James Vincent from ActionCOACH shares the secrets of goal-setting in 2024

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How often have you set New Year’s resolutions, only to find yourself in the same place in 12 months? As time passes and your career develops, it’s easy to let your long-term aspirations fall by the wayside and maintain a comfortable status quo. But the shortcuts you take each January could cost you a year of growth and prosperity.

ActionCOACH has a worldwide influence. With 20-plus years of helping business leaders realise potential and skyrocket their companies, it is the UK’s number one business coaching company. Its robust values and deeply instilled culture align with its devout mission to help owners set sustainable and growth-minded goals.

As professionals, entrepreneurs, and visionaries everywhere welcomed the new year, eager to start afresh, James Vincent remained dedicated to spreading impactful wisdom. James, ActionCOACH’s UK Performance Director, has read countless books, mentored numerous coaches, and learned from the best on self-development.

So when a coaching expert reveals the pivotal steps for rapidly progressing through the next 12 months, the business community listens. If you want to make 2024 the year you go from standing still or moving backward to hurtling down the track, it’d only be rational to follow their lead.

Getting into gear

You can’t achieve your goals without setting yourself up with the best quality of life. That means sculpting your environment to keep you driven, motivated, and inspired. A crucial part of creating growth and productivity is digging deep into your coaches, peers, and yourself to find pivotal answers.

“Most people don’t ask the right questions,” James declares. “Questions precede decisions, decisions precede actions, and actions precede results. There must be a purpose, and there must feel like there’s progress to the question.”

Your ability to reach your desired outcome depends on your commitment to your quality of life. By recording and surrounding yourself with your goals, you’ll get inspiration and motivation from a newfound clarity. The result is progress towards your goals and profound empowerment.

Locking down lessons

It’s time to narrow down the areas you want to improve in. A common source of feeling overwhelmed is trying to perfect every aspect of your life simultaneously.

But coaching leaders know there is no such thing as perfection: ‘Never wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills.’ There also needs to be a clear direction for your growth.

“The two most important areas are relationships and health,” the ActionCOACH UK Performance Director states. “The key to happiness in life is developing real, meaningful, lasting relationships with the most important people around you. And you cannot be wealthy if you’re not healthy.”

James’ recommendation for the remaining areas — money, personal growth, where you go, what you share and do, your career, your physical environment, and material things — is the same. Grade your current success out of 10, set a number to aim for in a year, and define what that number means to you in three bullet points.

Accounting for actions

Anybody can set goals and write them down for clarity and posterity — but accountability makes all the difference in business.  Coaching can help to hold you responsible, but some actions must come from within.

Track your progress towards your goals daily, and evaluate your personal life. You can assign grades here, too, to establish whether you’re succeeding in business and falling short in your relationships or vice versa. The only way to ensure your 2024 goals materialise is by taking accountability.

You may have been chugging along just fine in 2023. But while you were once just about keeping up with the competition, you now have the tools to catapult your career.

Establishing a quality of life fit for success, setting growth-orientated goals in critical areas, and prioritising accountability are the solutions your self-development toolbox needs. Follow it up by committing to three daily disciplines—these could be the difference between success and failure.

If you’ve identified the areas you can improve and the steps to take but could benefit from guidance to accelerate your growth, ActionCOACH UK’s coaching is invaluable. Its advice is simple, practical, and actionable, making a transformative 2024 accessible to all.