2024 is here. It is exciting to be in a new year. A fresh start and a chance to set new goals to work toward. This is the year! Probably sounds like a broken record, but indeed it can be the year! Sometimes you have to change things up if things aren’t where they should be or could be because if you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result, well, that is only going to wind you up in the same position this time next year, the year after that and so on and so forth. 2024 can be the year, and so can every year after this one. The year you finally make it big.

Back to those goals being set. I think it is important to chart a path for the year, otherwise we will aimlessly float from week to week, month to month and, before you know it, it’ll be January 2025 or beyond. The old cliché of "Dream, believe, achieve" does have some relevance, but I feel like it is missing a step for me because it is missing the step of the "do." If you get up everyday and follow your dreams with some “do”, then before you know it, you will arrive and be the things that you set out to achieve.

As I sit down to go over my goals for the year, I struggle to come to terms with one thing. Either setting them too high or too low. I also have heard that a goal can set a limitation and, to some degree, that is true. I am sure some of us have experienced that where we hit a certain plateau and found it hard to break through any further after that but that was probably a goal at some point in the beginning. So adjusting my mindset from that new plateau and acknowledging how far we came but also looking up at how far we have to go is where I set my goals from.

What do I want to achieve by the end of this year? A few things come to mind, and I think something key with setting these goals is protecting them. Writing them down and setting out to achieve them and showing people rather than telling people what I am going to do. I think that allows for less distractions from my goals and less negative energy being cast upon those goals. Because a person’s comment can ever so slightly knock your intention off the goal and, with that, less and less drive towards it. So hence, keep it between you and potentially with your partner. If you are setting goals with a partner, I think it is very important to align with them the goals for the year, so you both know where you are going and both recognize departures from that path ahead. And with that, I wish you success in the pursuit of your goals and dreams in this new year! We can all win. We can all be successful!