Network Wizkid

Welcome to 2019, how time flies when we’re having fun! In 2018 I learnt so much, there were goals I managed to achieve and then there were goals that I didn’t manage to achieve. Nevertheless, it is a new year and I’ve reviewed my previous goals and set new goals for the coming years, now I’m ready to go all out so that I can achieve what I desire.

So you might be reading this and asking yourself what relevance my achievements have to do with this article and if you are then the answer is “Everything” and I’ll explain why.

Shortly after doing a live video with Du’An (Creator of #LabEveryday), Antonio (Colleague & #LabEveryday Advocate) and Erica
(Colleague & #LabEveryday Advocate) where we were reflecting on the goals of 2018 and how and if they were achieved, much of those that tuned in reached out to me and asked if I could provide templates that would help in setting goals. This is the reason I thought it would be a good idea to create this article and share the resources I use when setting goals and before you say it, yes many different examples do exist online but the ones I am about to share seem to work nicely for me and better yet, they are simple.

If you didn’t watch the live session that I’ve mentioned above, you can catch it here:

Below I have two different types of templates that I have used and dependent on how you wish to set goals you may wish to select one over the other. I have also included a quick overview on how I’m able to fully utilize each template increasing the chances of success.

Weekly/Monthly/Yearly Goals Template

When I first started out setting goals, I used this very method. This format gave me the ability to set goals on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. I consider this template a living document and if you’re serious about goal setting then I have no doubt that this will be a living document. The reason I say that this template is a living document is because when you commit to setting weekly and monthly goals, you constantly need to review the goals that were set and make new goals throughout the year. This is excellent if you have short-term goals and you know exactly how long it will take to achieve and you have a plan to execute so that you can achieve these goals. However, I quickly found that this method wouldn’t really work for the goals that I wanted to set so I moved across to the second method mentioned further down in this article and let me explain why.

I have personal goals and technical goals that I strive to achieve and more often than not, these goals require more than a week or a months work. Yes, I could put them in the yearly section but then I wouldn’t really have anything on a weekly/monthly basis to put into those sections so it just didn’t work for me. Now I’m not saying that this will be the same case for you, I’m just sharing my experiences in a bid to help you get the best out of these templates.

With all that said, if you decide to use this template, here is a quick overview of how I used it.

• If the goal is achieved then highlight the ‘achieved’ box green in colour
• If the goal is not achieved then highlight the ‘achieved’ box red in colour and explain why the goal wasn’t achieved (This is important if you want to track progress)
• Create or remove rows as required
• Each week save the document under the week that has passed to achieve the weekly goals, i.e. If the document covers weekly goals to be achieved week commencing 7th January 2019 then name the file something like: ‘WC07-01-2019-Goals’. This is important if you wish to track your progress and reflect on your successes and setbacks because after all, part of goal setting is about being organised
• Goals that are not achieved are re-evaluated and if still relevant are carried onto the new goals document
• Goals that are no longer relevant for whatever reason are removed

Yearly Goals Template

This is the template I currently use and the one I briefly referenced in the above live video. I particularly like this one because I can set goals that I am not entirely sure when I will achieve them but I know it will be within the time frame of the template. This template works wonders for me and ever since I started to use it back in 2015, I have achieved a multitude of the goals that I have set. Of course goals without hard work and some form of a plan are just goals so don’t think that you can just write a bunch of goals and your wish will come true because it just doesn’t work like that.

This is a quick overview of how I use this template:

• If the goal is achieved then highlight the ‘achieved’ box green in colour
• If the goal is not achieved then highlight the ‘achieved’ box red in colour and explain why the goal wasn’t achieved (This is important if you want to track progress)
• Create or remove rows as required
• Review the goals in December before the New Year. This helps you reflect on your achievement before creating a new document for the coming year
• At the bottom of the page, you can keep a list of goals that have been achieved since a certain year. I include this section because it really helps me appreciate how far I’ve come and just how good goal setting actually is
• Each year save the document under the year that is about to pass something like: ‘Y2018-Goals’. This is important if you wish to track your progress and reflect on your successes and setbacks because after all, part of goal setting is about being organised
• Goals that are not achieved are re-evaluated and if still relevant are carried onto the new goals document
• Goals that are no longer relevant for whatever reason are removed

And that’s all there is to it! I hope that you find success in using these templates to achieve your goals and please feel free to share your successes in the comments section if you wish.