Most New Year goals fade because they are too big, too vague or too many. The answer is not more willpower. It is a better plan.

Pick fewer goals

Three to five is plenty. Choose one for each area of life that matters most to you, such as faith, family, health, home or work.

Make each goal specific

"Get healthier" is a wish. "Walk for 20 minutes four days a week" is a goal. If you cannot tell whether you did it, make it more specific.

Break it into quarters

Turn each yearly goal into three month chunks. What should be true by March? By June? Smaller targets keep you moving and let you adjust.

Choose a weekly action

Every goal needs one small action you can do each week. The action is what makes the goal real. Write it on your calendar.

Name the obstacle

Ask what usually gets in the way: tired evenings, a busy season, forgetting. Then write down what you will do when it happens.

Review on a schedule

Pick one day a month for a ten minute check in. What worked? What did not? Change the plan, not the goal, if something is off.

Celebrate small wins

Mark progress as you go. Seeing a page fill up is motivating in a way that a vague intention never is.

The Goal Setting Planner in my shop walks through these steps with fillable pages for goals, quarterly targets and monthly reviews.

Handy extras: planner pens and page tabs and sticky notes.