90-Day Goals for 2024

My game plan for improving my health, wealth, and relationships

Jan 12, 2024

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Read Time: 7 minutes

I always thought that goal-setting was pointless.

I used to believe that if I had a goal, it’s better to focus on the things I can control rather than on the outcomes I want to achieve.

If I wanted to graduate with Latin Honors, I should just study for 4 to 6 hours a day.

If I wanted to save money, I should just set aside a fixed amount every week.

If I wanted to feel healthy, then I should just get 8 hours of sleep and exercise regularly.

But this year, I’m changing this belief. Being the breadwinner in our family and having big dreams I want to achieve in the next 5 years (or not, who knows?), I find it more important now than ever to set clear goals.

Not goals for the whole of 2024 though... that’s a bit intimidating. I decided to keep it manageable by only setting goals for the next 90 days.

But before that, why is goal-setting important in the first place?

🎯 Removing the Blindfold

I embarrassed myself the first time I played darts.

When I made my first throw, I missed not only the prized bullseye but also the dartboard itself. The dart smacked the wall and fell to the ground along with my pride.

But I was never one to give up after a single stumble. I persisted for a couple more minutes, noticing that my throws had been gradually improving over time. Eventually, one throw landed right on the red circle in the middle.

“Bullseye!” I cheered. It was my very first one.

Haters might say this was beginner’s luck. I would say, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

But looking back at how I was able to achieve this lucky feat, I realized it was because of one main thing: I could see the target.

Imagine if I were blindfolded. I'd be throwing darts aimlessly, just as I did with my first throw. For most of my life, I tried to reach my dreams with blindfolds on. I decided it’s time to change that this year.

Setting goals is much like removing the blindfold. By knowing what to aim for, we’d be able to move toward the desired outcome. We can figure out what the necessary next steps are. And over time, we'll come closer and closer to our dream outcomes until we finally achieve it.

That's why last Sunday, I spent 2 hours working on my 90-day goals. Here's how it went.

🤔 Phase 1: Knowing What I Want

There are three key areas of life I want to focus on. These are health, wealth, and relationships.

Fulfilling even just one meaningful goal in each of these areas should allow me to make big improvements in my life.

I asked myself, “In the next 90 days, what do I want to achieve in terms of my health, wealth, and relationships?”

At this point, I don’t even have to think about SMART goals (you know, smart, measurable, achievable, you get it). I’m simply brain dumping all the things I want to have in my life in each of those areas.

At this stage in my life, I consider wealth to be the most important area. I’m supporting my younger siblings’ education and helping out with our household expenses. So I want to be able to make extra income while making sure I do work which I find fulfilling.

With this in mind, it’s then crucial to take care of my health. I expect a heavier workload in the coming months, so maintaining a consistent sleep schedule and managing stress are important.

Finally, I want to ensure that I continue to value my relationships despite the busy weeks ahead. A long-standing Harvard study highlights that cultivating good relationships throughout life is correlated with greater happiness and longevity. This means that the key to a good life lies in the relationships we nurture throughout our lifetime.

By harmonizing these three key areas with one another—health, wealth, and relationships—I'm setting myself up for a better life ahead, despite the current challenges I’m facing.

💎 Phase 2: Refining My Goals

After the brain dump in Phase 1, I grouped similar goals together. Then, in each area, I selected only one to three goals that I find most important for the next 90 days.

I do this because I know that having more than 3 goals is already too much for me, and it becomes harder to make progress when there are too many goals.

I also made the effort to make my goals more specific. I answered questions like how much, how many, how often, for how long, and by when.

👣 Phase 3: Setting Habits and Tasks

Now that I have successfully removed the blindfold, it’s finally time to craft a game plan for reaching my goals.

While it may seem intimidating, I've learned that goals are just a combination of habits and tasks that lead to the desired outcome.

Goals = Habits + Tasks

So, I examined each of my goals and thought about the necessary daily steps to get closer to them.

I usually get overwhelmed when I think about all the stuff I need to do to achieve something. So instead, I only focus on what I need to do tomorrow.

I also acknowledged that I have the freedom to adjust my action plan as needed, so it doesn’t have to be perfect right away.

Like in Phase 2, I also strived for specificity regarding the what (how many, how much, with whom) and the when (how often, at what time).

Those highlighted in red are tasks. Those highlighted in orange are habits.

Here, the health area has a clear action plan because I’ve been focusing on my health for quite some time.

In the wealth area, however, I lack a clear strategy for earning an extra P20,000 monthly. So, in the meantime, I plan to study Alex Hormozi's free business course and adjust my budget plan to align with my goals.

And for my relationships, I've set tasks with specific schedules to make sure I commit to them. Apparently, sharing them publicly also helps with accountability.

🔎 Step 4: Review

Now that I've defined my goals and action steps, it's time to review them to ensure that I can commit to them for the next 90 days.

I asked myself:

Is this something I can realistically achieve in the next 90 days? Am I focusing on the things that truly matter to me right now?

If the answer to any of those questions is "no," then this means I should make adjustments or maybe even change a goal or two.

Here is what my 90-day Goals Plan looks like at the moment.

💭 What’s Next?

After defining my habits and tasks, the natural next step is to put them into action. I set reminders on my phone to help me stay committed. And knowing my busy schedule, I know that I’ll eventually forget about them, so I make sure to check in with myself every week.

I've dedicated 30 minutes every Sunday to review my progress and reassess my goals. In the weekly review, I aim to:

Simplify my action steps if I struggle to commit to them
Take on more challenging action steps if I believe I can do more
Discard goals that no longer resonate with me
Add new goals if I feel like it’s necessary

A weekly calendar reminder for my weekly review.

Being naturally ambitious, having well-defined goals is something that energizes me. But if I learned anything from life, it’s that nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

I’m sure that I’ll take it hard if I don’t meet expectations in the next 90 days. But I’m reminding myself as early as now that it’s okay to fall short and not meet the goals I set for myself.

In fact, maybe falling short is something I should be happy about. After all, life would be a lot less meaningful without a goal to strive for.

Paulo Coelho once wrote, “It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

I’m looking forward to see what happens in the next three months.

Let’s see each other then!

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