Set achievable goals to ring in the new year

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – As 2024 comes to a close, many are looking forward to a better year, financially, in our relationships and in our lives. But have you followed up your words with action? The start of a new year often means a fresh start and there are steps you can take to make 2025 your most successful year yet.

Advisor Joel Daugherty says, “I think the first step is to really evaluate the previous year, the previous season, and assess what went well and what didn’t.”

Being honest with ourselves about the things we did well… and the areas where we failed.

“I love these positive affirmations that I can do this, this is my value, this is my value. And I think the more we say it in our heads, the more it reaches our hearts.”

Daugherty says learning these lessons helps us overcome pain and move forward to a more successful future.

“Everyone has failures, everyone makes mistakes, but when we fall, we always want to fall forward.”

One way to do this, he believes, is to identify not only our goals, but also the habits we need to develop to achieve them.

“I think people make the mistake of saying, ‘I have this particular outcome that I want to achieve,’ but they fail to achieve that outcome because they haven’t developed the habits and patterns that lead to those outcomes specific results,” says Daugherty. “So if my goal is to make more money this year, I don’t know what habit I can incorporate into my life that can lead to that goal.”

And be sure to be specific about what you want to achieve.

“These are called smart goals. You’ve probably seen this before, but smart goals stand for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and then time-limited.”

Once you identify your goals and habits, make them a part of your daily life. Whether you write them down or post them on a formal vision board, seeing them can help you achieve them.

“It reminds me of a verse in the Bible that says, ‘Make the vision clear and write it on tablets so that he who reads it may run away.’ It’s about writing it down where we see it every day, it’s a kind of reminder.”

It’s a practice that Daugherty has even used in his own life.

“One time I was trying to save money, so I just hung a thermometer on my wall and just shielded it while I saved the money. You know? And there was just a certain excitement about, ‘Oh, I get to shade myself red,’ as the thermometer goes up with the amount of money that’s in the bank account.”

And finally, he says that you shouldn’t be afraid to enlist the help of others on your path to success.

“We take on the responsibility of outsiders, friends, family and people who love us, to say how you are doing in achieving this goal.”