Setting Great Yearly Goals – Let’s Make This Year Amazing

Did you know that only around 8% of people actually achieve their resolutions each year? Also, another interesting statistic is that only 75% of those who set resolutions follow through with them after just the first week. Yes, that means that 25% give up THAT soon! As you can see, the majority of people don’t…

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Last Updated: January 1, 2025

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

Did you know that only around 8% of people actually achieve their resolutions each year?

Also, another interesting statistic is that only 75% of those who set resolutions follow through with them after just the first week. Yes, that means that 25% give up THAT soon!

As you can see, the majority of people don’t make it far with their yearly goals.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to be included in that statistic.

Before you completely throw out the idea of New Year’s resolutions and judge people who create them, please keep the below statistic from Statistic Brain in mind:

People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions.

This is why setting yearly goals for yourself is so important. You are much more likely to stay motivated and reach your goals when you actually set them.

So, let’s make this a great year. Let’s work on paying off debt, saving more money, earning a higher income, living a better life, traveling more, or whatever goal you want to reach.

Below are different ways to help you reach your yearly goals so that you can make this the best year of your life. Plus, I’ve included my goals below as well.

Related posts:

Make sure your goal is SMART.

Have you ever heard of a SMART goal? Making sure your goal is SMART is a very important step.

What a SMART goal should be:

  • Specific – What is your goal? Is it specific enough or is it too broad? What needs to be done so that you can reach your goal? Why do you want to reach your goal?
  • Measurable – How can you measure your progress? How will you know if you’re on track?
  • Attainable – Can your goal actually be achieved?
  • Realistic/relevant – Can YOU achieve your goal? Is the goal worth it?
  • Time – What’s your time frame for reaching your goal?

Write down your yearly goals.

Writing down your goal is a very important part of the process.

Doing so can help you remember it. Whenever I don’t write something down or have it in front of me on a regular basis, I usually forget about it.

If you can’t remember your goal, it would be very hard to reach it. I suggest that you think about:

  • Creating a blog;
  • Making a vision board;
  • Putting post-its around your home that list your yearly goals;
  • Placing reminders on your phone, and more.

Create a plan to reach your goal.

If you want to learn how to stay motivated with your goals, then one of the first things you should do after you create your goal is to create a plan. Without a plan, it would be difficult to reach a goal as you would just be all over the place.

You should create a plan that details the steps you need in order to reach your goal, what will happen as you reach each step, when and how you will track your progress, and more. Being detailed with your plan will help you reach your goal and become successful.

Keep track of your progress AND make changes (if needed).

To stay motivated with your yearly goals and become successful with them, you should review your progress every so often. You may want to check in daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on what type of goal you have and what personally works for you.

Keeping track of your progress is a good idea because it can tell you what you need to do in order to reach your goal, if you are behind, or if you need to make a change.

Related: I highly recommend that you check out Personal Capital (a free service) if you are interested in gaining control of your financial situation. Personal Capital is similar to Mint.com, but 100 times better as it allows you to gain control of your investment and retirement accounts. 

Next Year’s Goals:

  • Get at least two months ahead on Making Sense of Cents posts. I would like to be at least a few months ahead when it comes to my beefier posts here.
  • Grow Making Sense of Cents. I would love to help more readers, see even more engagement, have higher traffic, and so on. I love my blog and I would love to see it grow!
  • Be active every day. Whether this means just walking around the block or going for a long hike, I do want to be more active. Being in the RV full-time makes this easy because no one wants to spend ALL DAY in an RV, but there are days when I feel like I have so much to do online that I don’t move from one spot.
  • Have fun living in the RV full-time! Soon, we are going to put everything in storage and we plan on living in our RV full-time for the foreseeable future. I can’t wait to see what our first full year of RVing will be like!

Here are some of my favorite photos from this year (follow me on Instagram to see more!):

Canyonlands

Palm Trees

Hot Air Balloon

Frenchie

Grand Teton

SUP

Great Smoky Mountains

Moab

Moab Jeep

Bike Tour

Big Sur

RV in the Redwoods

What are your New Year’s resolutions and yearly goals for this year?


Filed under:

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Author: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Hey! I’m Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and I am the founder of Making Sense of Cents. I’m passionate about all things personal finance, side hustles, making extra money, and online businesses. I have been featured in major publications such as Forbes, CNBC, Time, and Business Insider. Learn more here.

Like this article?

Join the Conversation

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Jen

    I have never heard of the SMART method of creating goals. That is very helpful and a good guideline. I love vision boards because I’m a visual person who maps everything with pictures and drawings. The picture of you sitting on the edge of a cliff gets me nervous!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Haha it made my friend nervous too when I sat there!

  2. Cat@BudgetBlonde

    Great goals and beautiful photos! I hope you have a great New Year!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thank you Cat! I hope 2016 is a great year for you. I’m sure it will be! 🙂

  3. Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank

    Let’s make 2016 amazingly great by having SMART goals. Happy New Year everyone!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks!

  4. Jenni

    I’m a big believer in visible goals. For the past few years, I’ve kept an ongoing goal of 15 days of fitness per month. I have a dry erase calendar in my kitchen and when I go to the gym, hiking, swimming, etc, I note which day of fitness it is. It’s easy to see if I’m going to hit my goal or if I need to hustle to make it by month end. Still pondering what other goals I’d like for the new year. Just like one of the other readers commented, I work in HR and we use SMART goals as well.

    Your pictures for this year are great and the RV adventure for 2016 sounds like fun.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks Jenni!

  5. DNN

    How many times do you think most bloggers failed today in their creative efforts before becoming super successful?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I have no idea!

  6. Allie

    I am following your recommendation and using my blog to hold myself accountable to my goals and help others achieve theirs. Getting debt free is #1 on our list and you’ve helped my husband and I plan to be debt free before 30.

    Happy New Year to you and yours!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Great goal!

  7. Michelle @ Modern Acupuncture

    Thanks for sharing your spectacular photos! Looks like you had an amazing year. I recently bought a Passion Planner to help me actually achieve my 2016 goals. It will require me to write my goals down, which, as you mentioned is one of the most helpful ways to stay on track. Thank you for this post! Great reminders.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks Michelle!

  8. sham

    Another great post. Hope 2016 is another prosperous year for you!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thank you!

  9. Jason Butler

    Congrats on a great year! Cheers to a wonderful 2016!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks Jason!

  10. Dave

    These are some great tips Michelle! I really like how you included your own goals for 2016 instead of just telling people how to set up their own.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks Dave!

  11. Barb

    Thank for your help and all your information this year. I hope that you have a wonderful, healthy,
    and prosperous new year.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks. You too! 🙂

  12. Nick True

    Thanks for the inspiring post, Michelle!
    2015 was an exciting year because it has been the year I was introduced to the world of online business and also the year I started my blog!

    My big goal for 2016 is to get 1,000 email subscribers! Thanks Michelle for your advice and continual inspiration.

    Here’s to a great new year!!
    – Nick

    PS: My wife is begging me to get her a Frenchy, we love your pics!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Good luck with your goal. Haha we love our French bulldog 🙂

  13. DC @ Young Adult Money

    “Active every day” is a great goal. Reminds me of the CEO of IZEA who has run for over 200 days straight (even if it’s just a short run).

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks!

  14. Jamie

    Michelle, I love your photos! The places look so great! Happy New Year! May odds be ever in our favor.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks Jamie!

  15. Ray @ Squirrelers

    Great photos from 2015, and excellent words to start up 2016. Totally agree on making SMART goals, I actually break this down to a monthly cadence.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks Ray!