Business Book Review: Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt

There’s setting personal goals like most do every New Year, and then there’s setting goals intentionally and like a savvy business leader.

My Rating: ★★★★

Length: 272 pages
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Released: 2022

Key Takeaways for Personal Branding

In his best-seller, Your Best Year Ever, Michael Hyatt shares the secrets to setting your next year up for success. The book is his invitation to make the next 12 months the most meaningful and significant you’ve experienced so far.

The publishing powerhouse CEO turned productivity expert proves he’s no stranger to selling a book. The title alone is enough to pull you into all the possibilities that the next year ahead could hold for you. It’s an invitation for hope. Hope through any suffering. Or hope for more of what’s already working for you. And sometimes knowing someone believes in your potential is all you need. And Hyatt is ready to be your biggest cheerleader.

10 Key Domains

Hyatt suggests setting goals within 10 key domains, aiming for 7–10 each year. The domains consist of:

• Spiritual

• Intellectual

• Emotional

• Physical

• Marital

• Parental

• Social

• Vocational

• Avocational

• Financial

The key is understanding which domains need the most attention in this season of your life.

SMARTER Goals

Reimagining the conventional formula, Hyatt recommends setting SMARTER goals:

Changing the traditional:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Action-orientated

• Realistic

• Time-bound

To:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Actionable

• Risky

• Time-keyed

• Exciting

• Relevant

Like the best of his counterparts, Hyatt encourages goals that push beyond your comfort zone, while not moving into what he calls the ‘delusional zone’. Goals that are not so distant that they create complacency. And most importantly, set goals that actually excite you and engage your heart.

Achievement Goals and Habit Goals

Hyatt recommends setting goals that contain a mix of:

•Achievement goals: Goals that have a clear scope or defined time frame

•Habit goals: Goals that involve regular ongoing activity

He reminds us that it’s a myth that goals are installed in 21 days and can take several months before they feel like a habit. And usually much longer for it to feel like second nature.

Favourite Quotes

Recognize that some of our greatest disappointments may lead us to our greatest possibilities for the new year.

What if your greatest frustrations from the previous year were pointing you to some of your biggest wins in the next.

Distant deadlines discourage action.

When a goal is relevant to our season of life, personal values, and other goals, we improve our odds of success.

As they say, the ability to explain complex ideas simply takes a genius. Hyatt’s formulas are clear and memorable. Your Best Year Ever uses storytelling and research selectively. Thoughtfully helping illustrate the highly pragmatic formulas without overburdening the clarity. It’s a guide to setting your intentions for, and believing the best is yet to come.

Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt: Available on Amazon.