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Motivation · 4 min read

How to make 2019 Your most successful year

Guide to goal setting: craft SMART work, learning and health goals, add real value, and act on what you can control to make this year your truly best ever.

Chris Farmer, Founder of Corporate Coach Group

“Write SMART goals for work, study and health, add value to people around you, focus on what you can control, and take bold daily action; follow these steps and any year becomes your best.”

Chris Farmer — Founder, Corporate Coach Group

How to make 2019 Your most successful year

How to make 2019 Your most successful year

  1. Set a series of ambitions work-related goals commit to their achievement.
  2. Set a series of educational goals and commit.
  3. Set a series of health goals and commit to your better health.
  4. Decide to "Add More Value" to other people - especially to your loved ones.
  5. Focus your attention onto those things over which you have control.
  6. Don't spend too much time fretting over things over which you have little or no control.
  7. Be active, not passive. Develop initiative.
  8. Be courageous: Even in the face of uncertain knowledge and changing environments, be prepared to advance.

1. Set a series of ambitions work-related goals commit to their achievement

Your professional career is important to your future. Therefore, set a series of ambitious, believable goals and draw-up practical plans for their achievement. Your plans should be Specific, Measured, Achievable, Realistic and Time limited. (SMART). Once you have written your goals and your plans, then start immediately to put the plans into action.

2. Set a series of educational goals and commit to their achievement

Just as you want to improve your work life, you may want to improve your mental life by developing new skills and abilities. Do you want to learn a new language? Do you want to play a musical instrument? Do you want to improve your hobby or sporting performance? Do you want to improve your communication skills, or your leadership skills?

Remember: For LIFE to get better, YOU must get better.

Pick a personal development goal and commit.

3.Set a series of health goals

You have heard the phrase, "A healthy mind and a healthy body"?

It is important to set goals for improved physical health.

You may want to improve in any one of the following five areas: Your,

  1. Physical strength,
  2. Endurance,
  3. Flexibility,
  4. Nutrition (and its effects on body weight),
  5. Immunity to illness.

Your physical health is important, since to enjoy life to its fullest, you need vibrant health and energy

4. Decide to "Add More Value" to other people- especially your loved ones

In order to have a great year, you need to do more for other people. In relation to helping other people there are always three options open to you:

  1. You can ADD to others as much as you can.
  2. You can fail to add to others.
  3. You can detract from others.

If you want to make your life better this year, then recognise that the world pays people who add value to the others. Nobody will pay you much for NOT adding any value. and if you detract from others, then you won't get far.

Help as MANY as you can, as MUCH as you can. The great news is that you can do WELL by doing GOOD.

5. Focus your attention onto those things over which you have the most influence

It is easy to be psyched-out by watching too many negative news stories. It is important to recognise the difference between what you CAN influence and what you cannot.

6. Don't spend too much time fretting over things over which you have little or no influence

It is possible and even common for people to lose their emotional stability fretting for too long over things that they cannot change. Focus your forces onto those things you CAN affect.

  • You can affect yourself.
  • You can affect the people with whom you come into daily contact.
  • You can affect the community in which you live.

Focus your attention onto those things closer to home and make YOUR portion of the world better.

7. Be active, not passive

Don't wait for the government to do things for you

Don't wait for your family to do things for you.

Take personal initiative

Improve things from the inside, out.

8. Be courageous: Even in the face of uncertain knowledge and changing knowledge, be prepared to advance

Many people stand-still because they think they cannot advance until they "Get all the facts".

But the truth is that you will never get all the facts, and even if you did, the facts will change tomorrow into a different set of facts.

Therefore, be willing to advance even in the face of uncertainty.

This takes courage and faith.

Faith in yourself.

Faith in your team.

Faith in the fact that, if you do everything you can to succeed, eventually you will.

SMART goal

A SMART goal is a way of writing a target in work or life so that it is clear, counted, within reach and has a finish date. A goal must state one clear result, show numbers to track change, sit within your means and give a set date. Remove any part and the goal stops being SMART.

CG4D Definition

Context: Business
Genus: Method

  • States one specific result
  • Uses numbers to measure progress
  • Is achievable with given resources
  • Is time bound with a clear end date

Article Summary

Write SMART goals for work, study and health, add value to people around you, focus on what you can control, and take bold daily action; follow these steps and any year becomes your best.

Chris Farmer, Founder of Corporate Coach Group

Written by Chris Farmer

Founder & Lead Trainer, Corporate Coach Group

Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has over 25 years experience designing and delivering leadership and management training across both the public and private sectors. His programmes are structured, practical and built around real-world performance. Read more about Chris and the story of how the Corporate Coach Group was founded.

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Key Statistics

Gallup’s 2024 UK Workplace Survey found that employees who write down their yearly goals are 3.5 times more engaged at work than those who do not.

Sport England’s Active Lives Adult Survey 2024 reports that adults who meet the NHS target of 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week score 28% higher for life satisfaction than inactive adults.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about this topic

A SMART goal is specific, measured, achievable, realistic and time-bound. This clear goal setting shows what to do and by when, letting you track progress and stay focused on job growth.
List tasks that move your role forward, rank them by impact and effort, then pick one ambitious yet realistic item. Write it as a SMART goal and act today; early wins build confidence for the rest of the year.
Any plan that builds skill or knowledge: learn a language, play an instrument, improve communication or leadership, or raise sport ability. Choose the area you value most, set a SMART target and practise daily.
Aim for 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly, eat balanced meals, sleep seven hours, stretch daily and drink enough water. These health goals boost strength, endurance and immunity, giving steady energy for work and study.
Listen fully, offer practical help, share skills, praise good work and keep promises. Small daily acts add value, strengthen trust and often come back to you in support and opportunity.
Your time and mood are limited resources. When you focus on what you can control-your habits, words and local actions-you gain real results and feel calmer. Worry over distant events drains drive without changing outcomes.
Accept that perfect knowledge never arrives. Decide with the best data you have, take small steps, review results and adjust fast. This proactive loop builds courage and keeps progress alive even in uncertainty.

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