Apparently 80-90% of people fail at New Year’s Resolutions within the first two weeks. I was one of those 80-90%. Every single year. (This is not a made-up statistic.)

I’d write a whole list at the beginning of the year and inevitably forget about it. Then, I’d find it again the next year and realize nothing had changed.

Until 2024.

In January, I had an epiphany. The big tech company I worked for was literally paying me to help set goals for our team. By the end of every half, the team dashboard would consistently surpass that goal line.

I could help my work team achieve this… so why couldn’t I do it in my own life?

You likely spend 8 hours a day committed to someone else’s goals. Why can’t you commit one hour a day to your own?

It took me over 5 years as a software engineer to ask these questions.

Don’t be like past me. Steal what I learned from my career and life. Actually accomplish the goals you set.

Most people are terrible at conceptualizing how much can get done in a year.

Tech companies don’t set yearly goals. They plan on a per-half and quarterly basis. Every team I worked on for the last 5-6 years operated this way.

Pick 3-5 areas of your life and set a few goals for the quarter. 3 months.

What do you actually want to achieve?

Not what your parents, friends, society, whoever else wants. It only has to make sense to you.

This past year, some of my quarterly goals included:

I accomplished half of these while still working my full-time tech job.

It’s not about lack of time, it’s about intention. You wouldn’t let your boss or your team down. So why let yourself down?

Once you set the goal, forget about it.

In the day-to-day, it’s unhelpful to shame yourself for not making “enough” progress.

Some work projects take months, even years, to complete. You don’t give up just because you hit roadblocks on a Tuesday, or the metrics dipped for a few days.

What ACTION are you taking on a daily or weekly basis to make progress on your goal?

For example:

Track progress on your actions, not the goals. The only things that matter are what you do each week and when. Once you commit to a rhythm, the rest comes on autopilot.

Think about inputs, not outputs.

I know you’re ambitious. You’re reading an email about goals. That doesn’t mean you have to operate at 110% every single day.

Don’t compare your starting point to someone else’s. I wasn’t in great physical shape at first, so I started with a couple daily pushups.

Start small. Make it so easy that it’d feel dumb to give up.

The most operationally successful team I worked with ran monthly retrospectives. We didn’t expect everything to go perfectly. In fact, we assumed most things wouldn’t.

At the end of every month, write two bullet point lists:

You WILL NOT hit your goals every time. Expect failure and it’ll sting less emotionally. That’s why we check in often.

Just start again the next month, not next year.

To set goals you will actually hit in 2025:

That’s it! =)

If you’d like a template and/or a more detailed breakdown of this goal-setting system, hit reply and let me know. You can even send me one word “template.”

Hi, I’m Kat! Welcome to my newsletter—your weekly dose of mindset, perspective, and mental health for sustainable success.

Were you forwarded this email? Click the button below to subscribe too!

Happy holidays and appy New Year! Thanks for reading and chat again soon!

— Kat