Goal Setting: Habits, Plans & Big Ideas

I have a renewed sense of optimism and motivation for the year ahead – and I’m about to burst wanting to share my goals and plans (one of them being this very site!). We’ll get to 2019 Goals soon, but first, let’s talk about goal setting.

A few weeks ago, my Marketing Mastermind group conducted a goal-setting session to start planning for 2019. I walked into the meeting with a short list of personal goals aimed primarily at self-improvement or achieving a level of status … getting back into marathon shape, going to Europe in the next two years, becoming CMO in less than five years, etc. Measurable? Check. Attainable? Check. Aspirational? Check.

But, as the women went around the table and shared their goals, I was inspired by more by their desires to fix unproductive daily habits, focus on a specific skill or task to become an expert at, or develop an intentional routine for self-care. Their goals were both simple and yet incredibly detailed, and it motivated me to step back and consider my own hopes further.

I’m an avid reader of James Clear’s email on habits and personal development so I’ve often considered small, repeatable things I can do to improve my world… making my bed every day, flossing every night, meal-planning every weekend, etc. I’m happy to report that, except for flossing every night, I’ve found success in these smaller items to inspire bigger goals. Since I work from home, making my bed every morning kicks off a routine of what I do to prepare for the “office” and sit down at my desk for work with focus. Meal planning each week keeps our grocery bill down, our restaurant bills down, and I’ve learned to cook more meals (which, to be fair, is kind of a major win for me because I’ve never been much of a cook).

But, even with this James Clear approach to personal habits and my short list of aspirational, attainable, measurable goals for the near future, it took sitting in a room of women marketers exposing their weaknesses and then detailing how they intend to fix them to inspire me.

Sitting there, I knew I couldn’t look them all in the eye and say I wanted to be CMO in five years. It’s a great goal, and not something I’m embarrassed to admit. But as I pondered their goals, I started to form some new ideas about what I wanted and needed to achieve.

So, what are my goals starting to look like?

  1. I would like to learn how to better conduct, compile and present market research.

  2. Our company needs a thoughtful partner strategy and it’s a program that marketing should tackle.

  3. I considered our internal marketing reports and determined they need to be more digestible for my peers (who likely don’t know or care what our Adwords CTR is and really just want to know how our spend is driving sales).

And, if I start to tackle these items (and several more), maybe I will be CMO in five years.

As I think about next year, and my personal and professional goals are starting to take shape, I’m becoming more and more inspired and motivated. I’m very excited to share what made the final cut in the new year. And, I’m curious to hear what other marketers hope to achieve next year and what strategic or tactical areas you’re focusing on. Please share in the comments.