We are entering this phase of Capricorn season where are stuffed with delicious food, relaxed after a few days off with plenty of sleep and slowly starting to become excited for the new year ahead. The zodiac sign of Capricorn loves to plan, to organise and to build and create things and so this makes for a great time to set some goals for what you want to manifest in the year ahead. Unfortunately so many of us see our good intentions begin to waver after just a few weeks (if not days!) and if we’re not careful, our well intentioned plans just end up making us feel guilty, which then in turn reinforces unhelpful habits and patterns we were trying so hard to shed.

If done the right way, however, our goal setting practice can set us up for finding fulfilment and success on our own terms and open us up to opportunities and serendipities we could not even imagine being delivered to us. Believe me, once I got the hang of goal-setting it became a total game changer. Now I still keep many of my lists from the past and instead of feeling shame or regret at not achieving what I wanted, I look at them in total amazement because (no kidding) about 80% of all of them have manifested, often in ways I never could have predicted on my own.

These are my 5 foolproof goal setting techniques which will help you stick to the goals that matter and discard all the unnecessary noise.

1) Decide on your categories

Before setting any goals, decide on the categories you want to divide your life into. This ensures that you can create a holistic vision for your life rather than overly focusing on one area of your life and neglecting others. How many categories you would like to use is up to you, though the basic ones I recommend would be Health & Fitness, Career & Finance and Relationships. You may wish to add others such as Travel & Adventure, Environment, Intellectual Life or Creativity, or you may wish to expand on them further, such as dividing Relationships into Friendships, Family and Romantic Relationships.

If you feel that you have one or more of your life areas nailed down and are feeling happy and fulfilled in that category, you can simply set a goal to maintain this level within said category. I would recommend still keeping it within the process though. In fact, maybe you can find ways to tap into the energy of success and happiness in this category in order to transfer it to other areas of your life which require more attention?

2) Decide on the scale of your goal

Once you have decided on the categories you want to include, it’s time to decide on the scale of the goal you are setting. This is one of the most important steps which can make or break your goal setting session. Many of us focus so hard on the details that we lose sight of why we are doing what we are doing which then inevitably leads to failure. We may come up with an elaborate workout and meal prepping plan which we cannot keep up with, but the problem here is that your goal was not to go to the gym at 5am and eat chicken and broccoli every day, but your goal was to become fit and healthy. Your goal was not to cut out takeaway coffees and never buy a lipstick again – your goal was to start saving for more financial stability. The former are just steps that you believe will take you to the latter. But if we become hyper-focused on the steps that we think at the start of our journey will get us to the end, we miss all the opportunities and shortcuts and fun parts of the journey which only show up once you have made the first couple of steps.

Focus on the end result that you want to achieve and then be ready to re-evaluate and pivot throughout the year when presented with new information, changes to your living situation or anything else that life may throw at you.

3) Decide on the difficulty level of your goals

In a similar vein, once you have settled on your long term vision, consider how realistic it is to achieve this within the next year. Certain goals may have to be broken down into smaller steps so that they don’t become overwhelming. Perhaps you have just started a new business which is currently bringing in a few hundred Euros a month and you wish to grow it into a multimillion empire one day. That’s great, but it may be too far fetched right now to expect it to bring in six figures a month by the end of 2025. What would be a number that feels achievable, but still like a little bit of a stretch? 1k? 2k? 5k a month?

On the other hand I do want to encourage you to go beyond what feels comfortable on a few of your goals. The highest achievers, pioneers and visionaries that leave a mark on the world all have a small, healthy dose of delusion on their side and once you get into the flow of things, you will find a surprising number of goals you originally thought were unrealistic have a way of turning into reality in unexpected ways. Base this off of your own manifestation track record. If you’re new to manifesting, I would recommend a ratio of around 80% “realistic” goals and the other 20% to be out of your comfort zone. With more experience, you can up the percentage of “unrealistic” goals and invite the magic in. Personally, I will be going for a split of about 50/50 for 2025.

4) Review the feeling of your goals

Now that you have looked at all the areas of your life, viewed the long term vision associated with those, split it into smaller chunks where appropriate and have a good balance of “realistic” and “unrealistic” goals, go through your list slowly and tune into how each of them makes you feel. How will it feel to have achieved this goal, to have manifested this into your life and be living it as your reality?

You are looking for a feeling of accomplishment, fulfilment, joy and authenticity. A bit of pride and a sprinkling of relief thrown in is fine as well. But if it’s difficult to conjure up any emotions, or even worse, if it’s a sense that achieving this goal will finally get some person off your back or some other person to acknowledge or respect you, then this is a sign to cut this goal out of your list. Your goals have to inspire you. They need to be designed in a way that you will be willing to keep making progress towards them for the inherent satisfaction of striving towards them. If the outcome is only there to make you look a certain way in front of others, then it’s simply a distraction and will make it harder to make progress towards the things that will really shift your life.

5) Check back on your goals regularly

Now that only goals are left which leave you feeling amazing, it’s time to make them physical. This can be a nicely written out list in a planner or on some good quality paper, or it could be a physical or digital vision board. What is important is that you don’t just write them out and then forget about them in a corner somewhere. If you created a vision board, put it somewhere you’re going to see it regularly. If you created a written list, set yourself regular reminders to review your list (quarterly is good, monthly is better). Regularly reignite this feeling of excitement you are feeling at the start of the new year. Pat yourself on the back for any progress you’ve made. Figure out what’s not working and swap it out for new ideas. See yourself already having accomplished and experienced all that you set out to do. Feel yourself coming closer and closer each time you check in. And if in a few months’ time you realise that there’s something on your list you just don’t care about anymore, don’t be afraid to remove it and focus on the other goals that are still lighting you up.

Here’s to 2025 becoming your year of success, happiness and amazing memories!