It’s not enough to just set goals at the beginning of the year, you actually need to keep up with your goals to make sure you are still on track. A good half-year review is what you need to revaluate your goals, set new ones if you have to, or pivot. There are very few instances where you actually need to change your goals completely. The reasons have to be with the fact that you no longer want that for your life. It can’t just be because you have not been able to hit your goals. You have to genuinely not want it anymore because it doesn’t align with your values anymore or other personal reasons you feel deeply about.
For the most part, I always advice sticking to the same goal(s). You might think that things are not working out simply because you have not gotten to where you want to be right now, but that doesn’t mean that you have not made progress. A little progress is always better than no progress. Not getting to where you wanted to be, does not equal failing. Instead of setting new goals and starting from scratch only for you to realize that it’s also not going the way you thought it would, it’s better to review your old plan and restrategize.
At the end of the day, nothing is ever as easy as it may seem at the start. And nothing takes as long as estimated, you always end up realizing it takes longer than you thought. You don’t want to be that person who ends up starting on quitting on everything and never sticking to anything. You have to stick to a goal long enough for it to work. The time passed working on a project which you probably now deem a waste of time, is what you will use to move forward. Essentially you learn from your mistakes. There's no better blueprint than you, for you.
Beware of distractions
Moving forward, as we go into this, we are going to try as much as possible to not get distracted. Once you have these goals written, you focus on them and stick it out till the very end. If you have new goals, or new ideas to adapt, write them down so that you don’t forget them. Come back to them at the end of the year when you will be planning for the next year. For now, whatever plans you have, you have to stick to them till the end of the year. This is the only way you can know if a strategy works or not. If you don’t give anything enough time, then at the end of the day nothing will ever work out.
You will have me for accountability, you will have your planner for accountability, and you will have the accountability group for accountability. This year we can’t let up. I am holding myself to this as well. You are my accountability buddy. This year things must change for the better, I want that for me, and I want that for you. If you haven’t joined our accountability group on Facebook yet, you can click this link to join. I am also starting a new telegram group, it will be for accountability but in a more intimate way. It’s a lot easier for check ins, it will literally feel like you’re chatting with a friend or family on your phone. That’s what I plan on achieving with the telegram group.
2022 half year review step by step
Let’s get into the steps for reviewing your half-year progress.
Download the half year review template
For starters, you have to get your copy of the half-year review template. For that, you can click this link to download. It is completely free, you don't have to log in or anything, you just download. You can print it out to use or use it digitally, whichever works for you. I personally love doing these things digitally, just because it is easier to keep track. I will not lose it, and it’s not physically taking up space, making it easier to collect for years and years. If you are new to digital planning and not sure where to start, this is for you, click here.
Game plan
Moving on, the next step is to have a game plan. Now if you took part in the first review we did at the beginning of the year to set goals for 2022, you might be familiar with this part. You need to set aside a day for this review and evaluation of your goals. It really helps to get out of your usual workspace to this, that way it feels less like work and more like daydreaming about all these life possibilities. Except this is even more exciting because you are actually setting a plan in place to make sure it does come true.
This is literally the difference between a dream/wish and a goal. A dream or a wish is having this image in your mind you would love to come true, but not having a plan for it. While a goal is having an image in your mind you would wish to come true and also having a plan to get there.
- You can rent an Airbnb for the day or a hotel. Or better yet, go to a public library or a cafe. Just go anywhere you are comfortable and certain you will be able to focus on the task at hand. Let your friends and family know beforehand that you will be unavailable and busy for the day.
- Bring a planning companion, sometimes you need second opinions on things. Someone to add different perspectives, a sounding board. Your planning companion cannot be someone you know will distract you. You both need to be business-oriented and focused. This person can be your spouse only if you have a business together.
- Get your 2022 full focus planner, to really help you with setting achievable goals. The full focus planner is perfect for beginners, it helps you set your goals with a guide and keep track of it weekly, monthly, daily. You can also use any planner of your choosing. Just make sure you have a planner.
- Place your phone on ‘do not disturb’. Play some good music and let the good vibes carry you.
Your big picture goals
Write down your big picture goals. At the beginning of the year, we set some big-picture goals for us to achieve by the end of the year. If you did the 2021 review at the beginning of the year, it means you have your big-picture goals. These goals need to be anything between 3 to 5 goals.
If you did not take part in that, I am sure you had goals and new year resolutions, we can just use that at this stage. Write them down in the half-year review template. Make sure you have downloaded your template and you are filling it up as we go through this.
I do need to point out though that your goals need to be smart. We cannot do this with just any goals. Your goals need to be attainable and measurable in the first place. You can learn more about smart goals here or just go back to the first review to set new goals. You don’t need to change the vision, you just need to make sure you are setting yourself up for success from the very beginning. Just tweak the goals to make sure they are smart. Once you have your smart goals, write them down in the template.
If you never had any goals or new years resolutions from the start of the year, you can just do that here and skip the half-year review.
Review each big picture goal
Now it is time to review the big picture goals you set at the beginning of the year. (If you just tweaked your big picture goals today, you can skip this step and the next. Skip to 'review past months').
For those that have been working on their big-time goals from the beginning of the year, this is for you. Review each goal. In the template, you can see where you can review each milestone and actionable step. Were you able to hit any milestones? Were your actionable steps helpful? Did it work or do you need new actionable steps to hit your milestones moving forward? If you didn’t hit your milestones, I’m sure progress was made. How would you rate your progress out of 5? *fill the template*
For the milestones with much progress, what would you say worked? For the milestones with the least progress, why was that? Based on your evaluation, what would you say was helpful in moving the needle further to your goal? That's what you should be implementing moving forward, write it down.
Once you have your answers on what to work on moving forward, what to focus on. Really understand your weaknesses and your strengths. Take note of the actions you did that were able to produce the best results and make sure you really focus on them moving forward.
Adjust big picture goals, pivot
Now having reviewed each of your big picture goals and understanding what worked and what didn't. This is your chance to determine if you should keep the goal as it is or readjust. For example, if your big picture goal was to have 3 books published by the end of the year and to make 60,000 dollars for their sales by December 30th, 2022, now having gone through half the year and worked towards this goal, would you say its a realistic and attainable goal?
Sometimes you literally need to walk in the shoes to really understand what it’s like. If you have never published a book, unless you actually go through the process, you will never truly understand the reality of it in a practical way. Now that you have a better understanding, you are able to make better judgments. Which is why this mid-year review is so important. Instead of you panicking about half the year being gone and looking at all you said you would do by the end of the year and not being close, you can sit down and make a plan. And sometimes that plan will involve pivoting a little and readjusting the goal.
How to pivot your goals?
You can pivot by choosing different actionable steps. Using the same ‘author’ example, let's say, you have a milestone of reaching 20,000 people. This is all part of your plan that will lead to the sales of your 3 books. Your actionable steps might have been to go to 30 conference events and give a speech. Now having tried that for 6 months, you realize that is not as effective as you thought it would be. What do you do? You pivot. You can then try posting on TikTok, and of course, put in the research to determine how you can maximize your reach. Setting smart goals involves a lot of research. That is literally the only way to set smart goals. Your TikTok smart actionable goals then become posting 5 TikTok videos a day, 5 days a week. Take it even further by specifying the exact kind of videos. Remember SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time specific.
How to readjust your goals?
How would you adjust this big picture goal if you have to? With 6 months gone, you realize that realistically you were only able to have one book published. You then readjust your big picture goal to have 2 books published by December 30th, 2022. So now moving forward, you only focus on just one book and you better make that one book absolutely good.
Doing this ensures that your goals are attainable. It doesn't leave you feeling defeated just by a mere thought. Having goals that seem reachable helps to keep the hope alive. You need that to keep progressing. It is truly the only way to get to great heights in this life. And, you know what? In 2023 when reviewing 2022, you can then look at why you were only able to publish 2 books. It could be because you are a beginner and have a lot on your plate. Maybe then you can consider hiring and making sure your dreams are possible. But for now, let’s focus on right now, and right here.
This whole scenario can be applied to a 9-5 job as well, or anything truly. As long as you have a goal, you can most certainly review it in this manner. After reviewing your goals, milestones, and actionable steps, go back to your 2022 full focus planner, duplicate your big picture goal page and write down your new and edited big picture goals, milestones, and actionable plans. Don’t erase what you have in there already, you will need that information at the end of the year for review. Just duplicate the pages and write them down again.
Review past months
Once you have your new big-time goals, it is time to review your past months and weeks. Going through your planner, find your most productive month and most productive week. Go through it to find out why that week or month was productive. Study the pattern, because you are going to be implementing it moving forward. Maximum productivity is what we are after.
You need to also note your least productive month and week. Why was that week so unproductive? You need to try as much as possible to avoid that moving forward. Write down all the things you noticed that made you more productive. Think about how you can implement them in your routine daily, weekly or monthly. In order to hold yourself up to this, I would suggest time blocking. Learn more about time blocking here. Find out how you can best infuse these things into your routine, and do it.
Making it real
Now it is time to make it real. When it comes to making it real, there are 4 steps to follow, tick each step as you do them in the template.
- Break down your 2 last quarters of the year.
- Break down the last 6 months of the year.
- Join our accountability group.
- Post your certificate of completion.
After this review, I am sure you already have a list of dos and donts, and lots of ideas on how you can maximize your time to be more productive. Well, we are going to take all that energy to seal the deal. Looking at your final goals for the year, break them down into two steps.
In the 2022 full focus planner, you have 4 quarterly goal trackers. There are 2 quarters left in the year, write down exactly what you need to accomplish by the end of each quarter to get you to your final goals. Basically, break your final goal into two stages.
Take it one step further, plan out all your 6 months. Just the monthly planner pages. You can break down each month when the time comes. For now, you just need to add in checkpoints for your goal. By the end of July, you need to accomplish 1,2,3, and by the end of August, you need to accomplish 4, 5, 6, and by the end of September, you need to accomplish 7, 8, 9. This also means by September you must have accomplished the goals of your third quarter. I really hope this makes sense, if you need more explanation on this, you need to check out How to achieve your goals by planning backwards. I break down everything in detail there. Make sure you remember what you plan to implement that helps you stay most productive.
Accountability
Accountability is that extra spice that ties everything together. Motivation is such a luxury that we don’t have all the time. We all need the discipline to stay on top of everything at all times and sometimes a little support is all you need to keep you going. I always advice getting yourself an accountability buddy. Your accountability buddy cannot be your best friend. For some reason, someone you are super comfortable with cannot give you that pressure you need to get things done. You need someone you can trust who is equally goal-oriented. You can ask anyone from our Facebook group to be that for you or you can just use the group as your accountability space.
Posting online is just as good as telling a friend. But instead of posting on your socials, you can just do it in the accountability group with like-minded people that will support you. Join the telegram accountability group here.
Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University in California, completed a study on goal setting using 267 participants.
Participants who write their goals were 42% more likely to achieve them than the ones who didn’t. She also found that telling a friend increases this rate to 78%! What’s even more amazing is that participants who sent weekly progress reports to a friend had a significantly higher success rate. The key here?
Accountability is massively important in your journey to a wildly successful year.
Post a certificate of completion
Once you are done with your half-year review. Post it on social media with the hashtag #moodplanneraccountability. Post it in the mood planner community group too. This too is a form of accountability. There’s nothing I love better than seeing people live the lives that they’re absolutely loving and have worked for.
Go on and make your dreams become your reality!
