2025 Goal Setting Tips for Success

[Ashley Wilson]

In the spirit of Goal Setting, here are my top 5 Tips for ensuring you set goals with the highest probability of success.

1. Problem: So what? - At a high level often people set goals that don’t align with their overall life goals. For example when someone wants to have financial freedom and spend more time with family, but then sets a goal by creating a heavy active income stream that involves their personal involvement daily. In essence, they created another job for themselves. Even if they were to achieve this goal, they get demotivated with burnout and the eventual realization they aren’t working towards their goals, but away from them.

Solution: First define your life goal. A little trick I like to do when helping people with figuring out this question is to think about what their perfect day looks like. Then build a life and set goals around increasing the number of perfect days you have each year, instead of decreasing them.

2. Problem: Alignment - this is hands down the most common mistake that I see. People set goals with one metric and milestones with another. Having milestones (or checkpoints) is needed when having larger goals to ensure you are on track and keep you motivated. The problem comes into play when those milestones are not good indicators of one’s progress towards a goal. For example, let’s say someone sets an annual goal of cash-flowing $120k ($10k/month) a year in passive income, and then sets a quarterly milestone of acquiring 20 units. In this example, the person could acquire 20 units a quarter and not hit their annual goal. Solution: Use metrics that are consistent between your annual goals and quarterly milestones. Taking the earlier example, if you want to cashflow $120k a year, one way you could break it down is by setting a monthly target of acquiring one asset a month that cashflows $10,000. This allows you to focus on finding properties that align with your overall goal.

3. Problem: Too many goals - personally, I feel that the ideal number of annual goals is three. Often people set too many goals which always reminds me of the Chinese proverb, “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.”

Solution: In the hundreds of people I have coached and mentored, having a smaller set of annual goals has not only correlated with a greater success rate but also a faster timeline of achieving those goals.

4. Problem: Set & Forget - Most people know the importance of an accountability partner when it comes to goal setting. Often people meet at the beginning of the year and report on achievements to date. Very few analyze the ROI of their efforts and adjust their strategy of achieving their goals at each meeting. And even fewer people seek to improve their ROI on BOTH the things they are not achieving and the things they are achieving. This often leads to complacency which is seen by the trail off of attendance at these meetings.

Solution: You are not going to like what I am going to say here, but it really comes down to your self-discipline, which is why this is probably the hardest aspect of achieving your goals. If you struggle with this, it is even more reason why making sure you follow all of the other tips I have provided is critical to increasing your chances of hitting your goals.

5. Problem: Not having a mentor - piggybacking on the concept of an accountability partner, most people underestimate the value of a mentor. Whether an individual consultant or a mentor through a program, mentors provide the foresight and support you eventually need because of their experience. This contrasts greatly with most accountability partnerships, as a mentor is typically more respected as an authoritative figure. This is why mentorship can be so powerful in helping people achieve their goals.

Solution: Get yourself a mentor. You can opt for an informal or formal (paid) mentor. While not every mentor is a guaranteed path to success, proper vetting through referrals, review of a mentor’s track record, and alignment between the mentee and the mentor can shine some light on whether or not this relationship is a good fit. At the end of the day, mentors matter…especially if you pick the right one!

Every year 70-79% of adults set goals, with only 36% pursuing them past January and a depressing 6.5% past June. With only 6% of people achieving their goals, why even set them in the first place? Could I change your mind if I told you that 80% of people who work with mentors achieve their goals? But, I didn’t write this to tell you that you can’t achieve your goals without a mentor, because you absolutely can. While your chances are higher if you have a mentor, your chances will also increase if you execute tips 1-4. Like anything, everyone is different. Some people are so motivated to achieve their goals and will stop at nothing to achieve them. Others have goals that they would like to achieve but don’t have dire consequences if they don’t. Pick a strategy that works for you, and If you are truly motivated to achieve your goals, then following these tips could have 2025 be your best year yet!