Goal Setting for 2025 & Visualization with Actionable Steps

The best approach for goal-setting in 2025—without making it feel like another boring chore. We’re building on last episode’s reflections (so if you skipped it, go back and do your homework) and get real about visualizing our future selves. Crafting “I am” statements, breaking down goals into bite-sized chunks, and keeping it focused with quarterly themes. Reminders that progress isn’t a straight line—so grab your journal, pour a coffee (or tea), and join us as we map out a year of wins, growth, and maybe a little grace.

Time Stamps:

00:50 The Power of Visualization

04:30 Crafting Your I Am Statements

08:37 Reflection and Inventory

09:37 Setting Tangible Goals

13:56 Creating an Action Plan

17:54 Choosing Your Yearly Theme

21:17 Quarterly Focus and Execution

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Transcript

Episode 072: Goal-Setting for New Year
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[00:00:00] 

Joanna Newton: Remember as you go through this process that goal setting isn't about perfection. It's not about feeling guilt or shame for past mistakes or past loss.

It's just about making progress. You know, I know I'm sure you've all seen that meme on the internet. That's like progress, what people see, and it's, you know, a straight line graph going up with no, no problems. in reality, there's ups, there's downs, there's falling back, there's skyrocketing forward.

the path to achieving your goals isn't always a pretty picture. And you don't have to worry about perfection. You just have to think about what's that next great step for you. If you're moving towards that, you're going to be. in a better place than you were at the beginning of the year



Michelle Pualani: Welcome back to the Her First Podcast where we lean into the stories of high achieving women and talk about how [00:01:00] the narrative is changing around what it means to be successful, confident, wealthy in business ownership.

So today we have a little bit of a different topic in which we're heading into goal setting. This is part two. And so today we're going to give you an efficient, approachable process for goal setting as we head into the new year.

Joanna Newton: And if you missed our last episode on reflection, make sure to go back. Listen to that first and go through that process because you are not prepared to set goals for a new year until you've properly reflected on the past.

Michelle Pualani: We are going to get this process started by what's called visualizing. If you're not familiar with it, ultimately it's creating a picture in your mind. It can be from the first person perspective. So you're seeing from your eyes. can also be from the third party perspective where you're watching in on something like a movie.

So you're seeing yourself in this. It's used very heavily in sports psychology in order to get athletes into the mindset and the mind frame to experience what it is they're going to accomplish. There's also a lot [00:02:00] of data and studies that have shown that the same wiring in the brain fires as when you're actually doing the movement. So for example, if you in your mind are visualizing yourself doing a squat. The same neurons in your brain fire of when you're actually doing the squat. Now I'm not saying you can just visualize and completely cut out all the action, but I am saying that it helps you realize and bring into actuality that thing that you're looking to accomplish.

So before we get into the actual step by step, tangible, tractionable goal setting process, we're going to start by visualizing you can close your eyes if you're in a safe place to do so. Please don't do so if you're driving. But you're going to take yourself to the end of 2025. So this is about a year out from now. And I want you to start picturing where you are. What do you look like? What clothes are you wearing? What's your environment? What are you [00:03:00] hearing? What are you smelling? What are you feeling? What are the activities that you're doing? What are you involved in? And maybe who's around you? What does it feel like to have accomplished everything in 2025? How are you reflecting at the end of the year, looking back on 2025 and celebrating everything you've accomplished? All of the goals that you set, you have them in hand. What is that emotion? How would your body posture be? And so give yourself just a couple moments to reflect on what is that perception you have of yourself? What's the mind frame? What's the mindset? What's the attitude? And you can [00:04:00] take a little bit more time to do this later, but you can allow yourself to see see how just sinking into the moment in the present of that future self gives you an idea of the identity that you're looking to embody as you step into action. So seeing yourself in that future vision and acknowledging, identify that that's already you, that's already your potential and eventuality, knowing that that is going to happen. A thousand percent. And then as we work through our reflective process today, you're going to think backwards. What would actually have to happen in order to obtain that future self, that sense of feeling of being an identity? What would you have to have accomplished? How would you feel that successful? What would you be most proud of through the year in order to be in that place, to feel into that place, to step into that physical, emotional, embodied state of self and so [00:05:00] that's where we're gonna start from. feeling of embodiment and alignment with who that future self is after you've moved through the entire year of your success and reaching your goals? 

Joanna Newton: Now that you've taken some time to think through what that vision for yourself is, it's now time to translate that into I am statements and try to write down three.

Some examples are, I am thriving in my career and leading a supportive team. I'm taking care of my physical and mental health daily. I am surrounded by relationships that Bring me joy and growth, like think through those things that you want to see for yourself and write them down as I am statements.

Now, as an aside, for those of you who are new to visualization work, you might like roll your eyes and be like, this is silly. I'll tell you, I'm a person who is new to the concept of visualization, and manifestation and all of those things. And my past [00:06:00] self kind of would have rolled my eyes and thought some of this was silly.

But I have a client who works in this space and, and said to me one day, which I thought was so interesting. She said, everyone's already manifesting, manifesting things. you just don't know it. So if you're visualizing. stress or tough situations or things in your head, you're bringing that into your world.

And if you're saying negative statements about yourself into your head, I am not enough. I am not good enough to get that deal. I'm bad at this. I am bad at that. You're already doing this. So taking time To be intentional about how you do it, visualizing what you want to see, and making those I am statements is a way to combat maybe some of that negative mindset that is more naturally in your head. 

Michelle Pualani: I'm not a manifestation expert. It's something that I've been familiar with for a long time. I was introduced to sports [00:07:00] psychology and visualization as a science backed practice in my education for health and wellness and coaching. But I do know that there is power in our words and there is power in our beliefs and there's power in the way that we see ourselves because that dictates and determines the actions we take in the world. And so you have to kind of see that there's this natural progression of your subconscious and conscious mind, the way that you think, Say and reflect on things is the way that you're going to show up in the world and the way that you're showing up in the world is going to produce the outcome. And so when you think about it that way, it, you don't have to get into the physics and the quantum mechanics of it all.

When you do, there's some very interesting things about the laws of the universe and energy and how we imbue and embed energy into the world and how we do manifest from our subconscious and the way in which we envision and see. And there's power to that. And I highly encourage you to better understand what that means for you and how it [00:08:00] shows up in your life.

Cause it doesn't have to be so like, I'm a pretty tangible tactical strategic person, but I think, you know, blending the masculine with the feminine of. Manifestation and energetics and the universe with also daily strategy and business acumen and like understanding and growth and improving your skill set is an important way to grow.

It's an important way to evolve past plateaus and what Joanna's offering here with the I am statements is your ability to step into the present. A lot of times when we're envisioning into the future and setting goals, we're saying, you know, I want to accomplish someday, I will be someday, I am going to get someday, I'm going to have someday, and you're always projecting future, future, future.

Well, it's like you're keeping it outside of your current present moment and you could be wondering, why am I constantly working towards this goal and never, ever, ever reaching it? Well, probably because you're not bringing it into your present moment. reality. And so the I am statements brings it into the present reality and [00:09:00] recognizing and acknowledging that you have all of those things within you now, you can claim them now. And then the physical manifestation of what that looks like will come with time and letting go of when that timing is, is such a huge part of that process. So keeping that in mind. As we move through this intention setting. Now we've talked about how you need to take inventory and stock of your life. If you haven't yet, go back, listen to the last episode.

It's part one. It's all about reflecting on 2024 and how this year has impacted you. what we've given you is to be able to reflect on the areas of health, wealth, spirituality, your environment, your mental state and being, family, friends, work, in order to get a clear picture of where you are now, because you cannot set goals if you don't understand first where that is. So take the time, step back. Look at that reflection piece, take stock and inventory of your current [00:10:00] circumstances, and we're going to goal set from that place. So we are speaking in a way that you understand your current circumstances, you get your present and you understand where you are. And now we're going to figure out and formulate how we're going to get to where we want to go based on that future vision that you visualize for yourself. 

Joanna Newton: Now that you've assessed where you currently are, it's time to transition into actual goal setting from reflection to action. you can consider how next year will be different by asking yourself some of these questions.

Where will you set better boundaries? What will you let go of? How will you prioritize yourself and your energy? What negative thought patterns or habits are you ready to release? 

Michelle Pualani: one of the things that's incredibly important as a part of this process is you're not just going to set the same old goals as we head into next year, especially if you didn't reach them previously. You're not going to just use old habits and patterns to think forward into the future. You're [00:11:00] changing your way of thinking.

being, you're changing your thought process, you're changing your perspective and how you're approaching this, which means the questions that Joanna just asked you will allow you to navigate the setting of goals differently. You're not just going to say, I want to lose 10 pounds and I want to eat better and I'm going to make more money and you know, I'm going to, you rid of my toxic relationships.

That's just we've tried that before and it hasn't worked. So this is a process to help you figure out what are you going to adjust in your life in order to set different intentions and goals as we head into this new year so that you really feel. and effect change in your life. So we're going to just set three clear goals together and you can expand on this process on your own.

Again, there's no right or wrong way to do this, but we're giving you kind of a simple system in order to just launch off of. So I want you to set three clear goals and they're going to be in distinct categories. So you're going to have [00:12:00] one personal goal for the year and I want it to be as tangible as possible.

So we're not going to get into the smart goals. Google it if you need to S M a R T specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely under those parameters of what that looks like. So again, it's not just like, I want to lose 10 pounds, but what is the system and process that you're going to do in order to accomplish that? One personal, one professional, and one either spiritual or energetic or something that's going to affect you at like another level, because a lot of that personal growth is going to result in your professional growth. And the reason we're setting these simple goals and just one in each category to which you can break down further on your own time is that we're simplifying.

We're clarifying a lot of times. Sometimes we have a list of 10 or 20 things that we want to accomplish, but then we don't focus the energy. So this allows you to focus the energy in a way that [00:13:00] keeps you concentrated through the entire year. And then you can always go back to this one goal and say, Do the actions that I am performing align with that goal?

Yes? No? Okay. How do I adjust? How do I change? Or how do I stay on track? And this always allows you to kind of go back to that initial compass that points you in the right direction over and over and over again so that you don't stray, get distracted, and then end up at the end of the year having been like, I accomplished some things but not really my main goal because I wanted to do this thing and this other thing and this shiny thing over here.

Okay. So you're going to take those three goals and you're going to write them as I am statements. One personal, one professional, and one spiritual that's going to affirm their achievement. So what will it look like for you when you achieve that? So let's just say that your goal is to make seven figures this year. Now, I'd want you to break that down into a SMART goal that had more specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely parameters to [00:14:00] it, but you would put it into an I am statement. So I am the intrepid owner of Millennial Marketer, and we have achieved million in gross revenue December 2025 by 

By serving digital businesses and clients to help them create their courses. Something to that effect, which will give you an I am statement of how you're showing up in your daily life. That's going to help you accomplish that goal. So do that for personal professional and one either spiritual or energetic goal that you have for yourself. For the year.

Joanna Newton: Now that you have your goals, you have your IEM statements, you need to make a manageable plan to help you get there. Goals are great, but without a plan, without action items. Most likely they're not going to happen. Um, a really good example. I did this really recently for millennial. We have a shift we want to make in our business about [00:15:00] the, the variety of products that we sell, and options we have for our clients.

We said, this is where. We mean, Brandon and I, my business partner, we said, this is where we want to be. This is the offerings we want to have. This is where we want our money coming from. This is the goal now for us just saying, we're going to start that tomorrow. Would not be smart for us because we have money coming in.

We have bills to pay. We have employees to pay. We can't just shut off one thing and turn on another immediately. So we built an action plan for the year that literally says in January. We're focused on this. We're going to stop doing this in February. We're going to focus on this. We're going to stop doing this.

And each month we have a plan of how we're going to get from where we are today to our goal state of product offerings. And it's broken down pretty manageably. [00:16:00] It is set in a way that I think it's accomplishable. Now, if for some reason we only get 80 percent of those things done, that's okay because we are 80 percent closer to that end state that we want before then.

So, looking and setting manageable expectations is really important. I think this is something that people struggle with is Actually recognizing how much they can do in a time frame, and you can set yourself up for a disappointment. Maybe your goal is around follower growth and you want to get 10, 000 subscribers on YouTube And your goal is to get them all in the first month if you don't get them all in that first month You may be Unhappy with yourself, disappointed, and then stop and then never see that 10, 000 subscriber goal, which you can totally achieve with a smart plan.

So setting the stages, being manageable, if you've made your plan and you bit off more than you can chew and said, wait, I said I could do too much this month. [00:17:00] You can adjust as you go, but thinking through the plan, the action steps that you can have. Now you can use all kinds of tools to help with this.

journaling, digital planners, accountability partners. I've talked a lot about my favorite project management tool, monday. com. I would not. Survive without it. the only reason I can run my business the way I do with actually only two team meetings a week that are less than an hour each is because of monday.com.

So having really, really good tools can help set you set up for success for achieving your action plans. 

Michelle Pualani: Joanna is like the queen of getting things done. And at some point in my business career, I'll have someone like you by my side to just ensure that everything happens. It's my dream. So it's important to take that goal, to break it down, to do exactly that, turn it into actionable steps in which you're going to be able to on a daily basis, assess. Am I doing the things that I need to do in order to get me to my goal? [00:18:00] That doesn't mean that you're not going to have to reassess as you go. Like Joanna says, you know, you can't accomplish all of this at once. Nor can you just say like, Oh, this is exactly what I'll be doing in Q4. there will be things that push you to be flexible to change to evolve and that's okay But the idea is again to allow this process to be kind of your guiding North Star and that you can come back to and Reassess as you grow and as you move through this year So now that you've set your goals now that you have an actionable plan I want you to kind of pull out big picture and I want you to think through what you want this Theme to be for the year.

And we're going to choose one word. Again, we're simplifying. we don't need a 10, 20 word value system of what we're going to envision our lives to be this year. I want you to focus on one word, one word that is going to take you through the year. That again, identifies the vision that you saw for yourself at the end of 2025.

And it's always a great piece to remember. when you hear it out in the world, it'll set [00:19:00] off a little light bulb that you'll tune into. You'll pay attention. It'll be a little bit of an affirmation at that time. So something that's going to just serve as that guiding principle, that guiding light as you move through the year, as things change, as they grow, as they evolve, and again, coming back to that word and assessing, does this fit in? For example, in the past. I chose the word of ease. during the year, when I encountered things that felt just too forceful, or like I was hitting my head against the wall, or it would have been an opportunity to make sales and be successful or do these things. But then it also set up a lot of roadblocks and challenges.

And I was going to go through a lot of hoops. I'm not saying that work isn't necessary. I'm not saying to not take action on Things that may feel challenging, but the idea of ease was about creating a lifestyle for myself that offered more time, more flexibility, more freedom. And I went back to that word if I had a [00:20:00] decision that I needed to make, would this offer more ease in my life? No, then it's probably not the right fit for me. Yes. Okay. Let's explore it. And so I want you to choose a word that you can come back to, whether that's balance, growth, joy, freedom, purpose. That word is going to ground you in part of your decision making process and inspire you to either seize opportunities, say no when it's appropriate, Or again, determine and dictate how you evolve and change through the year.

But that always kind of pulls you back to what is that end goal? What is that visualization? What does that image and picture in the identity of who you're seeking to become? 

Joanna Newton: was control and the reason for it was multifaceted. Um, but one of the things was just me being able to recognize that I have control of my calendar, of my time, of the things that I allow into my life. And one thing that's been very. Good [00:21:00] for me is I've not been perfect at this, but that is not the point of a word or a theme of the year, but I've been reminded when I'm feeling that out of control feeling to be able to reset.

I'm in a state right now where my calendar is absolutely out of control. I need to do something differently and I'm going to figure it out and make some plans to do that. If control hadn't. And if it hadn't been something I was thinking about, I would probably have not recognized when things were getting out of control.

so for me, choosing a word that's like, okay, I know that this is a struggle for me. I let other things control me versus me control them. So, um, I made that my word and it actually is a really great reminder for me to when things got out of control to reset and come back to a new state.

I need to figure out something with my calendar, block more time off. I don't know. I need more control there. But over the years that has been a theme I've been able to focus on. Now, the next thing you [00:22:00] want to do is take. Your yearly goals, your theme, and think of it by quarter. This is a good way to focus your attention.

If you want to get from a point A to a point B for your goals, it might take time and it might take multiple steps along the way, or you may need to focus on one first, then another, then another, just depending on what you have going on. So setting quarterly themes. Quarterly goals and taking 90 days to, to focus on a specific goal or a specific piece of a goal is going to make a difference in your life.

Focus is really important and focus is the way you get stuff done. I think we have this myth that you should try to do everything at once, but if you do one thing, then another, then another, you're going to be more successful. as an example, you know, maybe your Q1 focus is building momentum. Then your Q2 [00:23:00] focus would be deepening relationships.

Q3, expanding on your horizons, and then Q4, celebrating wins, right? Pick those themes that are going to centralize what you are focused on, This is something as I'm talking to, that I talk to new business owners a lot every day. There's a lot of struggle and fear around a focus. So I'll talk to someone and they'll just be starting out.

They'll have no leads, no social presence. They're starting from ground zero. They want to build complicated website with multiple products, multiple funnels, multiple things. And I encourage them to focus on building an email list and that is it. And if they really want to be selling an offer right away and don't want to wait until they have an email list, build an email list while selling.

A low ticket offer, right? Just something small to get you started. Because when you, when you try to [00:24:00] expand into too many different audiences, too many different courses, too many different products, you're not giving any one of those things. It's like. Right attention so focus can feel scary because you're like if I don't do if I'm not doing all of the things I'm going to fail, but if you're doing too many things, you'll also fail So being able to focus here is really important.

Michelle Pualani: This has been the hardest lesson for me to learn in my business because I did that exact thing of creating 15 different lead magnets, doing all these different kinds of workshops, having my core program, but then also offering this coaching and doing this style of retreat. And I just. Spent so much time and energy creating from scratch, building new landing pages, like setting up new email automations and never focused on like the growth and building the audience and connecting with the community. I just kind of like hid in a lot of those tasks and activities. one of the things that my business mentor shares that has just to be [00:25:00] grilled into me. It's something that's had to be repeated to me over and over and over again before I really have felt like I've known it and embodied it now, is that is all about creating a system, having a great offer, getting in front of people and selling it. And you're just doing that over. and over and over and over and over again. And really, you should get to the point where you're bored in your business with the simple systems that's generating income. And then you can start to build on that and maybe offer a different service or build out your Ascension model and do things that you, you know, care about or keep you interested.

And then you can start to in, but your sales system should be boring because it should be repetitive and scalable and you should be able to do it over and over again without blinking an eye because it's set up in such a way that it's going to enable your scale and your success over time. So I know that myself as a visionary and as an entrepreneur and, and. who is [00:26:00] creative in that way. You want to keep doing new things. You want to keep doing different things, but this goal setting process and the way to kind of tune in on a quarterly basis with those 90 day sprints is to keep that focus and that focus and that structure will really set you free and offer you everything that you're searching for in the long run, if you keep that attention.

So as we start to wrap up, reflecting on. Um, everything that we've shared with you today, taking a moment to give yourself space for this. You know, we went through this episode a little quickly, but blocking out the time like you did for your reflections, giving yourself the space, the environment, maybe light some candles, set the table.

Get the mood with some music, pour yourself a nice drink, and actually enjoy this process of looking into the future and seeing what it holds for you. And then you being the creator of your own life, your own opportunities, how are you going to get there? What are those steps look like? And knowing that again, nothing is rigid, nothing is set in stone, but you can build and track that progress [00:27:00] through the year so that you can see that eventual vision of where you're going to be a year from now.

Do 

Joanna Newton: Remember as you go through this process that goal setting isn't about perfection. It's not about feeling guilt or shame for past mistakes or past loss.

It's just about making progress. You know, I know I'm sure you've all seen that meme on the internet. That's like progress, what people see, and it's, you know, a straight line graph going up with no, no problems. in reality, there's ups, there's downs, there's falling back, there's skyrocketing forward.

the path to achieving your goals isn't always a pretty picture. And you don't have to worry about perfection. You just have to think about what's that next great step for you. If you're moving towards that, you're going to be. in a better place than you were at the beginning of the year.

Michelle Pualani: So give yourself grace and take hold of this process knowing that it's setting you up for success as you head into a very exciting [00:28:00] 2025 ahead. So if you enjoyed this episode, please hit subscribe, share it with another business friend or someone who's looking for the inspiration to create. So there are opportunities in future as we head into the new year. Leave us a review if you enjoyed this episode and we'll see you in the next one.

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