How to (Actually) Write Your 2025 Goals with a Spiritual, Unconventional Twist!
I know I’m about 20 years late to the party, but Heartland has quickly become my new favorite show. It’s giving Gilmore Girls with less attachment issues. I love cozy, low-drama, everyone-goes-home-happy type shows and this is a great one if you’re into that same vibe.
On the episode I watched yesterday, Amy - the main character - goes to visit a Native American elder (Whitetail) who she hopes can give her some advice on a horse she can’t seem to connect with. At one point Amy and Whittail are walking near a river and Whitetail makes the comment about how the river flows and goes where it’s meant to - it does not force things or cling to the past, it just flows. He says it’s a lesson “us two-leggers” should learn.
Whitetail: So what’s your plan with Spartan?
Amy: Don’t have one.
Whitetail: Bet this river doesn’t have a plan either. Bet it doesn’t sit around wondering where it came from or where it’s going. It just kind of goes with the flow. Maybe a good thing for us two-leggeds to learn from the river, eh?
—Season 2, Episode 17 of Heartland
Now - obviously we’ve all heard river metaphors before. But still, I always love the reminder and his unique twist on it sunk into me a little deeper yesterday.
It’s the season of goal setting and dreaming and manifesting.
I’ve been doing a lot of this for myself as well as teaching a lot of workshops on this.
The thing is, I think we understand goal setting, and even intention setting, exactly backward.
Why SMART Goals and other conventional goal setting methods don’t work in 2025
Please immediately forget SMART goals - ick that acronym is so overused it makes my throat constrict.
These types of conventional goal setting won’t work in 2025. Here’s why:
We’ve evolved as a society. Our consciousness is higher now than it was in 1981 when George T. Doran originally introduced the idea of SMART goals. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-Related.
Now, I don’t hate this method or Mr. Doran. I think this can be a helpful exercise for assigning tasks inside of a corporation. I just don’t think it’s the best way to set personal goals for yourself at the New Year or any time, really.
Yet, a quick google search shows this method as the best way to set 2025 goals for yourself. I’m going to politely disagree and show you a new way.
Let me give you an example.
Example of Conventional (SMART) Goal Setting:
We’re going to use an imaginary client of mine, named Anna, for this example. Let’s say Anna is a solopreneur who wants to set some actionable goals for 2025. Using conventional goal setting methods she learned online, she came up with this:
In 2025 I will make $10,000 a month in my business by booking 6 new clients every single month. I will increase my ad spend so I attract more leads and thus convert more new clients.
Your college professor would be so proud of this answer. It’s cute, really. In fact, it gets an A+. This goal is specific. It explains exactly what she will achieve and how she will achieve it.
It’s measurable - Anna included lots of numbers to make sure she can easily measure her success/fail rate.
It’s assignable - she is a solopreneur who will do this herself, and this is evident in her goal description.
This is a realistic goal. We’re going to assume Anna has been making over $8000 per month and now she wants to increase to $10,000. That’s a realistic goal for her at this point as an entrepreneur.
And last but not least, it is time-related. She gave herself the specific measures of monthly goals as well as an annual plan using this goal.
I love this example and also, I want to discourage you from creating goals like this. More than likely, as a spiritual entrepreneur, this type of goal setting won’t work for you.
Why not?
Because we aren’t actually in control of anything.
The problem with conventional goal setting
Conventional goal setting subscribes to the “put your head down and hustle harder” approach to work. It assumes that hard work and lots of hours equal success.
However, science, math and logic will show us taht this isn’t true.
If this were true, the hardest working people would also be the wealthiest. Yet janitors, teachers and nurses struggle to pay their bills. Meanwhile billionaires are out playing golf and traveling everyday.
Intrigued? Check out these money mindset resources.
In the NPR podcast “How I Built This”, the host Guy Raz ends every interview with a single question: “How much of it was hard work and how much of it was pure luck?” He asks this after interviewing world-class entrepreneurs like the founder of Spanx, LuluLemon, Patagonia and more.
Each and every time the entrepreneur answers the question with their own version of saying “both.”
Hard work only goes so far, then there’s God.
Conventional goal setting leaves no room for anything external. Life, God, luck, spirit. It assumes we control our outcomes and when we wear ourselves thin, we succeed.
🧐Do you know anyone who works incredibly hard, yet remains incredibly poor?
Balancing divine feminine and divine masculine in goal setting
Ever set a goal, then not reach it, then feel crap about it?
My latest theory on this is something I explain in the Limitless Abundance Journal, called Privetic Karma. Basically it’s that what’s meant to be will be.
Frustrated you aren’t a six figure entrepreneur yet, despite all your best efforts?
I have a handful of friends who have been in all the masterminds, play all the cards right, know their target audience well and are masters in their fields - yet they aren’t making a lot of money nor booking a lot of clients. Why?
The Universe has a plan for you that is so much bigger than YOUR plan for you.
There is a purpose and a path for your soul AND we have freewill. That never ceases to amaze me.
We can call in the dream life we’ve always wanted and then still use our freewill to turn it down and walk the other way. How amazing is that?
It points to the fact that the true purpose of life is your soul’s expansion.
But wait. Let’s break down that term I just threw out: “Dream Life.”
What’s your definition of a dream life?
When you read that did you instantly imagine a Malibu mansion, palm trees and a shiny red sports car?
Me too.
That’s part of our problem.
When we sit down to do manifestation work or goal setting, we revert to material objects, money and what we THINK will make us happy.
This is exactly why I teach my Unconventional Goal Setting workshop in a backward order.
We first want to focus on what LIGHTS YOU UP. The things now that bring you joy and good vibes.
Then we look at how these things make you want to feel and what you want to feel more of.
Then we create an intention to focus on more of that, because where your attention goes, things flow. What we focus on expands, yeah?
We focus on what lights us up because that’s the secret. The ticket. The truth.
What brings you joy is your intuition leading you. It’s the breadcrumbs of the soul, leading you step by step where you are meant to go. Joy guides you where you are meant to flow.
In this headspace, goal setting becomes more about receiving than it does achieving.
It’s more feminine than masculine.
It’s receiving the vision in meditation.
It’s the inner knowing turning up the volume.
It’s opportunities arriving at your doorstep spontaneously.
It’s serendipity and serenity in a dance.
Because when you know, you know.
And baby girl let me tell you - your soul already knows the way.
It’s your mind that trips you up,
Which is why I full-heartedly recommend tools like yoga, journaling and intuitive art to get out of your head and into your body - where creativity and intuition reign supreme. Life makes more sense when you let go of what you think it should be and just dance with the rhythm being played for you.
✨This is how we balance goal setting and flowing with the river of life.
Example of how to write a goal for 2025 as a spiritual-minded human:
In the previous example the goal was to hit $10,000 months. Let’s assume we stopped and did some soul-searching and journaling and determined that the actual goal was to feel nourished. Perhaps Anna was relating $10,000 months with the feeling of nourishment. Yet when we were able to pinpoint this desire we were able to explain to Anna’s subconscious that nourishment and $10,000 are not the same thing and that in fact, she can receive nourishment now, before her bank account changes at all.
Here’s a better example of how Anna could write her goal for 2025:
In 2025 I aim to feel more nourished, fulfilled and expansive in my life and business. I will create more nourishment in my business by beginning my day with writing, rather than email-checking. I will end my day by filling my cup before I go home to my family. I’ll do this by going for a short walk around the block and focusing on all the accomplishments and progress I made that day.
What we focus on expands, and what we really want underneath all the goal setting is a FEELING. If you can identify the feeling you’re after, you can focus on it instantly. That’s free and takes very little effort, yet creates a major impact on your life.
Even just a few seconds of feeling this feeling in your body can change your life.
Professional athletes do this before games. They visualize their most successful selves in action because science proves that our brains don’t know the difference between a visualization and the real thing. Your brain and body react to a daydream the same as they would in real life. So literally taking 30 seconds to feel nourishment in your brain and body is going to signal the same dopamine and serotonin release as actually receiving nourishment in the form of achieving an external goal.
Dreaming in Full Authentic Color
It’s also important that we’re dreaming from a truly authentic place. Many times we may not realize it, but our goals we set are for other people more than they are for ourselves. We want to achieve X amount of success in order to prove to our mother that we are good enough.
Or we want to be in a committed partnership so we believe we’re worthy of love.
Or we want to manifest a new car so our friends will think we are more wealthy than we actually are.
Here’s the thing about dreaming and manifesting and living your best life. If it isn’t in 100% authentic alignment with the real true you underneath all of the masks and roles, then it won’t work. You may call it in, but it won’t bring you peace. You won’t be fulfilled. You’ll be on to the next thing on top of a very sketchy foundation. You're building a house on sand and that just won’t last.
What questions does this article bring up for you? Drop them below. 👇