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New Year 2021 – New You!

Compiled by Wendy Wickliffe, DTM (Club Growth Director 2020-2021)

Also available for download in PDF format

 

Welcome to 2021 – are you looking forward to a better year than last year?

Have you set your New Year’s resolutions? Most people are great at setting goals but not so good at achieving them. A goal without a plan is only a wish!

 

This document includes and combines ideas from Toastmasters International articles and other sources to help members achieve their goals, including their Toastmasters goals.

 

New You – Goal Setting Articles you’ll find below:

  • Identify your Goals
  • Set Goals – SMART Goal Method
  • New Habits New Life
  • Create a Plan – GROW Method
  • Tips for Achieving your Goals
  • Goal Setting Guru – Brian Tracy – You Tube Channel

 

Resources

Visitors Members Club Officers
Guest Pack

Benefits of Toastmasters

Templates

Pathway Project Presentations

New Year New You Goal Workbook

 

New Year New You Marketing Material – here

Fliers, Marketing Portal

Educational Presentations

 

Challenge to all Members

Fill in the New Year New You Member Goal Workbook and share your goals with your VPED/President and mentor. Purpose – identify your why for joining and why you stay, where are you at with your paths and projects, communication or leadership goals you want to achieve.

  • Your Toastmasters Goal Sheet – 2021 (give a copy to your VPED)

Ideas on Pathway Projects on Goal Setting that you could use and present at your club. Feel free to adapt but also I would love to see yours – email clubgrowth@d112tm.org.nz.

 

Identify your goals

Many of us set ourselves tasks and goals to achieve what we feel will make a difference to our lives. Sometimes we find it difficult to achieve these goals as the journey becomes too long, too hard or it simply gets overshadowed by other ‘higher priority’ tasks and therefore these goals are pushed to the side.

Start by asking yourself some simple questions that can help you take control of your life and achieve your goals:

  • What are you trying to achieve?
  • What are your habits and what do you want to change?
  • What have you achieved in life?
  • Do you live in the moment?

 

What are you trying to achieve and what is your ultimate goal? Is it to live cleanly, train for a 10km fun run, sleep better, lose weight, drink more water, change careers, start a new relationship, enjoy your work / life choices, raise a supportive, nurturing family, or simply be happy…..? It may even be all of the above!

 

Perhaps start with one area that you feel has the most positive effect on your life – many of us try and do too much and things get lost, so select one or two and aim for a 10% change rather than a complete overhaul. Have a look at some of the barriers that may possibly get in the way of you achieving your goals. These may be quite numerous, with the largest being our own voice in our heads – because WE think it, we assume it is right!

 

What are your habits and what do you want to change?

Review your habits – do they suit your goals? Do they create barriers and what can you do to set strategies to get around them? Habits are with you always, sometimes they serve us well and sometimes they present enormous burden. Be firm with the habits you choose (and yes, we choose our habits, they are after all, simply actions) mould them to suit your purpose and let old habits go when they don’t.

 

Note your own achievements, skills and talents – what are you really good at? We are often so busy that we fail to stop and simply look at how much we’ve managed to achieve in life. Take a moment to record all the wonderful things you’ve accomplished. It is so much more rewarding and motivating than the ‘never enough’ culture of constantly reviewing what we haven’t yet managed to achieve and be proud of those accomplishments. Write a list and keep it handy as a constant reminder of the great things you have achieved. And remember to be mindful, mindfulness is living life as it happens, being aware of what is going on around us and doing one thing at a time. Also, be completely honest with yourself, take responsibility for your journey and enjoy your decisions.

 

“To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.” (Kofi Annan)

 

Using Melissa’s suggested Questions see below for a Goal Sheet Question Checklist

 

Goal Sheet Question Checklist (Download PDF form)

What are you trying to achieve?
What are your habits and what do you want to change?
What have you achieved in life?
What are your skills and talents?
Do you live in the moment?
What do you value the most?

 

Additional Resources

Questions You Could Ask Yourself

Setting Goals Amidst Uncertainty – Jan 21 Leader Letter

Toastmasters Goal Sheet Workbook (Download for your use)

 

Set Goals – 5 Tips for Setting Goals and SMART Goal Method

(From: https://mediacenter.toastmasters.org/2022-12-28-Toastmasters-5-Goal-Setting-Tips-for-2023)

A new year is upon us, making for a great time to set new goals or evaluate our progress towards current ones. No matter if your goal is big or small, here are a few helpful tips to ensure you are smarter with your New Year goal setting.

Tip Comments
1.     Write your goals down Helps to make them more real and tangible. Instead of keeping your goals in your head, write them down on a piece of paper or in a notebook or journal. Throughout the year, you can reference back to the goals you wrote down to ensure you focus on completing them.
2.     Make your goals visible After you write down your goals, post them in your office, bedroom, or workspace for daily reminders on what you are working towards. Having your goals on display can help ensure they are not forgotten about. Plus, having your goals on display can motivate others. When someone sees it, they can be inclined to help you achieve it, or use it as motivation to set their own goals.
3.     Set SMART Goals As you set your goals, ask yourself if they are SMART. What exactly are SMART goals? They are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. Using this method to set goals ensures they are clear, attainable, and meaningful. Following this methodology will lead to more success in following through and accomplishing more this year.

For more information on SMART goals, click here.

Details to Consider

 

S  

Specific

 

What do I want to accomplish and Why?
M  

Measurable

 

How will I know when it is accomplished?
A  

Achievable

 

How can the goal be accomplished?
R  

Relevant

 

Does this see worthwhile?
T  

Timely

 

When can I accomplish this goal?

 

“Become a more confident speaker by giving ten in club speeches and speaking at least twice outside of club by 31 Dec xx”

4.     Think about the big picture In a leadership position, you must think about more than just yourself and your personal goals. How will achieving them impact those around you? As you sit down to set your goals, think about this question and make sure accomplishing your objectives won’t negatively affect others.
5.     Modify as you go You may find that after you set your goals and work to achieve them, things change. While you may need to update your plan to achieve your goals, or even the change goals themselves, stay focused. Obstacles may slow you down, but don’t let them deter you from accomplishing your objectives.

 

Additional Resources

SMART Goal Worksheet

SMART Goals Explanation  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SvuFIQjK8

Goal Tracking App Review https://stfalcon.com/en/blog/post/goal-tracking-app

 

New Habits, New Life

(From: https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2020/jan/new-habits-new-life)

Looking to make some changes? Start small. Start now. Repeat. By Peggy Beach

Starting a new habit or kicking an old one is deceptively difficult. It’s the ability to follow through and persist in new habits that are most important in starting or changing a habit. “Habits don’t work just by people making a conscious decision to change. They form only slowly as we learn by doing.”

 

Tips to develop a new habit.

Tip Comments
Get enough Sleep A lack of sleep leads to a host of challenges, including mood, memory, pain sensitivity, and immune function. A lack of sleep can also cause weight gain and procrastination. In fact, many people cite the simple reason of being too tired as a reason for delaying a project.
Start Small and Start Now Having a plan is key to a new successful habit.

Rather than being overwhelmed by the anticipated goal, focus on short-term goals. If you want to earn your DTM, try putting a Toastmasters project on your daily to-do list, challenging yourself to give one speech a month, or scheduling time to seek advice from fellow Toastmasters to make it a more manageable project.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat “We form habits by acting,” says university professor and author Dr. Wood. “Our brains start to form habits when we repeat the same actions over and over. Once we have repeated it enough, it becomes our automatic, go-to response.” If you want to add a habit into your life, such as journaling, exercising, or practicing speeches, you may need to adjust a routine to find the time for the new one. Studies indicate that it takes about two to four months of doing something consistently to form or break a habit.
Change the Circumstance or Location Paying attention to the environment around you and changing what you can is one of the best ways to sustain a new behaviour over time.
Set a Schedule, Find a Partner Having a plan is key to a new successful habit.

Habits grow strongest and fastest when they’re repeated in predictable ways, and for most of us, putting an activity on a schedule tends to lock us into doing it.

Having an accountability partner is also important for many people.

Create a Goal Plan – GROW Method

The GROW model is a coaching and goal setting model consisting of 4 simple steps (G, R, O, W).

GROW is an acronym. It is a very useful way of organizing your goals and its steps are easy to remember. Each step establishes a directive to follow in order to achieve a certain goal.

 

How to Use

The GROW model for goal setting like SMART helps the user through the process.

Go through each section, write your answers down so you can review as you work on each section.

 

From this process you will have a defined GOAL which is measurable and has a deadline (short- or long-term goal). Checked your REALITY, obstacles, opportunities, your success rate. Identified potential OPTIONS to achieve the goal and created a PLAN of steps you will implement, resources, timelines including how you will track your improvements (measure).

 

GGoal: A defined and measurable target.

RReality: Where you are; which is your current situation.

OOptions: Your different options for reaching that Goal.

WWill: What you will finally do; a Plan to follow.

 

Since your goals need to be continuously evaluated as well as the actions you are taking it is a good idea to think of the model as a GROW-ROW model in order to evaluate and adjust your strategies or even the goal itself.

  • How your Reality has changed.
  • New Options you have.
  • New actions you Will take.

(From: https://www.consuunt.com/grow-model/)

Action Plan

Dividing a large goal into smaller, accomplishable tasks is an important step in bringing it to fruition. Each of the identified tasks can be set as a milestone. A milestone is a significant step toward the larger goal and a pausing point to check progress.

An action plan is a checklist for the steps or tasks you need to complete in order to achieve the goals you have set.

Components of an action plan include.

  • A well-defined description of the goal to be achieved
  • Tasks/ steps that need to be carried out to reach the goal
  • People who will be in charge of carrying out each task
  • When will these tasks be completed (deadlines and milestones)
  • Resources needed to complete the tasks
  • Measures to evaluate progress

 

What’s great about having everything listed down on one location is that it makes it easier to track progress and effectively plan things out. It does not need to be set in stone and can adapted as needed.

 

Example

Goal Statement – Brief Description Measurable/s
 

 

Actions and Associated Tasks Person

Responsible

Assistance Resources Target

Date

Progress Update

 

 

1.

 

2.

 

3.

 

 

Other Templates – https://onplanners.com/templates/personal-goal-setting#goal-setting-templates

Tips for Achieving your Goals

Eldonna Lewis-Fernandez, provided the following tips to achieve her goal in 2015 to become an Accredited Speaker this tip[s are relevant regardless of what your goals are

https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2017/jan2017/goal

 

  1. Set Big Goals and Visualise Success
  2. Enlist the help of coaches/mentor/expert.
  3. Feedback: Take what you like and leave the rest
  4. Prepare – put the work into achieve your goals.
  5. Enjoy the process and celebrate success.

 

Use these strategies to set your next goal. Do the work and you will have the power to succeed!

 

Tips & Tricks to Achieve the Goals You’ve Set For Yourself

by Jenna Helton https://rungum.com/blogs/blog/tips-tricks-to-achieve-the-goals-you-ve-set-for-yourself

Sticking to goals can be a little difficult at times. Here are some tricks that to help hit smaller goals.

 

  1. Visualize hitting the goals. The big ones, the small ones whatever it is – visualize it and make it real to you!
  2. Focus on your Short-Term Goals. Those small goals are going to help you reach the big one. By achieving the small ones along the way it keeps you motivated to keep going. Instead of focusing on the long path ahead, focus on the short one to your next mile marker.
  3. Create accountability. Just like Step Number 4 mentions – TELL SOMEONE! It is only going to help keep you accountable in the long run.
  4. Take your brain out of it. Sometimes your brain likes to talk you out of doing something…do as NIKE would say and “Just Do It” without thinking too hard about it!! Remember Your Why?
  5. Look back at how far you’ve come. Sometimes a great way to stay motivated in your overall goal is to see how far you’ve come by hitting those small goals along the way.
  6. Know that you CAN!..you really can. Each of us has that fire inside of us to hit the achievements we’re wanting to make…we really just need to follow the process.

If goals were easy to achieve, everyone would be walking around with the body of an Olympian, a Million dollars in their pocket. Goal setting…actually goal achieving…is hard. It takes work, day in and day out…but you *can* do it!

 

Goal Setting Guru – Brian Tracy

Steps to Successful Goal Setting – with this video

Your ability to set goals and make plans for their accomplishment is the “master skill” of success. The development of this ability and you’re making it a lifelong habit will do more to assure high success and achievement in your life than any other skill you can possibly learn.

See – 5 Goal Setting Tips for 2021 – Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy emphasises the importance of an action plan and reviewing that plan every morning and again at night. He says that “the rule is that each minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution”.

He has free templates that can be downloaded.

 

Templates

https://www.briantracy.com/success/personal/op/goals-ty.html?ty=14GSG

https://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/smart-goals/

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