Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt – Book Review
There are few books in my experience that are so generous in their work that you know that what you are getting probably took the authors years to figure out but you got in few hours of reading Your best year ever fit that category so well.
What is the book all about – Goal setting but in a much greater dimension.
Having your best year ever is about the goals you set , the goals you set have a direct impact of the type of life you have and the book teaches you how to set them but it more than just a goal setting book it is a life changing process and experience.
One of the first things you will learn when reading the book is the life is more than the work we do there is more to us than work these are our domains our life.
We need to be aware of the various domain and how interrelated they are and how they all matter.
Some of the domain mentioned in the book are;
- Spiritual- This is your connection to God
- Intellectual- This is your engagement with significant ideas
- Emotional – This is about your psychological health
- Physical- This is about your bodily health
- Marital -This is based on your spouse or significant other (if applicable)
- Parental -This is based on your children if you have any
- Social – These are your friends and associates
- Vocational -This is your profession
- Avocation -These are your hobbies and pastime
- Financial -This is about your personal or family finance
Every domain matters – each one affects the others.
So the first thing you learn is to make sure your goals cover some of this areas especially the areas where you have the lowest points in.
The book is then divided into 5 steps each with it own lesson and teaching.
Step 1 – Believe the possibilities
There was a phrase from the book and I paraphrase what if all your dreams could come to pass what would a year look like with all your dream having come to pass.
Personally for the first time I realized that more than anything what I believed was possible for me was holding me down more than anything else.
I learnt that in reality there were no impossible goals only ones you are yet to achieve yet.
What if your dreams were all possible?
Another major lesson learnt from this first step was the sources of this belief how it not just enough to know you have a limiting belief but also try and identify it source It could be experiences while growing up, social media ,negative relationships etc but knowing the source is important as it helps you identify how to stop it’s continued influence in your life.
Another key lesson was how to deal with the limiting belief by replacing them with liberating truth he gives steps on how to do this.
Step 2 – Complete the past
We can’t complete the past until we acknowledge what we already experienced An experience is not complete until it is remembered.
Simply put our past is affecting our lives and to understand it influence we need to complete it by understanding what happened.
There are so many benefits to looking to the past but a major one is it gives you agency to understand who you are better I believe knowing your past stories gives you the clarity to move forward with your life in a way that it no longer hold you bound anymore.
Completing the past when it relates to goal setting is important, we are taught a process used in the US military called “The After fact review” which outline five majors stages when reflecting on your past.
Stage 1 – Was to state what you wanted to happen
Stage 2 – Acknowledge actually happened
Stage 3- learn from the experience
Stage 4 – Adjust your behavior
We also learnt the value of regrets and gratitude- how regret are not always bad but show us opportunities we can take advantage of.
Step 3 – Design your future
Great result don’t just happen you don’t usually drift to a destination you would have chose.
Instead you have to be intentional force yourself to get clear on what you want and why it is important and then pursue a plan of action that accomplished your objectives
This section was meat of the book it was all about the goal setting process and I learnt that great goals check 7 boxes is – the SMARTER framework.
Specific – it must be concise, not vague you should know when you have achieved it an example of vague goals can be to write a book, a better goal is to say write a book on X topic by June 20XX.
Measurable – A simple explanation for this is that there is a criteria for success you can tell if you are making progress towards the goal.
Actionable – This talks about the things you are going to do, what are the actions you will be taking.
Risky – This is all about setting goals that are not comfortable or easy but stretch you to become a better person.
Time Keyed – There has to be a deadline or frequency to the goals you set – and they should not all be 31st of December spread it throughout the year.
Exciting – You have to passionate about your goals, this is about you wanting to achieve it and also enjoy doing so.
Relevant – This relates to the seasons of your life being aware of restrain and opportunities they might pose on your goals and also making sure there is alignment among your goal that none of them is contradicting.
Another lesson learnt here was the difference between Achievement goals and Habit goal – Habit goal were more of daily progression , having streaks and frequency attached to them , achievement on the other hand were more of one time milestones or point of success you want to get to you neither meet it or you don’t, the main thing was to know the right mix between the two types of goals and when to use them.
I also learnt on the different place a goal can be set which are comfort zone (usually too easy ), discomfort zone (this is the right place because they stretch you and it is risky) and lastly delusional zone (most times goal set here are impossible to being fulfilled) knowing the difference in our goal pursuit help us greatly in planning our next action step.
Step 4 – knowing your why
This step was all about mastering your motivation especially when we hit the messy middle of life when we are tired and want to give up.
I learnt that it not enough to set goals that meet the SMARTER framework I needed to know why I was setting those goals.
Our WHAT (the goals we set need ) need a WHY
Understanding why you want to achieve the goal is important because it keeps you motivated to continue when you do not have the will power to go on, reading out those reason will reconnect you to the goal once more in a more emotional level.
I also learnt how we can keep our motivation to achieve our goal by doing life with others and not in isolation this can look in forms of accountability group , close friends , coaching etc but overall when we have people close to us who encourage us and motivate us the tendency to achieve our goals become higher,
Step 5 – Making happen
A lesson learnt here is that setting the goal is just half the work done actually making it happen by the actions we take was another half of the equation.
How do we do this?
By doing easiest part first and identifying our next action step which should be in areas of comfort , how if we break down every goal there are step by step thing we can do to achieve it we shouldn’t wait for the whole stairway or know everything step before we act but how by taking one step per time was all that was needed.
Getting outside help – this could be in form of getting a coach reading a book getting mentors or group coaching but one main key point to realize is that whatever we want to achieve someone has done it before so we dont have to start from scratch.
Lastly was to commit to act – a quote in the book bring this more life
Scottish mountain climber W. H. Murray put it this way: “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creativity, there is one elementary truth . . . that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.
Another point in the book was creating action triggers that were in themselves not the goal but help you automatically follow through with the goal. An example could be setting your gym cloth the night ahead , going to a certain room your mind associate with a thing.
Lastly I learnt the value of review – the place of daily , weekly and quarterly goals and how keeping your goal in focus is probably one of the biggest factors missing in many goals setting process we set the goal once and we forget it and allow it to catch dust somewhere.
A constant review helps you know which goals you have achieved , which needs more work , which need to be reviewed or change , which need to be deleted because they are not serving you and which should be replaced.
Micheal Hyatt’s book – Your best year ever is a masterpiece that not only teaches you about goal setting but literally can be one key factors why you get to have your best year ever.
I am a living witness of it transformation in my life not only have I made a commitment to read the book every year but it has so far given me the tools I need to constantly make each year my best yet.
I hope you get the book – you can get it via Amazon below.
Please note it is an affiliate link the price on the amazon doesn’t change if you want to get it there directly I only get a bonus if you get it through link (Thanks in advance).