Diving into Yearly Planning and Goal Setting With Human Design

I am so excited to dive into yearly planning and goal setting with human design. Earlier this week, I did an extended version of their training for people in my HD Wild and HD Your Biz Programs, and the feedback was amazing. Today, I’m going to walk you through a shorter version of how to do your yearly planning and goal-setting in alignment with your human design. Or as I like to say, destination planning by design.

The Challenge with Traditional Yearly Planning Vs With Human Design

This is the time of year when entrepreneurs sit down and map out their yearly plans and set their goals. They reflect back on what they have accomplished this year (often not as much as they expect), and they get really specific about what they want to do in the year to come. It can be really overwhelming for some of the types and profiles. It can also add a lot of unnecessary pressure that most of us do not need. This unnecessary pressure of plotting our every for the next year will often give us head trash along the way and leave us beating ourselves up (mentally) for the things we didn’t accomplish. “How come we aren’t here yet? So and so is there what is wrong with me?”

Then of course, we often overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in five years, and we are left feeling deflated. Perhaps you are feeling that now as you reflect back on this past year and what you have achieved. It is not uncommon. I’ve been there.

I want you to throw out everything you know about goal setting and yearly planning. I want you to take the pressure off and enjoy imagining what this next year could be, and I want you to do that in congruence and alignment with your human design.

Planning Your Year and Setting Your Goals with Your Human Design in Mind

If you’re a manifesting generator in human design, you might not want to write anything down. You might just want to sit and visualize.

If you are a generator, you might need somebody to ask you questions. Yes, no questions.

If you are a manifestor, you might want even more loosely to plan to save space for your urges. In your initiations.

If you are a projector, you might want to consider planning your year around your passions and desires – the places you have depth.

If you are a reflector, you might want to look at the moon cycles as a tool to plan out your year.

If you are a first line, you’re going to want to have all the details; you’re going to want to do the research.

If you are a second line, you might just be like, meh, I don’t know. I don’t need to destination plan.

If you’re a third line expect lots of bumps and bruises along the way – give yourself space for this – there may be some cleanup work.

If you’re a fourth line, I would absolutely recommend that one of the stop-off points on the route to your destination is related to your network.

If you are a fifth line, you might want to consider what are your values.

If you’re a sixth line, you might want to consider what does coming on and off the roof look like for you, particularly if you are in that second or third phase.

Now, the other piece to consider here is your variables.

If you have left-facing arrows, you’re going to want more details. You’re going to want more strategy; you’re going to want more planning. That’s okay. You can do that.

If you are right-facing arrows, you’re going to want more fluidity, okay? You’re going to want a little bit more wiggle room. You’re all about just wanting to end up in Bar Harbor versus I want to end up at this specific place at this specific place and time in Bar Harbor.

As we move through this exercise, I want to preface this with a caveat. This is my process; this is what I do, and it has served me well. You do not have to do every single one of these steps. I am a 3/5 projector with three right-facing variables. This works for me, and it gives me wiggle room and freedom. I like that. I need that. I also have gate 15 – the gate of extremes, I don’t like having every single step planned. I like to know here is where I want to end up, and I will, as things come up, figure out how to get to my destination along the way, but I know with great specificity where I will end up…roughly.

I encourage you to pick what resonates for you and leave the rest. I want you to consider not only your one-year destination but your five-year destination. The reason why I want you to do that is that I think when we think about the one year, we get really ambitious. We’re like, I’m going to do this and this and this and this and this and this, and we plan out all this stuff. Then life sets in, and the grand plan we had gets further and further away. I would rather have you commit to less and achieve it than not even get close to your destination.

If I think about goal setting and yearly planning vs. leveraging our human design, traditional goal setting says, “I want to go to 37 Driftwood Drive in Bar Harbor, Maine”. If we think about yearly planning and goal setting with human design, aka destination planning, we say, “ I just want to end up in Bar Harbor, Maine.” We don’t care where we end up there; we just know we want to go there

The Principles of Yearly Planning and Goal Setting With Human Design.

Principle 1 – The Domino Effect:

I love the concept of the domino effect, particularly with yearly planning, goal setting, and human design. The Domino Effect is from the book The One Thing, which I highly recommend. In this book, the author talks about “what is the one thing that if you were to accomplish it, it would move all other things forward.” I love this because it is so true, particularly for entrepreneurs in business. We tend to focus on all these little things and not the things that actually will support us in moving the needle forward.

In my own business, this is writing a book, which I was able to do this year. I know with great specificity that publishing a book will support me in moving all my other goals forward, like filing my HD Wild Program, my HD Your Biz Program, Business Design With Human Design, etc.

Writing the book creates a ripple or domino effect for all the other things I want to accomplish. Now keep in mind the Domino might not be something you can accomplish in a year. That is ok AND allow this to influence your destination planning because this will help you get to where you want to be in not only a year but in five years.

Principle 2 – The Ethos of Your Year

This is a BIG one when thinking about your goals and yearly planning with human design. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs think I’m going to build this and expand upon, optimize and cultivate a 7 figure business in a year. Perhaps, some people can do that, but for most of us, it is a process of going from where we are to where we want to be.

Understanding the ethos of your year can help influence the pitstops and milestones along the way and keep you from getting distracted and in the not-self.

Now, I want to note that the ethos of your year may only be part of the year, or it could be for more than one year. I spent two years and a half years in an experiment year before I moved into the foundation building. Just understand that and give yourself some grace in the process.

There are 5 Ethos…

The Experiment Year: I am in an experiment year. I know my current business model (or JOB) is no longer serving me. I am frequently contemplating burning it down (or perhaps I already have.) This year I am committed to giving myself space to follow my passion and move out of this place of burnout, overwhelm, and being overworked. I am saying yes to new passions and activities, and I am allowing myself to follow the nudge inside of me. I am trying new things that don’t necessarily “make sense” and am throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks so that I can move into building this next chapter in my business.

I am using this year to give myself creative freedom. My destination for this year is to gain clarity by taking the pressure off, and creating space for my creativity, my passion, and my desire to return and come alive again. I am giving myself permission to follow my inner urge in order to gain clarity. My goals are centered around finding my way back to me so that I can confidently move into the next chapter of my life and business.

The realities of an Experiment Year:

Want to burn your current business to the ground
Often when you feel like you are living in two worlds but aren’t necessarily clear on what’s next
Your business is running you
You aren’t entirely sure what is next, but you know for certain you can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing
The beginning of a transition season…
You are doing one on one work or work that no longer feel aligned
You have a half-baked idea for what may come next but aren’t entirely sure.

The Goal – Get really clear on what it is that you want to do so that you can gain clarity on your next steps

The Challenge – How can I make space for myself while keeping my existing business going and say yes to experimenting and exploring new things to see what is next? How can I move methodically in this process so I don’t end up in the same place again?

The Experience Year: I am in an experience year. I know where what industry I would like to plant my flag in, I have some experience but I am not quite ready to make a one to many offer or a proprietary process. I am gaining the knowledge and experience to cultivate mastery. This year I am committed to doing the work with clients often in a one to one fashion to gain the necessary experience to codify a process and create consistent outcomes for a plethora of client situations and dynamics.

I am using this year to gain experience, reps, and spot patterns that come up with clients to codify my own process so that I can ultimately cultivate a one to many offer to leverage my time.. My destination for this year is to do my repetitions with clients. I am giving myself permission to lean in and do that work while starting to get consistent with my marketing so that when I do have a codified process I have an audience to launch to. My goals are centered around working with clients, spotting patterns and starting the process of codifying my unique approach.

The Realities of a Experience Year:

You’ve experimented and now its time to do the reps
You are clear on what you want to do AND aren’t ready to move into a one to manyoffer for one of two reasons
- Experience to get outcomes for clients to better synthesize a one to many offer
- Audience Size
In order to codify a program you need to be able to get consistent outcomes for multiple clients – this comes through time, repetition and pattern recognition as well as naming
You work this year is primarily one to one, VIP Days, & potentially a workshop or two
You don’t have the audience you need in to order to make a group or course offer

The Goal – Get more experience so that I can codify a process that I can then turn into a one to many offer to grow and scale the business

The Challenge – How can I make sure I am not only gaining the experience but also making time for marketing my business?

The Foundation Building Year: I am in a Foundation Building Year. This year I am (re)building the foundation and core of my business. I have gotten great clarity through my experiments in the previous year about the work I am here to do. I am ready to bring my synthesis to the world. I am committed to working on the business by creating assets – IP, Funnels, &the elements of a regenerative business ecosystem. I must balance my time between creation, delivery, and planting my flag in this new iteration of my business while honoring the fact that I am in a straddle season – one foot in the old and one foot in the new

I am using this year to do the work that my future self will thank me for. My destination is to (re) build the fundamentals in my business so that I can expand in the future. I am making a sacrifice by investing my time in this new iteration for my future. My why drives me to stay committed even when it is challenging. I carve out time by saying no, and I put my blinders on to focus on this next chapter of my life & business.

The realities of a Foundation Building Year:

You have clarity on what you want to do
You have or are about to run a Beta
Come to terms with being at ground zero
Starting fresh or relatively fresh
Must create/find time to work ON the business
Elements of Transition Season/Straddling two worlds
Must block time to create, build, synthesize
Requires a great deal of dedication
Balancing creation with marketing

The Goal – Create assets in your business so that you have the capacity to expand and make a bigger impact in the world in a leveraged manner.

The Challenge – My work during this year is never truly done. How can I make sure I am not burning myself out and still make progress toward building assets in my business? How can I make sure I stay committed to my vision and don’t let glittery object syndrome, should’s or FOMO get the best of me?

The Expansion Year: I am in an Expansion year. This is the year where I truly plant my flag of expertise and emerge as a visionary & leader in my industry. I am here to get visible and to give people an experience of what it is like to work with me. I say yes to aligned marketing opportunities that put me in front of audiences. I show up consistently, for me, in my marketing and fearlessly share value-driven content with my audience. I leverage the assets that I have already built and tweak, hone, and optimize them along the way based on the knowledge and experience I acquired in previous years.

I am using this year to expand my impact, leverage the assets I have built, and create a ripple effect in my industry. I am saying yes to getting visible. My destination for this year is to impact more lives and spark more transformation with my magic. I am here to be seen, to deliver, and to get visible. My days are filled with podcast interviews and time to create, record, teach, guide, coach, and spread my magic with my clients.

The realities of an Expansion Year:

It’s time to get visible
I’ve planted my flag and am THE expert at ___________.
My signature offer is in place, along with some ancillary offerings.
Working on the business this year looks like – leveraging, optimizing, honing, editing, systematizing, and nurturing what you have already created
Saying yes to any and all opportunities that are in congruence with your strategy and authority to allow yourself to be seen.
What can I delegate to give me more time to expand?
Must reckon with the fear of getting visible and expanding
Can I add an additional layer of macro content to support my expansion?

The Goal – How can I give more people an experience of me by allowing myself to be seen both in my own marketing and in front of other people’s audiences?

The Challenge – My fear of success and being seen is something I must tend to this year. How can I ensure I am allowing others to see me, have an experience with me, and witness my magic?

The Sustainable Year: I am in a Sustainable year. This is the year where I sustain what I have in terms of impact, income, and lifestyle. I lean into my genius and only do work I love. I have learned to lead and delegate to my team. I am completely committed to only doing work that I love. I am basking in the glow of the fruits of my labor from previous years while still making the impact I want in life. I love the lifestyle I have created and nourished and can finally say I am only showing up in my brilliance

I am using this year to sustain the impact that I have and leverage what I have already created. My destination for this year is to continue to hone my assets, lead my team, serve my people and contemplate what’s next for me. This year is not about growth. It is about sustaining and maintaining what I’ve already got. It is about living life to the fullest, knowing I’ve created a sustainable business that runs without me being on 24/7, 365.

The realities of a Sustainable Year:

My Business is optimized, and I am at a point where I am making both the money, the impact and the lifestyle that I desire.
I am showing up in my genius and have a team supporting me with the rest
What else can I delegate? Optimize? Systematize?
All about doing ONLY what you love and offloading – likes
Leading the team, showing up in your strengths/congruence
Leveraging what you have
Maintaining current impact and income goals.

The Goal – Enjoying the fruits of your labor, further tweaking what you have and riding the life cycle of your IP. Potentially considering what might I create next?

The Challenge – The fear of losing market share. Am I still relevant? Am I still a leader? The pressure of the should’s to create something new. What else in my business can I tweak, hone, and optimize based on the knowledge I have now? Is my IP nearing the end of its life cycle? What else can I delegate to give me more time to expand? What comes next for me?

Principle 3 – The Impact Goal

I tend to avoid making monetary goals and instead, I like to make impact goals or milestones. I prefer this because it ties me to the people I support. For example, 100 people in my HD Your Biz program is an example of an impact goal. I then reverse engineer the monetary piece of this to see where I will end up. But I always prioritize the impact, the people.

Once I understand my impact goal, I then set three milestones along the way. For example, if my impact goal were 10,000 books, the milestones along the way would be

Marketing Consistency
Book Funnel
30 Podcast Interviews.

Then I would take those milestones and break them down again.

What does marketing consistency actually mean?

Weekly podcasting
4 Weekly Social Posts
Launch youtube channel

The same goes for the book funnel and podcast interviews. This may be too much for you, I am a cross of planning person, and I have channel 17-62, which is all about big-picture thinking and details. This works well for me. Reminder, take what works for you and leave the rest. If you work with me, this is often what I help clients with, breaking things down into simple steps they can actually work through.

Caveat, caveat, caveat with Yearly Planning and Goal Setting with Human Design

I want to just mention a few things to keep in mind here….

First off, if you set too big of a goal, you will get demoralized and end up in the not-self. Set stretch goals but not too big of a stretch goal.

Embrace the possibilities and throw out what you should and ought to; this is what is expected of me and what is normal in my industry. Give yourself permission to dream, imagine and believe.

Claim what you want your life to look like. You might be surprised by the magic that happens along the way.

Be specific, tangible, and measurable to ensure you are making progress. For example, I want to get in shape vs. I want to be at x weight and x body fat percentage. The specificity helps you ensure you are progressing on your journey, and without it, you may get FOMO, glittery object syndrome or off track in the not-self somewhere.

Less is more. I would always prefer my clients to come to me mid-way through the year and say I accomplished all my goals and I’m at my destination. Less is more. Give yourself wiggle room to say I want to stop here. This freedom doesn’t mean you won’t get to your destination. It just means you have the space to stop off somewhere if it resonates with you. Think about when you are on a road trip, and you see something interesting off the highway…you stop. Do the same in your goal setting and yearly planning with human design.

Consider what comes first and prioritize that. If you are on a road trip from Florida to Maine and you know you want to stop off in Boston, you don’t say I’m going to go ALL the way to Boston, which is like 36 hours into the 40-hour drive, and then drive back 25 hours to stop in North Carolina. You stop in North Carolina First. In business, this means if I want to sell my book, I first have to write, then create a way for people to buy it, etc. etc. What is the proper order? What needs to come first?

What’s the Destination. I will figure out which hotel when I get to North Carolina. And I think that’s really important what we think about yearly planning because that wiggle room, you don’t know what’s going to have come up in the year once you get there. The other thing that I always encourage people to think about is what is the lowest common denominator to move forward. I think we overly complicate things. I think we say, oh, I gotta have this fancy sales page in this funnel and all these automation and this project plan and yada yada yada. And it’s like, could you just have a Google sheet to sell it in the first time? Could you try that? Could you use a Canva duck, right? Those beautiful new Canva ducks. And then I always ask myself the question, can I break it down again? Can I make it more simpler?

When we consider our business goals, we also have to consider our personal goals and destination as well. Don’t forget to prioritize yourself. None of this works if you are burnt out.

Habits Vs. Goals – Understand the difference between a habit and a goal. Habits often support us on the journey to achieving a goal and getting to our destination but they are often listed as goals. For example, Work out three times a week or post on social media three times a week. If you have a weight loss goal – the habit of exercising is going to get you there. If you have an email subscribers goal, the social media habit is what will support you in getting to that goal. Understand the differences and pull out the habits and treat them sperate from the goal.

Consistency – What is consistency for you? Get to know this. If you are a projector, consistency may look way different than if you are a Generator. Consistency for a 1/3 may look wildly different than a 4/6. Know this. When considering habits figure out what is consistent FOR YOU. Stop comparing your consistency to someone else’s.

Remember, not all tasks are created equal, and keeping this in mind when you consider your domino effect becomes a tool you can run your tasks through. Is this moving me closer to my domino effect? Or is this pushing me further away? Be mindful of this.

Lastly, keep in mind that you have the ethos of your year, regardless of what the ethos of your year is…you will have front-facing stuff you need to do like marketing, emailing your list, etc, and behind-the-scenes stuff, delivery, customer support, creation, etc. We often swing to just doing one of these for example; I had a client a few years back who was so focused on creating the stuff for her launch she didn’t nurture her audience leading up to the launch because she was focused on the behind-the-scenes stuff. I kept encouraging her. You’ve got to warm up the audience for this launch. She didn’t, and her launch was a bust. We have to balance our time in certain seasons, particularly when we are pulling people into our business ecosystem, and we want them to convert to clients.

Wrapping Up Yearly Planning and Goal Setting with Human Design

I hope this serves you well when considering your yearly planning and goal-setting with human design. If you have questions about your specific design, feel free to ask below. I will do my best to respond to each of them. Remember, this is my process, pick and choose what works for you based on your strategy and authority and leave the rest. Give yourself grace and wiggle room to embrace the possibilities of your year and enjoy a pit stop or two along the way.

Work with me, your human design and your business in 2024:

If you want to change your life in 2024 and get back to the nature of who you are, I invite you to come into my world:

HD Your Biz – Sales, Marketing & Ascension – If you want to build a business at the intersection of your design, desires and lifestyle this is the program for you.

HD Wild – Human Design Certification Program – If you want to dig deeper into human design, I invite you to join the HD Wild Program, where I teach human design, support you in living your human design experiment and integrate it into your business. You can learn more about HD Wild Human Design Certification program by delving into 15 facts about the program here.

If you want to dig deeper into human design and business, check out these other articles.

Should’ing Yourself in Business

How to Use Human Design in Your Business

Human Design & Productivity

Human Design Marketing & the Voices of the Throat

Dive Deeper into the Centers

Ajna Center Human Design

Head Center Human Design

Root Center Human Design