Intentional goal setting for the year ahead: clarity, confidence, and purpose
- CharlotteLittlejones
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
As the year draws to a close, we often reflect on what we have and maybe haven't achieved in the past year. We also often start setting ambitious goals for the year ahead.
In this newsletter, l cover:
Accountability and support
Reflection is an invaluable tool
In coaching reflection is useful for clients because it:
Unlocks insight: Reflection helps clients pause, notice patterns, and connect the dots between their values, behaviours, and goals. It’s how they move from reacting to intentionally choosing.
Making sense of complexity: In coaching, reflection allows clients to process challenges, learn from both success and failure, and identify what really matters.
Inner transformation: Beyond external goals, reflection supports a deeper self-awareness - helping clients recognise blind spots, shift limiting beliefs, and embed new habits.
Accountability and growth: Coaches use reflection to hold up the mirror, helping clients see recurring behaviours and take responsibility for progress
Prevents the comparison trap: Coaches can lead clients away from focusing on what they haven't managed to do but instead help them identify their achievements. Too often we compare ourselves to others, but with coaching clients set their own path, at their own pace and with their own goals and own deadlines.
Why goals still matter (especially now)
Meaningful goal setting isn’t about doing more or pushing harder. It’s about direction.
Goals give us something steady to move towards when motivation dips. They help us make decisions with confidence rather than reacting to everything around us. And when goals are aligned with our values, they support wellbeing as much as achievement.
If anything were possible, what would you work towards — not just to have, but to feel?
When done well, goal-setting can be grounding, motivating, and deeply reassuring.
Goal setting when you don’t have external deadlines
For self-employed professionals, freelancers, and those navigating career transitions, goal setting becomes even more important.
Without organisational structures, performance reviews, or externally imposed deadlines, we become responsible for our own momentum.
Clarity becomes the structure. Intention becomes the motivation.
Well-defined goals help prevent the familiar feeling of being busy but unfulfilled. They create focus, rhythm, and a sense of progress — even when the path ahead feels uncertain.
Choosing the right goals
When doing any work around goal setting, it is really important that they are the right goals for you. Goals aren't about what's expected of you, or what you think you should do.
It's about thinking: If anything were possible, what would you choose for yourself next?
Not in a rushed, goal-heavy way. Not with pressure or comparison. But with intention.
I love coaching clients when clarity replaces overwhelm and goals feel supportive rather than demanding.
Ask yourself:
Is this my own goal and not what someone else wants?
If I achieve this goal, what will it mean for me?
What support do I need to achieve my goal?
Personal goals matter too
We all need personal goals. Personal goals help us stay connected to what matters most - our values, energy, relationships, and sense of purpose. When goals are values-led, they feel lighter and more sustainable.
They also invite us to recognise our strengths. What are you already good at? What qualities, skills, and experiences have carried you this far? Knowing your strengths builds confidence and makes goals feel achievable rather than intimidating.
Goals give shape to our values. They help us prioritise energy, time, and attention. When goals are aligned with values, they feel easier to achieve. More sustainable. More you.
Why accountability and support change everything
Most goals don’t fail because of lack of ambition.
They stall because of doubt, fear of getting it wrong, competing priorities, or simply having no one to reflect with.
This is where accountability and support make a difference. Having someone to reflect with, to challenge gently, to bring you back to your intentions when life gets noisy is where momentum is built.
You may choose a colleague, a manager, a peer, friends or family members to hold you accountable. But if you want professional help, to create the space to think clearly, reconnect with your intentions, ensure you are on track, check your goals are still relevant to you, help you overcome hurdles and maintain momentum, then coaching can help.
Not because you don’t know what to do, but because life gets noisy. You don’t have to hold it all alone and because your goals are important.
The 2026 Clarity Planner (your free gift)
I’ve created the 2026 Clarity Planner - a free resource designed to help you:
Reflect on what matters most to you
Set values‑aligned goals for work and life
Create focus and direction for the year ahead
Reconnect with your strengths and priorities
Move forward with clarity, confidence and purpose
If you’d like a copy, simply visit my 2026 Clarity planning page and I’ll send it directly to you.
This planner isn’t about trying to do more. It’s about choosing what deserves your energy. You can begin the year feeling grounded and supported.
And if, as you work through it, you feel the need for accountability, reflection or deeper support, coaching can help turn intention into sustainable momentum.
Whether you’re navigating career crossroads, leadership development, avoiding or coping with burnout, or simply craving a sense of purpose again… coaching gives you space to breathe, think, and grow.
Whenever you’re ready, please get in touch.
Comments