We’re Halfway There…
June Is the Time to Examine Annual Goals
We’re at what sports enthusiasts call HALFTIME in our current year. It’s June, and that means we’re inching closer to 2024! As most people can relate, we often have attachment and meaning to certain months for certain milestones and events. Birthdays, anniversaries, work milestones, beginnings, endings, and many other things. I’d like to claim June as a midway goal-checking month! June is an excellent time to reflect on and revamp your goals to stay in alignment with what you intended to do at the beginning of the year.
You might be thinking … what goals? Did I set goals at the beginning of the year? Maybe you did; maybe you didn’t.
If you did, I encourage you to find a quiet spot sometime this week and sit for a few minutes with your yearly goals in hand. How are you doing on them? Are you moving forward on them?
If you didn’t, I encourage you to create three goals that you want to work toward by the end of the year. Six months is a great timeframe for goal-setting. It’s a neat and tidy period with three even chunks to use as a measure of how you are doing. Additionally, it’s a great opportunity for you to sit down with your supervisor or team members and create a six-month plan to get everyone back on the same page and pointed in the same direction. This regrouping can inspire both on an organizational level and individually.
The only way that we evolve is by setting an intention and then living our life doing things that lead us toward that intention. If you are thinking, “I know my goals and I have them in my head,” I would encourage you to write them down. Research shows that you are 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. Break these goals down into stupidly small things to do. Each task shouldn’t take much more than 25 minutes to do. Granted, you might have a long list of items — but these small steps will drive you into action to reach your vision.
The cool thing is that now you aren’t even working toward that goal anymore. You are just getting a series of tasks done. Bill Walsh is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. In his book The Score Takes Care of Itself, he talks about doing some basic things that when done every day consistently will add up to winning the game. The simple things are those small action items on your list, and you will be done with your big goal before you know it.
Whether you are trying to get more organized in your life, working on a specific project, or trying to become a better manager of your time, the work is the same: We set the goal, break it down into stupidly small tasks, and then work toward it.
Start small and end big with your vision being realized and completed.
As futurist Joel Barker said, “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action and anything is possible.”
Sara Caputo transforms how individuals, teams, and small businesses navigate workflow and increase workplace efficiency. Her work has been featured in Working Women, Success, and Forbes, as well as other national and regional publications. She can be reached at sara@saracaputoconsulting.com.
