It’s the midyear. Six months are gone in 2018 and six months still left to go. Now is a great time to review your goals to find out if you’re on target. Or, do you need to make some adjustments in the second half of the year? Continue reading to find out how to do a midyear check-in of your goals. Time to celebrate goals met. Take stock of your progress towards your other goals and re-evaluate goals that have little or no progress.
Celebrate
Don’t forget to celebrate the goals that you met. Unless it’s a big goal like getting the promotion that you wanted, most people don’t take the time to celebrate. Meeting goals can be hard. It takes discipline, drive, and focus. Not everyone has those qualities.
So yes, pat yourself on the back. Give yourself a high five (self five!) Just don’t forget to acknowledge that you made these achievements.
If you have a Vision Board or Action Plan then I encourage you to check these off. Yes, even on a Vision Board. Take a big fat marker and place a check over the picture of your goal. This is especially helpful if you are a Visual or Kinesthetic learner.
Review
Where do you stand with your other goals? Are you making good progress on a goal that will take the full year to meet? Or have you started working on the next step in a series of goals for a bigger project?
For instance, if one of your goals was to have a finished novel to send to a publisher by year end you should have a series of smaller goals to complete. Each goal met builds throughout the year and culminates in the bigger goal of the finished work. Outline your novel, write the first draft, edit the first draft…etc. Now is the time to look at this series of goals and determine if you’re on track. Or are you behind or ahead of where you need to be?
Some questions you might ask include: What have I achieved so far? What have I learned so far this year? Am I where I expected or planned to be at this time? If I’m not, what steps can I take in order to get back on track?
Re-evaluate
This is the time to determine if the goals that you set at the beginning of the year are still meaningful to you? Over time, things change and goals that we set shouldn’t be rigid and unchangeable. It’s important that you be willing to adapt or change your goals. What happens to your work goals if the company lays you off? Do you need to make new goals if you find your relationship status has changed?
This is the time to start asking: Are my goals still relevant? What challenges or obstacles came up during the year? Are there things that can I do differently? What new goals should I be focusing on? Do I need to jettison something that’s bogging me down?
I think that last question is one of the most important to ask. Why? Because a goal that is bogging you down might be having an impact on how you feel about yourself or your other goals. It’s much better to jettison a goal than let it hang over your head and make you feel bad about yourself. Maybe your goal is too big and you should break it down into smaller pieces–you can’t be a VP of your company this year if you haven’t spent time as a manager or a director. Or may you set a goal that you have no control over? You can’t guarantee that your novel will be a bestseller because that’s dependent on other people buying it. But you can control whether you complete the novel or not.
You should also update your Vision Board or Action Plan. You can find other ways to update your vision board in How Do You Update Your Vision Board.
I hope you found all of these suggestions useful.
Another great post, Jennifer. The idea of getting rid of a goal that no longer fits is important for me. I ended 2017 with a goal to become a speaker on a professional circuit of conferences for non-profits and set goals to blog, publish, and build a following in my field as a strategy and fundraising expert. I plugged away and set things in motion quickly and effectively but by mid-March realized “that’s not who I want to be when I grow up” – so I shifted focus. Although I still work in that arena, I realized I wanted to follow another path for my next professional pivot.
I love that…it’s not who I want to be when I grow up. What I’ve found in reviewing my goals is that I’ve done a lot of the groundwork for bigger goals or detours have changed how long I get to a goal but not the goal.
I’ve just been reviewing my word for the year – there’s a post coming up soon on how the meaning changed for me as the year progressed. And I’ve been ticking things off my Vision Board left right and centre so I’m feeling pretty chuffed atm!
Noise! It’s good to review. I need to do some contemplating on my word of the year. We’ve been fighting, but that’s probably what is needed.
I think that’s how I felt about my word too Jennifer – it felt like it wasn’t fitting well – but it morphed and now I feel more comfortable with it again.
Thanks for linking up with us at #MLSTL and I’ve shared this on my SM xx
Leanne | Cresting the Hill
What does ‘chuffed’ mean?
It’s a British term to mean very pleased. But I didn’t realize it was an Aussie thing too.
It’s an Aussie/Pommie (English) slang word – I forget that US/Canadian people have different words to us – it means pleased/proud. It’s like I found out last year that Americans don’t say ‘fortnight’ – we use that word ALL the time – weird!
Thanks Leanne — living in Hong Kong for about 7 years and meeting/working with the expat community, I learned a slew of UK and Aussie phrases – lift, fortnight, loo, nappy, chips, crisps – and pudding! I was so disappointed when the dessert placed before me wasn’t good ole fashion American pudding…. I’d never heard ‘chuffed’.
I always forget to check my goal progress! This is definitely something I need to do this year because it’s been such a crazy year already
It’s so important. It’ll give you a sense of accomplishment to see how much you’ve already done this year. Plus it’ll give you a sense of relief to get rid of goals that no longer serve where you want to be in life.
Thanks for the reminder to revisit my goals!!! So important to stay on track!
You’re welcome. Thanks for stopping by.
I might need to get a vision board. I track my goals with my mind so when they get fulfilled I just take them off my mind makes it difficult to pat my self on the back after a long while
I love vision boards. Especially since I’m such a visual person. Bit helps me to see my goals. And I love to also check them off because I live the feeling of accomplishment.
I’ve actually got a review of my 2018 blogging goals going up on Sunday, and I really enjoyed writing it! I realised some things that I hadn’t thought about, and putting my growth into percentages showed me how much growth I’ve actually had. I think it’s a great exercise in any area of your life!
That’s great. I look forward to reading it.
I haven’t done a vision board for a long time. I would be fun to do one again. So true, that we should set little goals within our big goals and celebrate each time we reach one.
Big goals can be overwhelming. So much better to break them down into smaller more achievable ones.
Really useful post Jennifer. Big goals can be so overwhelming and can actually de-motivate you. Taking time to take stock and evaluate is so important. Reflection and perspective!
I love this plan! I often do a yearly review, but haven’t reassessed mid way.
Great plan, Jennifer and I totally agree about remembering to congratulate ourselves on even small achievements. I’m working towards a long run in July and an even longer run in August and am on track. I didn’t think about crossing off on the Vision Board so thanks for the tip. I’m sharing on social media and it is lovely to have you join us at #MLSTL. Have a fabulous week and happy 4th July x
If you are a very visual person/visual learner then I think checking items off the Vision Board really helps boost the confidence level. I’d go with a big check mark too, not an X.
For me, the outside goals keep shifting. Accomplishments changes and ideas of what I want to do change. What stays the same are the kind of internal growth goals, like being calmer, kinder and more thoughtful. As for the rest of life, it keeps presenting exciting opportunities!
And that’s ok. Your focus is on how you feel and everything else falls in line.
I appreciate the reminder to update my vision board, Jennifer. I’ve just written about new goals for my metaphorical road trip this summer but had forgotten about the visual component to accompany it. Super important!
Great post Jennifer and a great blog – I discovered you via Shelley Wilson’s site so am grateful to her! A couple of things from the above resonated with me – Janet’s comment about letting goals go – I’ve always found that difficult, and Christine mentioning outside goals shifting – mine too – I still tend to do rather a lot of shifting but have learnt to work with that.
I’m so glad you found me. Sometimes we also get goals or dreams mixed up with things to do. Do you know or think about the legacy you want to leave? Is family more important or career? Is travel more important or the home? Sometimes we are setting goals to get ahead in a career just for “getting ahead’s” sake and not because it truly means anything to the life we want to live. We need to gain clarity there first in order to move forward on goals that have meaning.
Great advice. I think it’s important to celebrate goals when you achieve them. It makes them more fun and gives you inspiration to accomplish them.