Mid-Year Reset: How to Achieve Your Goals In 2022

For many Canadians, 2022 may be the year where we (almost) get back on track. Pandemic panic has given way to the new normal and an increasing number of organizations are returning to onsite work. This period of transition is a good time to reflect on your work life and goals.

Are you happy where you are?

What changes would you like to see?

How will you get there?

“Having a vision is important. If you haven't articulated where you want to go, you are then subject to reacting to everything that comes up. The clearer you are about what you want to achieve, the more likely you'll get there,” says Clare Kumar, a Toronto-based productivity and executive coach who is also a member of the Staples Canada Work From Anywhere Advisory Council.

Here are Kumar’s top three tips for staging a mid-year reset: assessing where you are in your 2022 goals and where you want to go next.

TIP #1: Set SMART goals

The SMART goal-setting framework is a time-tested guide for effective goal setting. So, what does SMART goals stand for? They are:

Specific: clearly defined

Measurable: quantifiable using specific criteria

Achievable: attainable

Realistic: relevant and reasonable

Timely: set within a specific period

“I think in the spirit of trying to find new ways to hack goals, people have been slamming SMART a little bit, but SMART is really an ode to specificity,” says Kumar. “If you are specific about what you want to achieve, you’re giving yourself some guidance to get there.”

Using SMART, this specificity gets you from: “I want to develop my leadership skills,” to “In Q2 of 2022, I will speak up and share my ideas, unprompted, at least twice at every Monday team meeting.” The first is vague and can’t really be assessed one way or another, while the second is an actionable goal that can be measured and recalibrated quarterly.

TIP #2: Acknowledge the importance of work-life balance

Remember that work impacts your personal life and vice versa. Whether you’re setting new goals or analyzing why you feel you fell short of an existing goal, take a 360-degree approach that encompasses all aspects of your life — which for many of us, was thrown into upheaval by pandemic life.

“I talk a lot about productivity and wellness. Let's just take productivity table stakes as an example: the things you need to do to sustain your energy. You need to figure out what your daily minimum, or weekly minimum requirement is of a certain activity,” says Kumar. Sleep is a great example. Kumar explains that knowing your sleep number (minimum number of hours slept) and tracking your sleep can be a way to bring attention to the habit you’re trying to build and measure its success.

Upshot: don’t ignore the role of healthy lifestyle habits and self-care in your mid-year goal setting. Act like the two are combined… because they are.

TIP #3: Be considerate to yourself (and your team)

Finally – and this is part of the “realistic” part of SMART – be considerate to yourself and your colleagues, some of whom may be struggling. “Honestly, we're fragile right now. And we need leaders to be highly empathetic,” says Kumar.

It’s not unrealistic for your Q2 2022 goals to be framed differently from your pre-pandemic goals because the new normal is still anything but normal. “If your supply chain is affected, where are your tools? If the price of fuel means that pricing has to go up, now you're not sure how your customers will respond to your service,” notes Kumar.

“We've never, in our generation, seen so much challenge in such a short time. So, showing empathy at work, having fierce self-compassion, and finding that place to care for your team and caring for yourself are highly critical,” says Kumar.

Keep that in mind when setting your goals. After all, forward momentum is still progress at any speed.

Read more:

Don’t Resolve to Change—Give Yourself the Tools You Need to Succeed in 2022

How to Work Smarter in 2022

4 Ways to Incorporate Wellness on the Job