I can actually focus on learning and trying things out? Fascinating!

For me, launching myself into freelance writing is going to take some trial and error. It’s going to take some research, reading, listening, lots of writing, and throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. Suddenly, I actually had more clarity around what my next steps needed to be, and I could literally feel the ice that had been anchoring my feet start to thaw.

Ah, the relief!

How to Break Down Your Goal

Jay goes on to brilliantly outline and explain his 1-4-3-1 method of breaking down goals, which is on my to-do list for today. To take one goal, break it down into four quarters, then three months within each quarter, and then one week within each month. (I’m not going to go into detail as you can get all the details in the podcast, which, by the way, is only 33 minutes, so not too much of a time commitment. I think you’re worth that time.)

And he even reminds us to give ourselves grace and compassion, because we will fall off of our plan. Yep, it happens to the best of us, but it doesn’t have to derail us. (For some reason, I can never hear this sentiment enough.)

Don’t Worry About the Date. Just Start.

Now, you might be thinking about how we’re already a full week into the new year, so is it too late to start? For me, this is just the right time. I needed that first week to get my Christmas decorations down and put away, organize the other aspects of my life, and to get the kids back to school. And, honestly, I was doing a lot of learning that first week. Just a bit unfocused.

But, today begins my jaunt into 2024 where my intentions become a bit more direct and my mind becomes a sponge. Because it’s a year of learning and experimenting for me. And I can’t wait to see just how far I come in the next 51 weeks.