10 Ways To Set Goals You Can Achieve
Whether you always actively set goals or New Years' Resolutions or not, I’m pretty sure you have dreams and aspirations…am I right?
Setting goals is a way to turn those dreams into reality. They give us something to work towards, but most of us don’t actively work towards our goals so we stay a big stagnant and those dreams remain just dreams. But if we set goals to achieve our dreams or ambitions and we’re successful, then we can do anything we set our minds to if we want it bad enough.
I read recently that only about 8% of us actively set and work towards our goals. Most of us just give up on our goals or resolutions after a few weeks or months. So here are some ways that you can set goals that you can achieve at any time of the year.
Don’t Treat Your Goals Like Resolutions
Most of us are pretty used to breaking our resolutions. We start the year with New Year's resolutions, that we stick to at first, but then over time we usually give up on them. Part of the reason for this is that resolutions tend to be pretty vague. For example, we want to lose weight, get back in shape, stop smoking or make more money but none of that is very specific at all.
The other reason is that we make our resolutions on January 1st for the entire year which is a pretty long time. Early in January, we feel like we have lots and lots of time to get our act together, but then time starts to get away from us and our resolutions become increasingly unrealistic as the year passes by and we realize we haven’t made much progress at all. By the time October rolls around, our resolutions have often become a mission impossible and we give up…if we haven’t already. So don’t think of your goals as resolutions, and treat them seriously by making them really specific, with deadlines and a way to track your progress.
Make Your Goals Realistic
When setting goals, be sure to choose a goal that is attainable — within reasonable reach for you. Although the goals you set should stretch you out of your comfort zone and excite you, your goals should remain within reach. If a goal is near on impossible to achieve you will end up losing motivation and feel like giving up if you aren’t able to succeed or celebrate regular milestones along the way.
So set goals with success in mind that you can accomplish, and that make you the subject of each goal so that you are relying on no one except yourself. Only you should be in control of the outcome. Make them easy to break down into milestones so that you can create a pathway for success.
If your goals are big and cannot be rushed, don’t expect that if you rush them they will happen. Lives don’t change overnight, they need time and work, and lots of it. Also, be realistic about what’s possible for you within periods of time. For instance, it might be far more possible to clear your debts in a year than it is in six months based on your monthly income,
Make Your Goals Specific
Drafting specific goals is the first step in coming up with goals that you will stick to and achieve. Specificity is crucial as it relates to mapping out the goals you set for yourself. Overly generalized goals and resolutions will usually produce a lack of direction and ability to focus on what’s important.
Goals that are too vague will end up setting you up for failure. Lack of specificity will enable you to make excuses easily as there isn’t much to hold you accountable versus specific goals with deadlines and tasks to achieve. If you find it hard to get specific, try asking yourself some questions about your goal, what your intention is and what you are hoping for as an end result. Basic information gathering to get you started could be to answer the “5 W’s”; Who? What? When? Where? Why?
- Who will this goal involve?
- What exactly do I want to accomplish?
- When do I want to accomplish this goal?
- Where will you achieve this goal?
- Why is this goal important to me?
Set A Deadline For Each Goal
A Goal Is A Dream With A Deadline — Napoleon Hill
Without deadlines, you may make a little progress here and there, but it’s never anything urgent. As soon as you put a deadline on it, you suddenly create that urgency that makes you jump into action. You have to do something now. So for every goal you set, decide on a deadline as to when you want to reach it and be as realistic as possible.
If you don’t know how long it will take you to achieve something, just take your best guess and then adjust your deadlines as you go along. The key is just to give yourself a date that you can work back from. Then when you set tasks and steps to achieve the goal, it will be easier to assign deadlines to the first batch of tasks. Then once you’ve done that batch of tasks you can add deadlines to the next batch of tasks and so on. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish when you have a tight deadline and you give it your all.
Write Down Your Goals & Review Them Regularly
By writing down your goals and reviewing them regularly you will give yourself a greater chance of success. Writing your goals down will help you get a clear picture of your plan and what you want to accomplish. The mere act of writing your goals down also makes it more likely you will remember it. After writing out your goal/s place it somewhere that you can see it easily like on the fridge, on your phone, on a mirror, or at your desk. Seeing the words you wrote out will serve as a reminder and motivation to keep going.
Also, take the time to regularly review your goal/s and why you have set them. Thinking about the reasons why you set a particular goal will boost your motivation by reminding you why the goal matters to you, why you set it and what you expect to gain from it.
Set Mini-Goals You Can Hit Quickly
Big goals are good things to have, but it’s easy for motivation to slip after a few weeks so set lots of mini-goals to achieve the big goals. Make the mini-goals really easy and quick to hit as it will help you to keep going.
Mini goals will make you feel successful, boost your confidence and show you that you are making progress.
Break The Goals Down Into Tasks
No matter how big or small your goal is it will take several (or many) steps to reach it. So for every goal you set yourself, map out the tasks or steps it will take between now and the deadline set to achieve it. Make the step-by-step process or list of tasks easily achievable so that you can regularly cross things off.
For big goals, break the goal up into chunks and then work on each of those chunks by breaking them up into manageable tasks. It will make it easier to see the steps and tasks it will take to move in the right direction.
If your goals are so far away that you don’t know the exact steps you need to take, then just write out what you do know. You know your end goal, and where you are right now. Think about the first few things that you need to do. For instance, if your goal is a dream vacation, your first steps might be to open a savings account, create a monthly budget and set up your initial transfers into the savings account. Start there and then keep adding more as you figure out what you need to do next.
Track Your Progress
One of the reasons that it’s hard to stick to goals is that it takes time to see any big results. After a few weeks, it’s easy to lose steam and motivation, especially if you set big goals that will take time to achieve. It takes a lot to keep going so you will need a little motivation to stay on track.
So, figure out a way to regularly track your progress. It doesn’t matter if you use a pen and paper or your computer. The important thing is that you will be able to clearly see your progress in front of you in black and white.
For example, if your goal is to pay down debts that you have or to build a financial safety net, use an Excel Spreadsheet or pen and paper to keep a record of your numbers. Every time you pay the money off your debt or put money into your savings account write it down and keep a running total of how much you’ve managed so far and what’s remaining of your goal.
It doesn’t matter what your goal is, keeping track of how you’re doing and how far you’ve come already can be a big motivator to stick to the plan until you reach your goal.
