Goal Setting
Goal Setting:
6 Easy Steps to help you be Successful
Well, It's a new year and for me that means new goals and new expectations for the new year.
Are you a goal setter? I am. Somtimes those goals just float around in my head and I don't actually put them down on paper. Because, if they're not on paper and if I failed acheive them....then it didn't really count, right?
That's how I use to think. I'm working on getting better at setting those goals and actually sticking to them. These 6 steps have helped me and are here to help you be successful at setting those new goals.
Who doens't want to be successful when setting new goals, I mean we set them for a reason so let's get the job done! The way I see it, if we take the time to think about them and write them down, then they must mean something to us. If you really want it bad enought you'll find away to acheive them.
1. Set Clear and Specific Goals
Be clear about what your goal is. If your goal is pretty vauge, then your results will be pretty vague.
Set clear goals and get specific about what you want out of them. This is very helpful. It keeps your mind focused to acheiving that goal.
2. Make your Goal Measurable
What does this mean? Well, for you to know your making progress at acheiving your goal then it has to be measurable. It's its not measurable, how will you know you've acheived it?
I want to read more books this year. This goal doesn't really cut it. Let's say you read 2 books last year. With this new goal, would reading 3 books mean you acheived your goal? It's probabbly not really what you meant.
My goal is to read 8 books this year. I want to read 2 uplifing and inspiring books each quater of the year. This is a measurable goal. You know you have to read 2 books every 3 months. With this type of measureable goal, you will know exactly how to track your progress and when you acheive it.
3. Give your Goal a Deadline
Giving your goal a deadline creates focus and gives you a sense of urgency which is somthing we sometimes need to complete things.
In the goal above, we gave ourself a deadline by making it measurable. We know that every 3 months we need to read 2 books to meet the deadline. However, if you don't acheive the goal before the deadline, DO NOT beat yourself up over it. It just wastes time and energy. Instead, take that time and energy to review what happened so you can take a different action.
Also, when setting a deadline to your goal make sure it is realistic and acheivable. Your goals should push you but not to much that you will set yourself up to fail. Know your limits. Know what will push you but know what is also realistic and doable with your already busy schedule.
4. Plan Action Steps
Your action steps is what will ultimately be the the success to acheiving your goals.
To plan your action steps, start with your end result and your goal, then create small steps that will take you through. Its basically setting smaller goals within your goal.
Using our reading goal as an example:
Final goal: Read 8 books this year, 2 books every quarter. Action Step: I am going to set aside 15 minutes everyday to read. By reading at least 15 minutes everyday will lead me to reading 2 books every 3 months.
Setting small action steps (a goal within a goal) will ultimatly help you acheive your main goal.
5. Review your progress
It doen't take long to review your goals. It is just a super quick checkin to see how you are doing. You can check your goals daily or weekly, whatever you think works best for you.
I try to review my goals daily. I look through my planner and see what I had planned for the day. What did I acheive? What didn't I get done? I acknowledw what went well and what didn't.
For things that didn't go well, I ask myself what happened? What can I do differently? This is just to help you get clear on what didn't work well. Find positive solutions to the problem and move on. Use this review as a way to give yourself feedback. Celebrate what is working and change what needs changing.
6. Make your Most Important Task a Priority
We all have so much to do each day. Somedays my to-do list in a page long. The trick to completeing the list is to prioritize them by putting your most important task first.
For goal setting, whatever your goal may be put what's most important first. If you know you have a really busy day planned. Get your 15 minutes of reading done first. Then it's done and out of the way, even if the rest of your day doesn't go as planned you still accomplished the first thing on your list.
If your goals are important enough for you to set them, then I want you to acheive them! One thing that has helped me is to keep things simple. You can have really big goals and still keep them simple. I have to constantly remind myself this, I often find myself trying to over-complicate the little things. Keep it simple by doing the work one step at a time and you will start to see the resutls pile up! I wish you every success in setting and acheiving your goals!