How to Set Goals for Q2, UN Fellowship & More

Hey there,

It’s that time of the year. The ambitious goals we all set for the year are slowly starting to fade away. The old bad habits are slowly start to creep in and I feel like I am in a vicious cycle. Maybe I was too ambitious when I said “New Year, New Me”.

I get how you feel. These were the exact thoughts I had when I was reflecting yesterday. Like bruh - how is it April already? Where did Q1 even go? It felt like yesterday when I was celebrating new years lol.

This week, I do a deep dive on the simple process I used to set goals for the upcoming quarter. Hope you find it of value..

p.s: I was told a lot of our emails are ending up in spam. Do you mind checking your spam inbox as well as replying “Hi, Ziyaan” to ensure you get all my emails.

What to Expect This Week:

• Deep Dive: 2-part goal setting process

• Opportunities: 776 Fellowship, Children’s Peace Prize, etc

read time: 8 mins

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How to set goals in 2 simple steps

Tbh, I never used to set goals for myself before. The few times that I did, I would only do it because it was a requirement for school or work.

The idea of setting goals always felt overwhelming.

All these frameworks that these gurus would share wouldn’t apply to me as a young person.

And then at the start of this year, I developed a simple two part process that I found very useful.

Part 1: Reflection (~1 hour)

Before planning for the next quarter, it’s important to evaluate where you are at this current moment.

1) Write down all your life Buckets (4-6)

Example: I have Health, Relationships, Work and School.

2) For each bucket, write down 3-5 Wins and Losses you’ve had in the last quarter. You can use the following prompts to help you:

Wins:

• What are the things you’re most proud of?

• How did you make progress within this bucket?

• What new skills have you refined or developed?

Losses

• Think of a time that was most difficult for you in this period

• What are some challenges you had to overcome?

• What actions that were in your control led to the above?

Example: Health

W’s

• Went to the gym 3 times/week for first 6 weeks

• Left home 5 times/ week

• Got 7.5 hours of average sleep throughout quarter

L’s

• Inconsistent workout routine in March

• Didn’t follow night routine throughout

• Ordered out 3 times/week average

3) Give yourself a score out of 10 for each bucket

Example:

• Health (6/10)

• Relationships (9/10)

• Work (9/10)

• School (7/10)

Part 2: Planning (~1 hour)

Now that you know where you’re currently at, the next step is to plan for next quarter…

1) Set a score out of 10 that you would like to achieve for each bucket

Example:

• Health: 6 → 7

• Relationships: 9 → 9

• Work: 9 → 9

• School: 7 → 8

2) Set 1 “Outcome Goal” for each bucket

I feel like before I would set so many outcome goals only to set up myself for failure. Instead, think about what that 1 goal for each bucket that you can focus one is. Make sure it is in the SMART format.

Example:

Work: Make 30,000 dollars in the next 3 months

3) Set 1-3 “Process Goals” for each Outcome

I feel like this is an important part I always used to miss before. I would set all these ambitious outcome goals but never set goals on how to actually achieve them.

Process goals are the daily and/or weekly activities you need to do to eventually achieve the outcome.

For example: in order for me to reach 30k in revenue, I will need to do the following:

• 300 outbound emails per week to sponsors

• 1 newsletter sent every week

• 5 Linkedin and 3 Insta posts/ week

If I do all of the above consistently over the next quarter, I am confident I will hit my outcome goal.

Think about what those process goals are for you?

And there you go, you’re ready to take on Q2.

I will note that there are no rules on how to do this and what what works for me won’t necessarily work for you.

Try to customise the above approach based on what stage you are at in your life.

And definitely schedule out time this week to do the above.

Once you’re done with this, you can then set up your priorities and calendar to ensure you’re in the right direction. Check out how I manage my time here

Opportunities This Week

In addition to these, here’s the living document of 35+ Youth Leadership Opportunities.

My friend, yesterday when I was reflecting about the quarter and some of the accomplishments we’ve had, I was filled with gratitude. I still can’t believe how I went from not knowing what I am doing to growing this community and being in a position to pay myself in such a short amount of time. This wouldn’t be possible without you and all your support as part of this journey. I know this is just the start and I am excited to go on this journey with you.

I would love to hear from you. Any thoughts, feedback or even telling what you’re currently working on. The biggest validation I have is when I get replies from the community and I make sure I reply to every single email.

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

And have an amazing rest of your week,

With love,

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One of the goals of Leaders of Today is to ensure we democratise access to opportunities. But in order for us to do this, we all have to come together ⭕️ Keeping this in mind, I would love for you to forward this with your network. Whether it’s your friends, classmates or colleagues. And to reward you, I will take out 15 mins of my time to have a 1-1 meeting with you for every 5 people that you refer.