Did you know that only 9% of people stick with their resolutions all year long and a whopping 80% of New Year’s resolutions are forgotten by February? 🫣 (Source: Drive Research)

If you’re among the 80% who have already forgotten their resolution (no worries, it happens to the best of us), why not try a new approach this year?

Enter… Personal OKRs.

What are OKRs?

OKRs, short for Objectives and Key Results, are a powerful goal-setting framework that combines a clear goal (objective) with specific success metrics (key results) to determine a measurable outcome.

Simply put, objectives define the “what” – the desired outcome or direction – while key results define the “how” – the measurable outcomes that indicate the goal has been met.

Imagine you have a resolution to enhance your fitness routine this year. It’s a common and admirable goal. Translating that into the OKR framework might look like:

As you can see, this breakdown clearly articulates the goal – or objective – and also provides specific, measurable results – or key results – to track progress. So, how can you benefit from this framework?

Benefits of Personal OKRs

Big companies, like Google and Intel, have long relied on the power of OKRs to achieve lofty goals that shape industries and impact the world. The exciting news? You can harness the same framework for success in your personal life.

When you adopt personal OKRs, you’re not just setting goals, you’re turning your individual mission and purpose into action. OKRs help you set clear, aligned, measurable goals with exceptional focus and an uncommon degree of commitment. This, in turn, makes creating an action plan, tracking your progress, and ultimately succeeding much more likely.

How to Set Personal OKRs

Start with Why (and Who)

Before you start setting a bunch of goals, get clear on your “why” and your “who”:

• Why are you setting these goals in the first place?
• What type of person do you want to be?

Your “why” is your mission or purpose and it should be tied to something beyond yourself. Going back to our fitness example, your “why” might be that you want to age gracefully so that you can support your loved ones. By getting clear on your personal mission and connecting your mission to a higher purpose, not only will you choose the right goals, but you’ll also feel more inspired to achieve the objectives you set.

Taking this one step further (and taking a page out of James Clear’s book Atomic Habits), your “who” is the person you are or are becoming. In the example above, the “who” that you identify as would likely be a healthy, active person. Aligning your identity with your objectives makes sticking with them easier because it sparks internal pressure to maintain your self-image.

Connecting your goals to your “why” (mission or purpose) is powerful. Connecting your goals to your “why” and your “who” (identity) is unstoppable.

Determine Your What

Now that you have a clear sense of who you are and why these goals are important to you, start thinking about your “what”. What do you want to accomplish over the next 30-90 days? Consider the following to get your ideas flowing:

• What are the most important things I need to get done right now?
• What do I need to start doing or stop doing?
• What do I want to improve?

Next, brainstorm 3-5 possible objectives that align with your mission and identity.

Then, once you have your list of objectives, review and revise them to make sure they meet the following criteria:

• Inspiring: Is the objective inspiring and motivational?
• Aligned: Does the objective align with your mission and identity?
• Action-oriented: Does the objective indicate taking action?
• Clear: Is the objective easy to understand?
• Significant: Will achieving the objective make a significant impact on my mission?

For example, say you identify as a healthy, active, growth-minded person whose mission is to thrive in your journey through life so that you can support your loved ones, then your objectives might look like this:

Inspiring? Yes. Aligned? Yes. Action-oriented? Yes. Clear? Yes. Significant? Yes. Excellent, let’s move on!

Define Your How

Last, but not least, it’s time to define your “how”. How will you achieve your objectives? How will you know when you’re goal has been met? Look at your objectives one at a time and brainstorm 2-5 key results that will help you measure your outcomes. Consider the following:

• What does success look like for this objective?
• What metrics will prove that you’ve successfully accomplished the objective?

Then, once you have your list of key results, review and revise them to make sure they meet the following criteria:

• Results-focused: Do the key results state the overall outcome, rather than individual steps to get there?
• Specific and Time-bound: Is it clear what needs to happen and by when?
• Aggressive yet Realistic: Do the key results stretch you while also accounting for potential challenges or unexpected events that could arise?
• Measurable and Verifiable: Do the key results include specific, objective metrics?

For example, if we were to expand on the objective “learn a new skill”, then your key results might look like this:

Results-focused ✔️, specific and time-bound ✔️, aggressive yet realistic ✔️, and measurable and verifiable ✔️ – check, check, check, check!

Now you have the tools to start creating your personal OKRs. Before you start cracking on, let’s review a couple of best practices to ensure your success.

Personal OKR Tips

Be Flexible

Things will come up and priorities will change. Maybe you thought you were going to focus on a home project this quarter, but life happened and now there’s a big work project that you need to focus on. Or, maybe you’ve come to realize that a particular objective doesn’t align with you anymore. Remember that your OKRs are not set in stone. It’s perfectly fine to make adjustments. Consider your personal OKRs a working document.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean giving up when the going gets tough. There’s a difference between shifting priorities and giving up on a challenging goal that is still important to you. Be mindful of this.

Aim High

OKRs are meant to challenge and stretch you. According to John Doerr, the godfather (so to speak) of OKRs, if you’re easily reaching 100% of your OKRs every time, then you’re not stretching yourself enough. Remember, your key results should be aggressive yet realistic. If you fall a little short, that’s okay because you’re still making serious progress.

I would much prefer that a team set a goal to go to Mars and know if they fall short they’re still likely to achieve something extraordinary, like get to the moon.

Larry Page, Founder of Google

Moving Forward with Your Personal OKRs

To recap, in this post we covered what OKRs are, how OKRs can help you in your personal life, the steps to get started with personal OKRs, and some tips to keep in mind as your embark on your personal OKR journey.

Now it’s your turn! If you know me, you know I love a template, so I’ve made you one to help you get started setting and tracking your personal OKRs:

• Google Sheet template – advanced version, good for documenting and tracking your OKRs
• Notion template – advanced version, good for documenting and tracking your OKRs in Notion
• Google Doc template – simple version, good for documenting your OKRs

Once you’re in, follow the instructions to make a copy and save it for your personal use. I can’t wait to see what you achieve. Cheers to your future success!

What’s a personal goal you’re going to achieve this year? Share it below and let’s inspire each other on this journey! ✨

Resources

• Why the secret to success is setting the right goals | John Doerr | TED
• John Doerr on OKRs and Measuring What Matters
• Drive Research: New Year’s Resolutions Statistics and Trends
• What Matters: Google OKR Playbook