Setting goals to start 2025 with intention

POYNETTE, WI- (WISS & WGBW) – One of the most recognized traditions associated with the New Year’s holiday is setting your resolutions or goals for the upcoming year.

Emily Wright is an organizational impact coach with Lakeland Care Plus Consulting. She also has a private coaching business called True Self Coaching and Energetics. She says before one starts to set goals for the new year, it’s best to take a moment and reflect on the year that’s ending.

“What do you want to celebrate over this last year? What worked well? What do you want to leave behind? What were some learnings? Is there anything unfinished? You know, did we not accomplish something that we wanted? Do we want to bring it forward, or is it time to drop it?” Wright said. “So before we jump into the new year, I think it’s important to say what’s important to me, what feels right, what feels good and align with the feelings before we jump in.”

Wright said looking back over the past year’s accomplishments can give you momentum as you set your goals for the new year. And setting those goals is an essential step for self-improvement and awareness.

“Looking forward can give us the momentum to do something that fills us up,” Wright said. “Because otherwise, it’s easy to wake up. The alarm goes off. We start our day, and it’s the same thing over and over. And we’re not making a change.”

Wright said taking goals and breaking them down into steps, smaller chunks, or themes can help you stay on track and achieve the goals.

“ I think it’s important to have a realistic expectation. So we’re not setting ourselves up for disappointment right away. And I think the baby steps is key because that way we can maybe you have the goal of 40 pounds, but maybe it’s 2 pounds in the first month,” said Wright. “So can we achieve that? Fantastic! Can we achieve then what is the next one?”

Wright recommends the book Atomic Habits by James Clear as a tool to help you break those goals down into those steps. She said to make the goals so specific and so small that you can’t not achieve it. That success and the feeling of accomplishment will motivate you to continue reaching your goals. 

Additionally, Wright recommends writing down the goals or resolutions so you can revisit them throughout the year. 

“Pen to paper! Pen to paper, I think, is huge. When we write it down, it becomes real. It becomes actionable. You can write down your steps, your process of what it is, and reflect on it. Maybe it’s weekly. Maybe it’s monthly,” Wright said.

Most importantly, Wright said to allow yourself grace as you work towards your goals. They will not happen immediately or all at once. 

 ”The goal, it’s for a year. So if we’re two weeks in and we forgot what we wrote down, you know, on January 1st, when we were totally pumped writing down our goals, that’s okay. That’s all right.” Wright continues, “That’s why the goal is cool to have. It gives us direction to aim toward something, but have those baby steps, have the processes in place because it’s a journey.”

Hear the complete interview with Wright in the next issue of NEWisco Weekend, Saturday and Sunday on WGBW and WISS or on the CivicMedia.US website.