New Year Goals: How to Plan for 2025
How to Set New Year Goals & Plan for 2025
Are you a fan of setting New Year Goals? Do you set new year goals or intentions, or do you shy away from them because deep inside you know you’ll never actually stick to them?
I’m a huge fan of setting goals and intentions, but I’m not a fan of doing so because you think you should, or because tradition dictates it.
I actually prefer September to reset and refocus my business related goals, but there's something about a brand spanking new year isn't there? Let's explore how you can take advantage of the fresh start mood that comes after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The beauty of New Year goals is that it gives you the new book feeling, with 365 blank pages ahead of you to create, experience and make use of.
These tips will help you think about how you could approach new year goal setting in a way that inspires you, limits the risk of falling off track, and creates positive momentum without the overwhelm.
We cover the importance of reflection, and setting goals before the new year, while your head is still focused. Reviewing all goals in the new year to check that you’re still aligned, and how to set goals that excite but do not overwhelm you, using the PACT framework.
*Affiliate Disclosure: Some links in this post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something via the link, I may receive a small commission. This doesn't affect the price you pay.
If you have any questions, reach out for a chat [email protected] or check out my other blogs
Table of Contents
Setting New Year Goals
When you set your new year goals, it’s easy to overdo the enthusiasm and achievability. You’re fired up and excited by the prospect of the 365 shiny new days.
However, if you’ve been struggling with motivation and focus, the new year isn’t this magical date when everything suddenly clicks into place. Not being negative here, but one of the quickest ways to fall off track with your goals is to overstretch yourself and set unachievable or too many goals, just because it’s the 1st of January.
Once the dopamine hit of the new year wears off, you’ll probably just feel overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work you’ve committed yourself to, and this breeds procrastination and builds self doubt at a rapid rate. Then, by the end of the month, you’re back to reset mode for February.
Don’t overestimate the need to ease back into work in January. Don’t dismiss the option of taking a gentle approach to start the year and month. Allow yourself to rebuild momentum through achievable, repetitive daily habits and actions.
Goals bring your dreams to life, but the focus needs to be on taking intentional action. Your goals will be like your roadmap for the year.
There are different approaches to goal setting and planning, including the PACT Framework. I love this framework because it relates to you, your drive and what you truly want to get out of life.
Embracing your why, and focusing more on the intentional action rather than the outcome, will help to alleviate some of the overwhelm as you focus instead on the steps you need to take.
Set PACT Goals
PACT is a goal setting method that focuses on creating actionable goals that focuses on doing the work rather than simply focusing on the outcome. When you set your new year goals, keep this approach in mind.
PACT stands for:
Purposeful – Create goals that are meaningful to you. This is tapping into your “why” the drive behind the goal. Focusing on emotional benefits, the changes this goal will bring. It needs to have a purpose to motivate you, especially during challenging times.
Actionable – This is where you break your goals into daily actionable steps. It takes it from being a concept, for example “I want to get fit”, to an actionable task “I will walk for 30 minutes per day”. It helps you avoid overplanning and overthinking. You create actionable steps that will support your progress towards your goal.
Continuous – The magic lies in the repetitive daily actions. It removes the risk of choice paralysis, keeping you focused on the actionable steps that you need to do. This is how you build momentum and actually make a start.
Trackable – Regularly check in with your goals and the progress you’re making so you remain clear on your next steps. It allows you to readjust in the moment rather than waiting for the end of the month to realise things need to change. Keeping a record supports the development of habits, and allows you to see progress during those times when it can feel like you’re not getting very far.
Prioritise Tasks
When everything is important – nothing is. If you have multiple projects that need your attention, you need to find a way to prioritise your tasks. Doing this will help to prevent overwhelm and choice paralysis.
There are lots of different things you can try, for example The 1-3-5 rule, or using the Eisenhower Technique. These will help you identify the actions that will support your growth and work towards your goal.
Brain dump and create a list of tasks for each project. Then, identify the tasks that are urgent and those that can wait. When you start to focus on what truly matters, you’ll be able to allocate your time and energy more wisely.
These actions will bring clarity for 2025, allowing you to stay focused and build momentum.
Plan a Balanced Schedule
If working for 8+ hours isn’t feasible for you, take another look at your schedule. Pay attention to your energy cycles, identify when you are usually most productive, and build your week / day around this.
As you set your new year goals and plan for January, work backwards from your longer term goals and create your weekly plans. Add in essential activities, for example meetings, client calls etc. Then add in your rest periods.
When you reverse engineer your weeks this way, you’ll gain a more realistic view of the time that you do have to work on your goals each day. Using this, adapt existing goals to ensure that they aren’t overly ambitious.
Adjust your timeline if needed, take advantage of those short focus sessions, and be intentional with your work time.
Create a Morning Routine:
January is a great time to focus on personal growth as well as business/ professional goals. Morning routines can help you to start your day in a way that motivates and energises you. You may use the first few moments to practise mindfulness, meditate or journal.
Add movement where you can. (I’m currently writing this at 6:38am while I’m walking on my under desk treadmill!). Perhaps you love an early morning walk, gym visit or stretches.
Short Focus Sessions:
Plan to use time blocking, task batching, pomodoro, or your own version of it, to set aside time slots for work. Hold your boundaries with this, it helps prevent work sneaking into your personal time. When you are intentional with your actions… you get stuff done!
Rest & Recharge:
Include regular breaks to recharge during the day, just like you add your appointments. Block out time for a quick coffee break, or a walk outside. These intentional breaks will help you to maintain your energy and concentration levels.
Personal Time:
Plan time each day / week to hobbies or activities that you enjoy and that help you to simply switch your brain off. When you are constantly absorbing new information, overwhelm and burn out can sneak up on you.
It’s easy to be outcome focused, increasing the sense of pressure to get it done now! With this approach, you risk missing out on life and experiencing the simple joys when you're completely focused on goals, and forget to nurture yourself aswell.
Work With Your Energy
Energy management can completely transform your approach to work and increase your productivity.
When you sit down to identify your new year goals, consider the impact that your energy has upon your day to day life. This is particularly useful if you manage low-energy.
Remember that this isn’t just about physical energy, but also emotional and cognitive. Pacing is something I’ve embraced for years due to living with ME/CFS, and a gentle approach to productivity and time management can make a huge difference.
Complete a time / energy audit so that you can identify when you’re more productive during the day, week or month. If you’re a morning person, use this to do your most important work, and use afternoons for less demanding tasks.
I discuss this in more depth here:
Personal Growth
A new year is also a time where people traditionally set more personal goals.
If this is something you like to do, but historically you’ve set a new year resolution but it’s gone to pot before the 3rd week, let’s try to reframe how you approach it.
Instead of leading with several different things you will be changing once the clock strikes midnight, spend a little time exploring what changes you want to work towards in 2025, and how they will make a difference to you and your life.
I prefer to set intentional goals, and the PACT approach is a great way to set personal new year goals.
If you’re a coach, therapist or entrepreneur, you’re probably continuously learning and absorbing. The chances are you’re working hard, working long hours (especially in the first few years), and you’re constantly faced with pressure to do and be more.
Taking care of yourself physically and emotionally is key if you want to stay focused, motivated and energised as you build or grow your business.
Ideas for Personal Growth:
Here are some quick ideas for new year goals that you may want to focus on:
Journaling Practice: Journaling has so many benefits, from increasing self awareness that can improve confidence and mental wellness, to improving your productivity and focus.
It can be very therapeutic, and is a great way to empty your mind each day of thoughts, feelings, ideas and worries.
Physical Activity: If you can, commit to regular exercise. This could be daily stretches if you have disabilities, yoga, walking, or dancing. Moving your body regularly is a great way to keep your body and mind healthy.
Meditation: Spend a few minutes each day to sit quietly. You can choose to follow guided meditations, or simply focus on your breath, and clear your mind.
Improved Nutrition: When you eat more mindfully, you can increase your energy as well as improve your overall health and wellbeing.
Digital Detox: If you regularly find yours;f stuck in doom scrolling, or overdoing screen time, commit to unplugging from screens once in a while. Doing this encourages you to be more present and live in the moment.
Learn a New Skill: Is there a language you’d love to do, or perhaps you’ve wanted to get into crocheting or painting. Set yourself a goal to develop in other ways this year. Add a goal to spend more time doing the things that bring you joy, to help you create that balance in life.
Connect With People: It’s easy to isolate yourself, especially if you work from home and your business is mainly online. Make a plan to connect more with others, for example with peers, fellow entrepreneurs or colleagues. Join groups where people are working towards similar things.
Read: Set a goal to read more. It can be a great way to learn more, and continue your self growth journey. Remember to not only read work related books, but indulge in fiction as well to help you switch off!
Podcasts: Podcasts are great, they’re usually less than an hour and you can learn so much from them. I personally love Mel Robbins and Mo Gawdat.
Measure Progress
Planning how you will monitor your progress is another great way to support your growth.
Setting new year goals is one thing, but when you remain fully aware of the goals, expectations, progress, success and lessons, you can proactively adapt and pivot when needed.
This will help you to stay on track, and remain motivated and focused on the action you need to take.
Plan Your Reviews
Stopping to assess your progress along the way will help you to stay focused and accountable, and ensure that you’re still moving in the right direction.
- Weekly Reviews: Each week look at your progress to stay fully aware of what you have achieved, what’s working, what needs adapting, and how you’re feeling.
- Monthly Reviews: For your monthly reviews, spend more time digging a little deeper and relating to the bigger picture. Look through your weekly progress and assess whether you’re still moving in the right direction.
- Quarterly Reviews: You will be able to see much more progress and change each quarter, so use the time to sync with your annual goals. Reflect on the last few months and plan any changes needed. It’s also a great time to celebrate any milestones or small achievements. This can help with motivation and create more of a birds eye view of your progress overall.
Plan B: Adapt to Changes and Challenges
All the good intentions, goal setting and planning in the world cannot predict life over the next 365 days. Life is naturally unpredictable, and this means that plans can sometimes need tweaking.
Set an intention to bring flexibility into your working habits. Allow yourself to be more fluid and adaptable. When we think in black and white, or set intentions to stick to rigid rules without any wiggle room, the expectations that you set are simply too high and likely unachievable.
Many people underestimate the time things take because we forget that life will life – regardless of a goal and commitment you made on the 1st January.
Focus on your mindset, remove those all-or-nothing thoughts. If things need to be paused, it’s not ruined or now unachievable, it’s just going to look a little different.
Become more comfortable with the unknown and unpredictability.
This was a lesson learned when I developed ME/CFS. Once I stopped fighting the changes, I was able to adapt and achieve some amazing things. It will help you to feel much less stressed and release some of that pressure, which in the long run will boost your motivation.
Create a Plan B. Having a bare minimum week has been a confidence lifesaver for me.
Knowing that I can still inch forward even if I’m out of action for a few weeks kept my spirits up and my enthusiasm high. It made getting back into a fuller schedule much easier, and it completely got rid of any guilt or shame that I would have felt previously.
If plans need to change, sit down and do a review. Realign yourself with your big goal, and think about the practical ways in which you can start moving forward again.
Tools, Resources & Support
Each post I add my favourite tools and resources, some are my own products, others are from services I use within my own business.
Sunsama – A brilliant task management that is perfect for busy and neurodiverse minds who easily find themselves overwhelmed and distracted. grab a free 2 week trial and free month!
BigScoots – If you're looking for a top quality host for your website, I cannot recommend BigScoots enough. They are one of the best for bloggers, and their customer service is brilliant. They are very responsive & work closely with you to resolve any issues or answer any questions you may have.
Thought-Shifting Mini Journal – CBT-Based Thought Shifting Activities + mini journal with prompts
Canva Pro – Upgrade your content design with Canva Pro. Explore the enhanced features available in Pro. Grab your free trial here.
Etsy – Are you ready to create your own online store? Etsy is a brilliant shopping platform that's used by millions. Setting up your store is simple, and when you sign up with this link we both get 40 free listings!
Skool – Create your own community on Skool. As an introvert, it's now one of my favorite places to hang out! The communities I'm in are fantastic, and as a user I prefer the simplicity of the set up. You can create communities, lessons within those communities and gamify to encourage engagement. There's a 14 free trial period as well!
Final Thoughts
Planning your new year goals can be exciting, but if you're determined to stick them out and stay focused and motivated, take onboard some of the tips shared in this blog.
Flexibility is key for anyone working towards goals, whether your new year goals are professional / work related, or focused more on your personal growth.
Understanding and connecting with your reason why will help you during times when it doesn't feel like you're making any progress. Keep revisiting this to make sure that what you're working towards still aligns with the life you want to create.
Whatever you choose to do, create your roadmap, the plan that will guide you through the year. This helps you stay on track, and it makes tracking progress much easier.
Remember though, it's not a race. If life does what life does, become comfortable with adapting and pivoting. Make it work for you, and don't forget to enjoy life along the way.
If this post helped or you enjoyed reading it, please share one of the images below as it really helps my blog – Thank You!
Meet Lynsey
Hey there! I'm Lynsey, a coach, counsellor, and mentor for low energy, introverted or low confident female coaches & small business owners. With over 5 years’ experience of running businesses, and over a decade as a tutor and trainer, I've learned the value of effective time management that energises you through working with your energy.
I've lived with chronic illness – ME/CFS since 2011 and since then I re-trained as a counsellor, and achieved a distinction for my MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice; all while running 4 businesses! I want that for you as well & it is possible with the right support and pathway to success.
Improving your mindset, finding acceptance and developing a solution-focused approach to achieving your goals is my passion. Blending mental health support where needed, as well as a supportive space and methods to manage your work more effectively.
If you'd like to know more about working with me, you can email [email protected] or find me on socials (links in the menu)
Have you seen my online store Shop.QuietlyConquer? Find DFY templates, downloads & more!