To help navigate this, we invited Carey Davis-Munro, founder of Eat Nourish Flourish, a coach and expert with over 25 years’ experience in organisational wellbeing, to share her insights on setting goals that truly stick. Her approach goes beyond typical resolutions — it’s about understanding yourself, aligning your actions with your values, and creating a sustainable framework for growth.
Start with a mindset for success
Focus on what you can control
Carey introduces a simple, yet powerful framework called the Circle of Control, a straightforward tool that divides our focus into three circles: concern, influence, and control.
- Circle of Concern: These are things outside our influence — news events, other people’s decisions, global trends. While it’s easy to spend time worrying about them, they are ultimately beyond our control, and engagement here often drains energy without producing results.
- Circle of Influence: This includes the people and situations we can impact. Others may affect our behaviour, but we can also consciously exert positive influence over them. By focusing on goals and proactive actions, we can gradually expand this circle, increasing our ability to shape the world around us.
- Circle of Control: At the heart lies the circle of control — everything we have complete power over, from our mindset and attitude to our daily actions and reactions. This is where our real agency lies. How we respond to challenges, the habits we build, and the behaviours we choose all determine the direction of our life.
In summary, success doesn’t depend on what others do. It comes from focusing on your journey, taking control of what you can, and growing your influence through intentional action.
Use visual tools to map your life
Carey suggests practical tools like the Wheel of Life, which breaks down your life into key areas — career, health, relationships, personal growth, and more. Scoring each area helps you see where you’re thriving and where attention is needed. From there, you can set targeted goals that are realistic and meaningful, rather than vague aspirations that are easy to abandon.
Build habits that support your goals
Journaling is another key tool, allowing you to track progress, reflect on challenges, and maintain self-awareness. This helps turn insights into action and ensures that even setbacks contribute to growth.
Stay connected and protect your wellbeing
Set goals that truly align with your life
By focusing on what you can control, building habits around your values, and intentionally expanding your influence, you can create a roadmap for setting goals that stick, and for creating a life that feels balanced, purposeful, and rewarding.