A few years ago, I created a course designed to launch college seniors into the job market. This course walked students through brainstorming potential careers, researching jobs and paths toward employment, and creating actionable steps toward setting themselves up for success in the future. A significant amount of research and work went into creating that course and I would love to share a portion of it in this article in hopes of helping us all create a brighter 2022.
I have been an active engineer of my future for many years. I am one of those odd people whose favorite holiday is New Year’s Day. I love planning, I love goal setting, and I love achievement. And I love sharing what I know that has worked with others. Here are the steps that will help you achieve your goals for 2022:
Reverse engineering as it relates to goal setting
Brainstorming exercises
Choosing a goal
Researching goal paths and existing prototypes
Setting a metric for your goal
Working backward from December 31st, 2021
Creating accountability checkpoints
Reverse engineering as it relates to goal setting
Before we start goal planning, let’s first define the term “reverse engineering” and discuss how it relates to your fantastic future. Merriam Webster defines reverse engineering as, “To disassemble and examine or analyze in detail (a product or device) to discover the concepts involved in manufacture usually in order to produce something similar.”
This definition is intriguing because it assumes that there is already a product or prototype in existence to break down and/or analyze. For many people, goals often lie in the undefined ether of our brains. Reverse engineering assumes that there is someone who has already accomplished whatever you choose to do. Not only does this help make your goals seem more tangible, but it potentially allows you to follow a road map already set by a successful predecessor.
Even if there isn’t an exact example of the success that you can examine, there will inevitably be something close. Similarly, you may not want to take the exact steps that someone before you has taken, but you can use another person’s success as inspiration or a jumping-off point for your plans.
The term reverse engineering also implies the methodical recreation of something. For instance, if you purchase a car and take it apart to learn how it works, you would then methodically recreate that car again from its parts (or new ones). The keyword here is “process.” Accomplishing anything precisely and methodically can be time-consuming, but it reaps rewards that are well worth the effort.
One misstep of new year’s resolution-makers is that they try to achieve their goals too quickly. Quick success often doesn’t stick. If you take the time to carefully rebuild the “car” of another successful person (with your own personal swag), you will be more likely to hold on to your success.
Brainstorming exercises
Whether you think you know what you want to do in 2022 or not, I encourage you to take time to brainstorm what you want to accomplish. You never know what your subconscious is brewing. You might think you want one thing, but after you brainstorm, you might find that you’re more passionate about another.
For a first brainstorming exercise, I recommend that you set a timer for 15–20 minutes, grab a pen and paper, and write down everything you would like to accomplish by December 31st, 2022. According to the professional studies blog for Drexel University, brainstorming in a group can encourage critical thinking, but an article in the Harvard Business Review says that brainstorming alone can be just as effective, if not better.
So, I encourage you to brainstorm large and small. Adopting a puppy is just as valid a goal as creating a puppy adoption company. Maybe you want to learn French, get 100,000 Instagram followers, write the next Oscar-winning screenplay, or turn your garage into a man cave. Judge nothing, write down everything.
The goal of this brainstorm is to put everything on paper that has bounced around the pinball machine of your brain over the past decade or two. Even if your ideas seem silly or too large, write everything down. Any elephant can be eaten if you take enough bites, so if you want to buy a jet, write it down in your brainstorm. You can figure out later how to make your first million in 2022.
After you’ve completed your first brainstorm, try a second 10–15 minute brainstorm. This time, write down things you don’t want to do in 2022. Sometimes, knowing what you don’t want to do can help you understand a little more about what you do want to do instead. (It’s like when you say you don’t care which movie you watch, your friend picks one, and then you realize that you really do care.)
If you want to do a third bonus brainstorm, take a look at the things you wrote that you don’t want to do and write what you do want to do instead. For instance, if you wrote, “I don’t want to live in Europe,” you could write, “I do want to live in Australia” next to it. You may not have known that you wanted to live in Australia before this brainstorm. If so, good on you! Say hi to the harbour in Sydney for me!
When you have completed your two (or three) brainstorms, stop. Yes, stop. Sleep on it. Ruminate. Let your ideas sit for a day or two. And while you’re ruminating, consider reading over your brainstorming list before going to bed. Your brain processes information while you sleep, so maybe while you’re catching some z’s, you’ll get clear on your primary target for the coming year.
Choosing a goal
Let’s look at a simple everyday analogy for choosing a goal. Let’s say you’re sitting on the sofa on a Friday night with your friend and one of you wants to go to the movies and one of you wants to go to dinner, so you’re potentially at an impasse. Sure, you can do both of these activities in one night, but you won’t do either unless you decide what to do first. If you don’t decide on what you want to do first, you’ll be sitting on the proverbial sofa for all of 2022.
After you’ve slept on your brainstorming ideas from the previous section, it’s time to get off the proverbial sofa. I recommend choosing the one goal that you feel excited about the most. Generally, we get excited about things when we think positively about them and we see that we can attain them. In the book Human Emotions, Carroll Izzard says, “ . . . the interested or excited person has the feeling that he is ‘alive and active’.” Active is the keyword here.
We have all heard that we need to set goals that are actionable. I happen to believe that pretty much anything is actionable (even if just in a small way), but only if you want to act on it. If you’re excited about one specific goal on your list, it’s likely that you know what you’re going to conquer first!
Incidentally, you can choose more than one goal. You just need to choose which goal to pursue first. Like the sofa analogy, you have to choose a destination before you leave your living room.
Researching goal paths and existing prototypes
The research step is the all-important puzzle piece that most ambitious resolution-makers miss. When companies like Amazon and Apple spend tens of billions of dollars annually on research and development, you know it’s important. However, some people just make generic goals without doing any research at all.
If your goal for 2022 is to run a marathon, you should not only research how many miles a marathon is, but you should also know how long it takes to train for one and if there is one in your area in which you might participate. If your goal is to lose weight, you should start by researching the most effective methods for doing it. If you don’t know how people have succeeded in the past, you might not know where to start pursuing your goal.
You might also do research on what you thought you wanted to do and realize that you don’t want to do it anymore. And that’s fine. Knowledge is power. It’s better to know before you start than in the middle of your journey. If your research changes your mind, that’s great. Go back to your brainstorming list and choose again.
Additionally, if you are going to reverse engineer your goals, you need a prototype. Part of your research should be looking into people who have succeeded in what you want to do. How did they accomplish it? What preparation did they do? How long did it take? How much did it cost?
The fantastic thing about today’s world is that you might even be able to reach out directly to whomever you pinpoint as your goal prototype. One of the good things about social media is that you have direct access to people you would not previously have been able to contact. So, if your goal is to be an award-winning tango dancer, you might be able to direct message Maksim Gerasimov himself on Instagram (though you might need a translator).
The more you know before you set out on your 2022 path, the better. The more people you reach out to for advice, the larger your network for information and encouragement. You never know, you might find yourself a mentor. At the minimum, you will learn more about what you’re about to get into. But before you get started on your goal, there are a few more steps to ensure your success.
Setting a metric for your goal
No goal is measurable without a metric. If you can’t measure it, you can’t track it and you won’t know if or when you’ve succeeded. Setting a metric for your goal is imperative. A metric is simply a standard of measurement. But, for any given goal, there could be multiple metrics. So, before you start, you should choose which metric is right for you.
Say, for instance, you want to focus on your physical fitness in the new year. This might be a good goal, but it isn’t actionable without a metric. Do you want to lose weight or gain strength? Raise your endurance or have more energy? Or, if you want to focus on your writing, do you want to write more often, or do you want to focus on quality? Do you want to get into specific publications or reach a niche audience?
These are all valid metrics, but you must choose a specific one for your goal. I also recommend focusing on one metric. Other benefits might come along, but the focus is key when you’re planning out your goals, so choosing one thing you want to improve on is important.
Working backward from December 31st, 2022
Once you choose your metric, you should decide where you want to be in 365 days. For instance, if you wish to put more money in your savings account in 2022, you should decide how much money you want to sock away during the year. Similarly, if you want to read more books in 2022, you should set a number of books that you want to read by December 31st, 2022.
If you don’t have a baseline for your goal’s metric, here’s how to do it. Record where you are now. Weigh yourself, check your bank account, take “before” pictures, track your sleeping habits, do whatever it takes to get a baseline for where you’ve started on January 1st. Not only will this make you feel accomplished next year, but it will also help you set smaller goals so that you get to where you want in the next year.
After you decide what your overall 2022 accomplishment is, divide it up into months or weeks. If you want to save $20,000 for your dream vacation in the next year, work backward from that goal. Divide that $20,000 by 12 months. That’s about $1,670 per month. If you divide that by four weeks, that’s $416 per week. Then, you need to figure out how to earn that extra $416 — Uber, ghostwriting, grass mowing, you name it — or how you will cut that $416 from your budget.
This method can work for practically any goal. If you find that you have, perhaps, dreamed a little big for one year, you can stretch your goal to two years. And then work backward from December 31, 2023. Ideally, you can reverse engineer your goal to create small steps that you can take daily to work toward what you want to accomplish.
Once you do, write these down. Put these steps in your planner, set reminders, and keep your promise to yourself to work every day to do something fantastic in the next 12 months.
Creating accountability checkpoints
Last but not least, we all need a way to stay accountable. If you decide to do something exciting and you don’t tell anyone, you’re significantly more likely to give up. Pride goes a long way. I know I definitely don’t like to eat crow in front of my friends when I don’t do something I said I was going to do. One of the most important factors in goal setting success is sharing your aim with at least one other person.
You don’t have to post your before pictures to Instagram or publicly announce your bank balance, but having one or two supportive friends to keep track of you on your journey is mega-helpful. First of all, if you tell another person about what you want to do in 2022, they can be supportive of your efforts along the way. Cheerleaders are a thing for a reason. We all need a pep talk now and then.
Second, your friends can check in to make sure you are doing what you said you’re doing. I have completed many a project for the sole reason that I knew a friend would be checking in on me to make sure I got it done. Even if you don’t happen to meet your particular goal for a period of time, you’re more likely to get further if you have someone checking in on your progress.
According to the Observer Daily, “The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that you have a 65% of completing a goal if you commit to someone. And if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed to, you will increase your chance of success by up to 95%.”
You might also be able to find an enthusiastic friend with whom to swap goals and accountability. That way, your relationship is a little more two-sided. Either way, if you operate your ambitious 2022 goal crusade in a vacuum, you are less likely to prevail.
A new year is a new opportunity to make yourself just a little bit better than the year before. If you take time to brainstorm and decide what you truly want to accomplish, do your research, and then reverse engineer your success, you can’t go wrong. Even if you fail. Because, as my favorite Norman Vincent Peale quote says, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
What is your 2022 goal? Your FIRST one? Leave it in the comments. Happy New Year, friends.
Such helpful ideas. I am inspired. Thanks!! And good luck with all your goals for 2022!