Building Momentum: Setting Purpose-Driven Goals for 2025
As we approach the new year, both individuals and organizations often set fresh goals with the intention of growth, transformation, and greater impact. Yet, studies show that only about 8% of people successfully achieve their New Year's resolutions. In professional settings, the stakes are even higher—how do we ensure our goals align with our purpose, foster sustainable growth, and effectively serve our colleagues, teams, and clients?
Setting purpose-driven goals isn’t just about achievement; it’s about creating meaningful momentum. Performance Paradigm’s founders Reggie Butler and Kristan Bush share strategies that leaders, people managers, and individual contributors can adapt to shift mindsets and sustain lasting behavioral transformation.
Finish Strong to Start Strong
As the year comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on how we can finish strong and start even stronger. Whether leading a team or focusing on personal goals, this is your moment to combine grit and growth to achieve extraordinary outcomes. Reggie Butler shares, "Finish strong with grit and growth, not to end, but to begin stronger. Take the risk no one else sees."
For leaders, this means empowering your team to embrace challenges and push through with resilience. Your ability to inspire, guide, and encourage them to take calculated risks can set the tone for a strong finish and an even stronger start. For people managers, it’s an opportunity to foster a culture of accountability and support. Help your team see the bigger picture, align individual strengths with collective goals, and finish the year on a high note together. For individual contributors, this is your time to step boldly into opportunities, pursue the ideas you’ve held back on sharing, and show up with the passion and determination to make an impact.
Here are two quick tips to help you finish strong and start strong:
Set Clear Goals: Set Clear Goals: Identify what you want to achieve by year’s end and develop a plan to make it happen. Don’t set too many goals, though. Set just a few, and make sure they are the most important or foundational.
Embrace Growth Opportunities: Step out of your comfort zone and take that risk—it could be the breakthrough you’ve been waiting for. Talk to someone new, pitch a new idea, decide to change your routine - it can be anything that feels like a risk for you.
Start Small: Harnessing the Power of Tiny Changes
BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits is an essential read for anyone seeking to make meaningful change. Fogg’s research underscores that big transformations often start with small, incremental actions. Instead of focusing on ambitious, sweeping changes, we see more sustainable progress by adopting “tiny habits” that gradually reinforce desired behaviors. For example, if the goal is to foster better communication within a team, start by scheduling one 10-minute daily check-in rather than overhauling the entire communication framework at once.
By breaking goals down into manageable, bite-sized habits, we can create a natural flow that reinforces positive behaviors, making lasting change more achievable. This aligns with Kristan’s belief that "Sustainable progress is achieved through consistent, repeatable actions, not one-time efforts. By encouraging small, consistent actions, we help our clients help their teams build confidence, making larger changes possible but over an arc of time. It also gets everyone moving in the same direction.”
3 Tips and Strategies for Harnessing the Power of Tiny Changes:
Start with One Small Step: Instead of attempting a big change all at once, focus on a single, manageable action that aligns with your goal.
Reinforce Repeatable Habits: Break down goals into simple habits that can be practiced daily.
Build Confidence Through Incremental Wins: Small, consistent actions lead to big transformations. Celebrate minor victories to instill a sense of achievement, motivating individuals and teams to tackle more significant challenges. Incremental wins create a positive flywheel, making lasting change more achievable.
Build Confidence Through Incremental Wins: Small, consistent actions lead to big transformations. Celebrate minor victories to instill a sense of achievement, motivating individuals and teams to tackle more significant challenges. Incremental wins create a positive flywheel, making lasting change more achievable. Kristan recommends setting inch-stones instead of milestones within each goal and celebrating them with the team. “Acknowledgment is fuel,” she says. “When people feel seen and valued, it renews their energy and commitment.” For example, if a team’s goal is to increase client satisfaction, break it down into achievable steps, like gathering initial feedback, implementing changes, and tracking improvements. Each phase provides a moment to celebrate progress and renew motivation.
Transform Mindsets: Cultivating a Growth Mindset Culture
A key to achieving purpose-driven goals lies in transforming mindsets, particularly by fostering a culture of growth and resilience. According to research published by the Harvard Business Review, organizations that promote a growth mindset see increased innovation and engagement, with employees 47% more likely to say their colleagues are trustworthy, and 34% more likely to feel a strong sense of ownership over their work.
Reggie emphasizes the importance of cultivating mindsets that embrace growth, adaptability, and resilience. He suggests fostering an environment where learning, and iteration are not only accepted but celebrated. “Transformation is a continuous journey,” Reggie says. “Encourage your teams to embrace the lessons learned along the way, rather than viewing setbacks as failures. It has to be all about what you learned and not who to blame.”
3 ways to foster a growth mindset:
Normalize Failure as a Learning Tool: Frame setbacks as learning opportunities. Share stories of successful projects that began with challenges, showing that obstacles can become stepping stones to success.
Encourage Continuous Development: Provide ongoing learning opportunities, from workshops to mentorship programs, to empower employees to develop their skills. This reinforces the idea that growth is always within reach.
Celebrate Effort and Progress: Shift from celebrating only results to acknowledging hard work, creativity, and progress. This can reinforce a mindset that values persistence and effort, both critical for long-term success.
Implement Accountability Structures: Holding Each Other to Our Goals
To maintain momentum, it’s essential to create accountability structures. Teams that commit to regular check-ins are more likely to achieve their goals compared to those who don’t have a system for tracking progress. This involves setting up regular meetings, using goal-tracking tools, or assigning accountability partners within the team.
Encourage a system of mutual support where team members can encourage, coach, and even challenge each other in pursuit of their shared goals. Reggie and Kristan advocate a model of “an accountability partner,” in which leaders and team members alike hold each other accountable to their goals. This builds a culture of trust, where everyone is invested in each other's growth and success.
3 Tips for Building Accountability Structures:
Schedule Regular Check-Ins: Commit to consistent team meetings to track progress and maintain focus on shared goals.
Leverage Accountability Partners: Pair team members to provide mutual support, coaching, and constructive challenges.
Use Goal-Tracking Tools: Implement tools to visualize progress and ensure transparency in achieving objectives.
Building a Purpose-Driven 2025
As we move into 2025, setting purpose-driven goals is more than a strategy—it’s a philosophy that drives meaningful work, high engagement, and lasting impact. By combining small, actionable steps with a culture of accountability and celebration, teams can build momentum that sustains growth beyond the start of the year.
By adopting the principles of Tiny Habits and listening to expert insights from Reggie and Kristan, we can create cultures where goals aren’t just aspirations—they’re achievable, transformative, and sustainable.
Whether you’re an individual contributor, people manager, or a leader, as we close this year, take the time to reflect on how purpose can shape your goals. Aligning ambitions with values and committing to small, powerful actions will drive personal and organizational transformation, setting the stage for you to start strong in 2025.