By the beginning of this year, I wrote about how to set goals.  I do not know how many people actually did take that to heart, wrote down their goals for 2023, and then followed the process, but I can assure you, that those who did, on average, are over 80% more likely to have achieved their goals than those who did not.  This is a proven statistic for the business world.  Those who set goals and follow the process are over 80% more likely to achieve what they want than those who do not. 

Now we are approaching mid-November, and it’s time to start looking at our goals for 2024.   To do so, we should first take a look at the goals we set for 2023, and see where we are standing. Did we achieve what we set out to do, or not?  If not, why did we not accomplish our goals?  Understanding this is very important prior to our work with our 2024 goals.  If we do not understand why we failed or why we overshot our goals, it is very likely we will fall into the same trap in 2024.

For example, I set a goal for 2023, to grow Agri Project by 10% per month, or 120% over the year.  Currently, the growth so far is 263.75%, and we still have 50 days left of the year.  Looking at this, I noticed I have overshot my goal by far.  Actually, I have revised the goal several times over the year.  Every time increased it a bit. I have also come to understand my success with the goal depends on my ability to stay consistent, posting every 3 days, and focusing on quality content.  This will help me set my goal for 2024.

But before we go any further, let’s look at the process of setting goals:

1. Make a list of all the things you would like to accomplish next year.  At this stage, you are allowed to dream.  Write down everything, big and small.
2. Group the list into categories, say, family, business (the farm), finance, etc. There is no finite list of categories, it all depends on what you want to do.
3. For each category, work your items into 1 – 3 goals.  For example, you have 10 items you would like to do on your farm.  Try to group them and reduce them to 1 – 3 goals.  If you have too many goals, you will dilute yourself, and achieving the goals will become much harder.
4. Make sure you do not have more than 10 goals in total. You can have 4-6 business-related and 4-6 personal goals. If your total count is higher than 10 you will start losing focus.  Remember, these are the goals for the whole year.  You may have short-term goals, say for next month, but each of these goals should support one or more of the goals you want to accomplish for the year.
5. Make two new lists: a. Business (farm), b. Personal.  That is, divide your goals into business goals, and personal goals.  There may be a fine line between the business and your personal life.  But for example, if you want to study a new language, say Swahili, to get better access to Swahili-speaking customers, then that is a personal goal.  You will be studying Swahili.  A business goal might be to increase your sales of eggs and maize to the Swahili-speaking population in your neighborhood by 10%.
6. Now write each goal on a sheet of paper. For a goal to be properly set it must be:
   1. Achievable. It should not be something routine, say, to irrigate or another daily task. It should be challenging, but not unreachable.
   1. It must be specific. Growing your business is not a goal. Growing your business volume by 20% is.
   1. It must be measurable. Increasing my savings is not a goal. To increase my savings by $10 per week is.
   1. Each goal must have a beginning and an end. That is, to set a deadline to achieve the goal. The beginning is set, for January 1st.  But the deadline depends on the goal.  A deadline can be any date.  For example, you might want to accomplish some goals before the start of the rainy season, or before planting in April.  Or you would like to have a goal set before school starts, or a market opens, etc.
   1. Summary: A proper goal therefore would be, for example: To grow my revenue from my farm by 20%, compared to 2023, by December 31, 2024,
7. Finally, you must write an action plan for each goal. That is, write down the specific steps you must take to reach your goal.  This part is extremely important.  You should develop a clear plan for how you are going to achieve each of your goals.  What are the steps you must take to complete the task?  For example, the personal and business goals above in #5:  A – Personal) In order for me to become conversational in Swahili, I will dedicate 30 minutes per day, 7 days per week, to study Swahili.  I will use every opportunity I have to talk to people in Swahili, and in that way practice my speaking ability.   B) In order to increase my sales to the Swahili-speaking population in my neighborhood by 20% I will; make two new contacts per week with Swahili speakers.  I will have my price lists and other material written in Swahili by the first day of January.

Once you have written down your goals, you must place them somewhere you are sure to see them every day.  It can be in your agenda, above your desk, next to your bed, or wherever they will catch your attention. 

Review your goals periodically. At least once per month you should sit down and evaluate where you are in terms of your goals, what you need to do better, and if you must revise some of them.  If you are behind on your goals, it is important to understand why you are.  It may be because of reasons you have no control over.  For instance, the rainy season started two weeks late.  Or, for the reason you have all the control over, like, you were busy doing other things.  Whatever the reason is, it is important to understand why and then decide what you are going to do about it, and if you must revise your original goal.

Make sure everyone has bought into your goals. If your goal is personal, ask yourself who can influence it, your spouse, family, or friends. If the goal has to do with your family, make sure they understand and agree. Same with business, make sure everyone knows your expectations and make sure you do everything possible to help them help you achieve your goals.

This is a short summary of a process you can use now to set your goals for 2024.  Do not rush this process.  You might create your wish list today or tomorrow, but then let it sit for a week, and read it over with a cool head. 

Before you get into step #2, make sure you understand where you are currently in relation to each of the ideas you wrote down, and if you set goals for this year, where you are in regard to them.  If one of your goals for last year was to make a borehole for water on your land and install drip irrigation, but you have not done it, and it is foreseeable you will not do it this year.  Don’t just copy this goal for 2024 without understanding why you did not do it in 2023, and what has changed, or what you must change, so you can accomplish it during 2024.

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