“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
—Zig Ziglar
Do you feel that you lack discipline and grit? It’s more likely you’re suffering from a lack of motivation.
When you don’t have a vision for the future that excites and motivates you—a compelling outcome—it’s very challenging to keep putting in the time and effort necessary to accomplish a big goal. Without a compelling future, each step forward can feel like torture.
You can create a highway to your dreams by having a clear and compelling outcome in mind. Whenever your motivation is lagging, you can return to that picture and remember what you’re working towards.
Sit down and make a list of all of your goals. It’s important to have a compelling outcome for each goal. Make your outcome as appealing as possible while still being realistic. Focus on what you will feel and experience when you accomplish that goal.
For example, pretend that you have a goal of losing 25 pounds. What will you experience when you complete that goal? You might imagine looking at yourself in the mirror and admiring your new body.
You might also imagine wearing a smaller size, fitting into clothes you used to wear before you gained weight, and receiving compliments from others. You could also imagine feeling pride that you were able to accomplish this goal.
A compelling outcome should include all of your senses
What will you see, hear, feel, smell, and think when you accomplish your goal? What is the air temperature in your surroundings? Who will be there? Fill in every possible detail and it will be more realistic to your brain. Make it a complete experience.
Your compelling outcome will improve over time. You’re unlikely to get it perfect after the first attempt. Keep adding details and changing things around until you find the perfect version.
Revisit your compelling outcome at least once each day
Be sure to spend a few minutes visualizing this compelling outcome each day. Even better would be two or more times each day. Keep it fresh in your mind.
When you’re feeling stuck, relax, and think about your compelling outcome
Your compelling outcome is a tool to be used whenever necessary. If you’re having a hard time motivating yourself to do something, use your compelling future to provide a boost of motivation.
When faced with decisions in your life, remember your compelling outcomes
It’s much easier to make choices when you remember what you’re trying to accomplish. Imagine that you’re a writer with a goal of writing the world’s greatest novel, and you’re not sure if you should buy House A or House B.
It’s as simple as asking yourself which living situation will make it more likely for you to reach your compelling outcome.
The right decision becomes much clearer when you have a compelling outcome to serve as a guide. When you aren’t clear on what you’re trying to accomplish, how can you make an effective decision?
“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.”
—Earl Nightingale
Compelling outcomes are like a guiding star and a source of motivation that are always available. Our minds work in pictures, so have a clear and exciting vision for your future.
Creating a vision of a compelling outcome also forces you to clearly define what you desire for your life. Many people are foggy about their desired outcome.
Without a compelling vision for your future, you’re standing still. Define what you want for your life. Ensure that it’s motivating and use it to your advantage each day. What do you want your future to look like?
Success is about enjoying what you have and where you are, while pursuing achievable goals. —Bo Bennett
Have you considered setting concrete goals for your health, life, or business? You’ve probably thought about it at the very least.
People who regularly set goals for themselves create a framework or a plan for their lives. If it’s just something small, having a goal to work towards puts you on a path to achieving something you want.
Everybody feels good about getting what they want, right?
Just thinking about your goals isn’t enough. It’s better to write them down so you have something physical that represents your intentions.
Some people live by this process and may even go a bit overboard sometimes, while others have never considered actually writing down their objectives.
It’s best to find a happy medium between these two ends of the spectrum. By determining short, intermediate, and long-term targets for your life, you are actually laying out your intentions.
Setting goals is a powerful step toward your intentions, rather that’s for self-improvement or to grow your business. If you’re not quite convinced yet, here are a few reasons why setting goals is better than not.
If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.
Les Brown
Maximize focus
If you’ve ever had one of those days that just flies by without seeming to have accomplished much of anything (like me over the past couple days, yikes!), you have an idea of what a life without goals can be like. Drifting through life without a plan will likely lead you to wondering why you didn’t manage to accomplish more.
Fortunately, by setting aside some time to make a plan for what you want to achieve now, next week, next month, and even over the next several years, you can regain your focus and begin to account for more of your time expenditures. Having a target on which to focus will improve your likelihood of success.
Achieve better results
It’s true that goal setting isn’t 100% necessary for attaining achievements. You could have lots of successes without creating any short and long-term goals and objectives.
What’s important to realize about goal-setting is that it provides you with a solid target to measure your progress against.
The focus that comes from creating intentional life markers allows you to accomplish even bigger things because you’re able to measure your success based on your past placeholders. Your latest triumph will be like an ordinary goal on steroids.
Inspire motivation
Motivation is tricky (which is why I’m able to create an entire website around inspiring it, btw). No matter how much you may logically understand the need to accomplish something or to finish a task; your mind will often play tricks on you that keep you from taking the actions necessary.
The reasons for this are probably due to the fact that you are being motivated by factors outside yourself, such as meeting your client’s deadline or reaching a far-off desire. In order to give your motivation some much-needed oomph, you’ll want to make it more meaningful and internal to yourself.
Internal motivations are the things that matter most to you and that will have a profound effect on your life. Setting goals allows you to make the target something that is personally relevant, increasing the likelihood that you will follow through to the finish.
Stretch past your limits
Setting goals for yourself allows you to stretch your limits—limits that are often self imposed. How many excuses have you made for not doing something even though you know it would likely result in growth? More clients, a better product, or growth in yourself?
Growth does not occur if you continue to do the same things you’ve always done over and over. Without goals to reach for, timely objectives to meet and targets to surpass, you’re just standing still or, at best, coasting along.
If you truly wish to achieve more in your life, creating a goal plan will give you the push you need to make all your desires a reality.
Now that you understand why setting goals is important, hopefully you feel motivated and excited to jump into the creation of your life’s plan, or maybe just a plan for the next week. It’s okay to start out with goal-setting baby steps.
Positive thinking is a valuable tool that can help you overcome obstacles, deal with pain, and reach new goals.
Amy Morin
The benefits of goal-setting are immense and can move you forward in your journey faster than you might expect, whether your goals are for your own personal growth or for business growth. By developing a plan for your future with measurable targets along the way, you’re making the first steps in turning your thoughts into actions.
You may think life would be so much simpler if you could just concentrate on one thing at a time—such as completing an online course or finishing that ebook you’ve been working on. The reality is that we all have to juggle a wide variety of goals.
A number of studies suggest that breaking goals down into specific action steps works wonders when applied to a single goal. However, that approach tends to backfire when we have a lot more going on. It seems we become more aware of the potential obstacles in our way.
So what can you do if you need to make progress on multiple fronts without getting overwhelmed? Consider these strategies.
First, you need to evaluate your current goals. You can do this in 4 simple steps:
Select three priorities
If you feel like you’re being pulled in all directions, take time to reflect on what matters most to you. You may decide that preparing simpler meals is an acceptable tradeoff for having more time to spend with your family.
Be realistic about time limits
We often underestimate how long it will take to complete routine tasks. Ensure you know how much time you really have to work within a typical week.
Decline requests tactfully
Learning to say no graciously will spare you from taking on excessive obligations. It’s okay if you want to skip a baby shower for a former coworker you lost touch with years ago.
Stay up to date
Our objectives shift at different stages in our lives. Go ahead and scale down your career ambitions if you’ve found greater meaning in your spiritual practices.
Juggle the Goals You Want to Keep
Once you know your goals and which are the most important, it’s time to work towards those goals. Using the following techniques will make it easier to stay on track, no matter what you want to achieve.
Select role models
Interestingly, researchers have found that we’re more optimistic about handling multiple goals if we think the people around us are busier than we are. Get inspired by a neighbor who’s also working towards multiple goals.
Define your success
Figure out how to grade yourself. Maybe you want to excel at parenting, but you’re satisfied with getting your car washed once a month.
Merge projects into one
Just spotting the connections between one concern and another may make your life easier. Focus on being healthy rather than counting every calorie.
Resist rushing
Slow down. Chronic stress undermines your performance across the board.
Segment your time
Break your day up into broad time slots. Budget an hour to spend on writing a report. Devote the next half hour to walking through the park. Switching between activities will keep your mind fresh.
Master logistics
Organization helps you get things done more quickly. Calculate the best route for completing all your errands in one trip instead of making separate outings to pick up the dry cleaning and drop the dog off at the groomer.
Work as a team
Encourage a spirit of community and cooperation. Thank your kids for pitching in with age appropriate household tasks. Take turns cleaning the office refrigerator.
Seek expert help
Shorten your learning curve by consulting those who already know the ropes. Financial planning is one key area where professionals can help you understand how to balance different needs.
Know your best time of day
Schedule your most challenging demands for the times when you’re at your peak. If you’re an early bird, study foreign languages over breakfast. Night owls can review their finances after dinner.
Stay fit
Protect your ability to pull off everything you want to do in life. Make sure your goals include staying in top physical and mental condition.
Pare down your to do list and coordinate your efforts around the goals that are most important to you. You’ll worry less and get more accomplished.
“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”
— Japanese Proverb
Do you set goals for yourself and your business? You probably find yourself struggling to stay on task, hopping from one thing to the next if you don’t.
You also might feel like your progress has become stagnant. Maybe you’ve been one thing that has worked for so long that you haven’t even thought to change it up.
Setting goals can you spring into action when you’ve otherwise become complacent or set into a certain way of doing things. By giving yourself a deadline to figure something out, you push yourself to learn more and actually take the steps needed to break a plateau.
On the other hand, you may just be getting started and want a solid plan to follow so you can get things up and running.
How much do you think you could achieve in 100 days? There’s a lot you can do in 100 days (or much less!) as an online entrepreneur:
Grow your email list
Grow your social media following
Write content for the next quarter
Create a new online course
Write an ebook
Update your website’s SEO
What I told you could accomplish your #1 goal in 100 days or less? That there is a formula that you can use to guarantee success?
While three months might be a bit long for some of these goals, you can certainly use this method on any goal you’re prepared to work on. You can do it if you follow the SMART method and use the 6 tips outlined below.
Your goals need to be tight, focused, and concrete. To make them easier to achieve, make your goals S.M.A.R.T.—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
There are a lot of different variations of this acronym, but this one works best for me as an entrepreneur, so that’s what I’m going to share.
Specific
Work on keeping your goal as focused and defined as you can. It’s harder to get distracted or lose time on figuring out what to do next if you have a specific goal in mind. You’ll also have a defined finish line so you’ll know when you’ve hit your goal or how much more you need to work to complete it.
Measurable
Keep your goals tangible, whether it’s running 10 miles or writing 60,000 words of your novel.
One way to measure your goals is to keep a journal or even a blog about your journey as you work on various goals. This is a great tactic for end goals that have more emotional outcomes, as well.
This is something you can do publicly or privately. Having a public blog about your experience can add extra accountability and support from your readers, increasing your chances of success (though don’t ever fall into feeling like you’re letting people down when you’re struggling with your goal).
You story may also inspire others to make similar goals or help them to realize they aren’t alone in their own struggles.
Attainable
Your goal should be challenging but not impossible. You can check your emotional response to the goal to gauge this.
Do you feel excited or overwhelmed? Do you feel like your goal will be really easy to reach?
Adjust your goal so it excites you and feels like you will have really accomplished something by the end of it. If you feel like your goal is too easy, then it’s better to use as a short-term goal for a larger goal.
“The greater danger for most of us isn’t that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
– Michelangelo
I also find that it helps to keep your goals centered around outcomes you can actually control, especially if you’re new to this whole entrepreneur thing. If you fall short of a goal like gaining 500 email subscribers, you may become discouraged, even though it’s not entirely your fault that you didn’t hit that goal.
Audience growth goals aren’t bad, but they tend not to go as quickly as we think they will. So for those who are new or don’t have the traffic that build a large following from, set goals that aren’t dependent on action from other people. Focus instead on goals that will allow you to grow your skill set or put systems in place for when you do have a larger audience.
Relevant
The way I see it, there are two ways to approach relevancy when setting a SMART goal.
Your goal could be one that speaks to your heart and will move your life forward. This is a good way to look at relevancy for long-term goals. Make sure that these are *your goals—*not your manager’s, or your friend’s, or your partner’s. You won’t be as motivated to complete a goal that doesn’t benefit you.
Another is that the goal should be relevant to the project you’re trying to complete. This is best used when setting short or medium-term goals that lead up to a long-term goal.
For example, if I want earn $1,000 next month, it wouldn’t make sense for me to set a short-term goal of gaining 300 Instagram followers since more followers won’t make me more money and Instagram isn’t the best way for me to get people on to my website.
A better goal would be to create a short email course or something else that I could use to promote my products, or to create a new product entirely and set goals around marketing it.
Time-bound
Always give yourself a deadline to complete your goal. This is another step that should be a little bit challenging, but it shouldn’t be so short that you feel like there’s a chance you won’t be able to finish it in the time you’ve allowed.
A good time period to shoot for with most goals is about 100 days. That gives you 3 months to accomplish a medium-term goal that may be a part of a long-term goal.
Though we’re talking about setting a 100-day goal right now, you can use SMART for any length goal you want. You can even set short-term SMART goals that you can use to achieve your 100 day goal.
Work on your goal
“A goal properly set is halfway reached.”
— Zig Ziglar
Once your goal is set, it’s time to get started with the hard part—actually working towards achieving that goal! Here are some tips to keep yourself motivated throughout the entire 100 days.
Know what you need to do
As you may be able to tell already, SMART goals work best if you know the steps you need to do to achieve your goal already. If you aren’t prepared to create a plan for your goal, you may need to take a step back and learn what it is you need to actually do to achieve that goal first.
This will also make it a lot easier to set a timeframe that you can feel comfortable with.
Have a plan
It’s all well and good to set your goal and know what you need to do to achieve it, but you still need a plan to carry out that will get your from Point A to Point B.
How will you grow your email list? What steps will you take to create your course? What will you do to get people to follow your Instagram?
You can use SMART-goal-ception to create smaller SMART goals inside your main SMART goal that are steps towards achieving the larger goal.
Which actually brings me to my next point!
Take small steps
Keep focused on small actions and steps that add up to achieving your main goal. Work out what you need to do to get there and in what sequence. Remember that your daily, weekly, and monthly actions all add up to success.
For example, if you want to grow your email list in the next 100 days, a basic goal plan may look like this:
Research what would be a good opt-in incentive
Create the opt-in incentive
Promote the opt-in incentive
Check in on your progress
“If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, but never the goal.”
You’ll keep your motivation high and your project on course if you make regular progress checks. You’ll be able to see if any aspect of your project is slipping and make adjustments early to get back on track.
Set progress milestones and make sure you include rewards for hitting each one. Keep that positive feedback loop going by celebrating and rewarding success.
Be accountable
Achieving your goal will be easier if you’re accountable to someone else. Ask a friend, coach, or mentor to be your accountability buddy and share your progress reports with them.
There are lots of Facebook groups for entrepreneurs and people love seeing the work of others. Try sharing your progress there. As long as you’re not being overly promotional and posting links to your content when you shouldn’t be, you’ll probably find a pretty good support system in one of your groups.
Don’t give up!
Commit to yourself that you will keep going to achieve your 100-day goal. Everyone has bad days, and sometimes life can throw you a curveball, but it’s more important that you pick yourself up and stay on course.
Keep it simple and stick to the five-step S.M.A.R.T. formula whenever you set a new goal, whether its large or small. You’ll be on your way to accomplishing your goal before you know it!
Don’t forget that you can also use this approach to complete smaller goals within a long-term goal. Whether it’s creating a new product, building your email list, or learning a new skill, the same principle applies. Break your goals down into smaller, more achievable chunks and go for it!
“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.” ― Greg Reid
If you’re looking to turn your dreams into reality this year (or anytime in the near future!), you’re going to want to utilize the power of goals. Ask any successful person their key to success and they’ll tell you it’s largely in the goal-setting.
So, what are goals and how exactly can they help you to achieve your dreams? Here, you’ll discover everything you need to know.
Table of Contents
What Are Goals?
The definition of a goal is a desired result a person wants to accomplish, combined with the effort to achieve it. Goals can be set for every single area of your life and they can be both large and small.
For example, you may want to progress in your current career. This would be your large, overall goal. However, in order to achieve it, there are certain steps you’ll need to take, such as training. These steps can be broken down into smaller goals.
It’s actually really important to make sure you are setting smaller, achievable goals and not just large ones. This is because, in order to achieve any goal that you set, you need to stay motivated.
If the goal is too big, such as progressing in your career or losing weight, it’s going to take a long time to actually achieve it and you won’t see much progress along the way.
However, if you were to break down the goals, you’d accomplish them quickly, boosting your motivation to continue.
Examples of smaller goals include:
Go for a walk once a week – Main goal: better health
Sign up for a training course to learn a new skill – Main goal: provide more/better service in your business or career
Create a checklist to use with clients or as a lead magnet – Main goals: a new way to help clients or build a larger email list
The smaller the goals, the easier you’ll find them to stick to.
Why It’s Important to Set Goals
“Success is the progressive realization of predetermined, worthwhile, personal goals.”
— Paul J. Meyer
Goal setting allows you to work towards your dreams. Success does not come easy, but goals help to lighten the load and make things that may have seemed impossible before an actualized reality.
To get more specific though, here are a few reasons why it’s so important to have goals.
Take control of your life
Do you often feel like you have no control over your own life?
It’s easy to lose our way and get caught up in living on auto-pilot. However, goal setting can really help you to take back control over your life.
By setting goals you’re thinking about what you want from life. Instead of just doing what everyone else wants you to do, you’ll be starting to act more upon what you want to achieve.
Keep focused
When you’ve got a list of goals to work towards, it really helps to keep you focused on your dreams.
It’s easy to lose focus when you don’t have a specific goal in mind and you’re just going through the motion’s day upon day. Goals give you a sense of direction, which in turn focuses the mind.
Achieve the best results
It’s pretty tough to get maximum results in life when you don’t have goals to work towards. Did you know that all of the most successful people in the world set goals they look to accomplish?
When you have a list of goals, you’ll find you push yourself harder to achieve them. You are literally taking the first step to achieving your dreams when you create goals in your life.
Keep track of progress
Finally, goals can really help you to measure your progress. You can see just how far you’ve come, as well as how far you still have left to go to achieve them. This, in turn, can really help to keep those motivation levels up.
6 Types of Goals to Set for a Happy Life
“Happiness is not a goal…it’s a by-product of a life well lived.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
Now that you’ve learned the importance of creating goals, it’s time to start actually creating some. If you’re new to goal setting, it can be difficult knowing what type of goals you should set yourself.
You can set goals for all areas of your life. So, to give you a little inspiration, here you’ll discover 6 types of goals you need in life.
Business Goals
We spend most of our lives working, so it makes sense to ensure you’re doing something you actually enjoy. Setting business and study goals is crucial to success.
Think of the top business people in the world―Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos―all of them set goals that they work to achieve.
When thinking about your business goals, consider the type of career you want to have or business you’d like to create. Think about the impact you’d like to have on the world.
Learning Goals
Whether you’re in school or taking classes or not, having some goals for learning something new will enrich your life. They could be business related or just something you want to do as a hobby.
For those of you for are still in school or college, setting goals can also help you to focus more on your studies and help you to achieve better grades. It could also help you create better balance between your school and social life.
Don’t forget that learning and studying is also good to further your career or build a better business. If you don’t have them already, you’ll want to start listing your business or study goals now, so you can work towards success.
Relationship Goals
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
― Shannon Alder
Relationships of all kinds require work to keep them strong and healthy. Whether you’re looking to improve your relationship with your spouse, a friend, or with family members, setting goals can really help.
It could be setting a goal to reconnect with your partner via more regular date nights. Or maybe you could make more effort to meet up with friends for coffee?
Think about the different ways your relationships could be made stronger.
Health Goals
If you want to live a long and happy life, you’re going to want to focus on making sure you’re as healthy as possible. It’s easy to neglect our health when we aren’t working towards specific goals.
Your health goals could include anything from cutting down on alcohol, to getting fitter and boosting your immune system. Any steps you can take to boost your health is going to help you achieve a better quality of life.
Don’t forget about your mental health as well as your physical health.
Financial Goals
Let’s face it, focusing on finances isn’t exactly fun! At least not all the time.
However, if you don’t get on top of your financial situation, it can have a significantly negative impact on your wellbeing.
Financial goals can include anything from getting out of debt, to saving more or gaining a higher income.
Personal Growth Goals
“The key to ultimate happiness and fulfillment lies within our own transformation. The more we learn and grow and evolve as individuals, the more we will find happiness and satisfaction in relationships, work and life.”
― Kristi Bowman
Working on personal development really helps you to become a much better, happier person. By improving yourself, it’s going to help you to become much more successful, as well as mentally healthier.
The great thing about personal development is that it never really ends. There are always ways you can improve yourself and develop healthier habits.
Whether you need to increase your willpower, improve your self-esteem and confidence, or improve your communication skills—setting personal development goals can help. This is what Stay Goal’d is all about!
Spiritual Goals
If religion or spirituality is important to you, you’ll want to make sure some of your goal setting is focused on more spiritual goals. Spiritual goals can help you to feel closer to whichever deity you believe in, as well as help you to connect with your inner self.
Even if you’re not religious, you can still set spiritual goals for yourself. The whole purpose of these goals is to help you to connect with your real self and ensure you are following your life’s purpose.
Examples of Simple Goals to Set in Your Life
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”
― Albert Einstein
Now that you know what types of goals you can set, it’s time for you to start thinking about what goals you’d like to set. If you’re struggling to think of some, don’t worry! This next section is just for you.
Let’s take a look at some examples of large goals you can set and then some smaller goals within them. You could even break down the smaller goals even further to create some baby steps to achieve those goals, but I want to keep it simple for you.
You can use these as inspiration to create your own goals, or you could choose to use them as they are, but make sure it’s something personal to you. Remember that you’re more likely to achieve goals that you set based on your own specific wants or need.
Okay, ready for a little goal inspiration? Here are the examples.
Focus on self-care
Despite how important it is, many people don’t really consider focusing on self-care. Plenty focus on being physically healthy, but you should also focus on the health of your mind, as well.
Self-care includes everything from making sure you get some much needed “you” time to learning how to say no to things you don’t want or don’t have the capacity to do.
As entrepreneurs, we’re often so busy working on fulfilling the many roles our business demands, often taking care of clients and customers, that we forget for taking care of ourselves.
Here are just a few examples of self-care goals you could set for yourself:
Starting a gratitude journal
Spending time doing a relaxing activity
Forgiving yourself for bad decisions
Finding more time for yourself
Making time to practice a hobby
What other goals can you think of that you could set for your own wellbeing?
Travel for fun
“Everything I was I carry with me, everything I will be lies waiting on the road ahead.”
― Ma Jian, Red Dust: A Path Through China
I realize that some of us are lucky enough to travel in our businesses but forget about business travel for just a sec. What about traveling just for fun?
Even if you’re not a natural nomad, traveling delivers many great benefits. When you travel, it really broadens the mind and helps you to develop more empathy and compassion.
It can also help you to realize what’s really important in life, giving you a much bigger picture of the world around you.
Some example goals you can set if you’re looking to travel more include:
Set aside a specific amount of money each month to save for a vacation
Aim to visit at least one new foreign destination each year
Explore local destinations once a week
Experience different methods of travel or transportation
Plan a cross country road trip
Think about the places you’d love to travel to and how much you can realistically afford to spend on travel this year.
Improve your health
Most of us could do with improving our general health. Whether it’s to get fitter, boost the immune system or develop healthier habits, there’s always something you can focus on to get healthier.
Examples of general health-related goals can include:
Drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up
Exercise at least 4 times each week
Add exercise into your workday breaks
Try a new healthy recipe each week
Set a strict bedtime routine to improve sleep
Whichever area of your health you’re hoping to improve, setting goals can really help.
Give more to those around you
Of course, our goals shouldn’t just be all about ourselves. It’s a good idea to aim to give more to those around us. The more you give in life, the more you’re likely to receive.
It’s easy to live an egotistical life, getting caught up in our own lives and dramas. However, there’s a reason giving makes us feel good, and that’s because it’s ultimately at the heart of who we are as human beings.
Some example goals you could set include:
Compliment a random person
Be kind to all of the people you meet
Volunteer at a local charity
Donate things you don’t use to charity
Take a friend out to lunch
Giving involves so much more than donating money. So, even if you don’t have the funds to donate to charity, you can still help in many other ways.
Have you set some goals yet?
Now that you know how crucial goals are if you want to turn your dreams into reality, you can now start setting your own. If you haven’t created any goals yet, now is definitely the time to do so.
What types of goals are most important to you?
This is great place to start when setting goals, whether it’s your first serious attempt or you’re looking to set a new goal.
Set goals in the areas that will make you feel the happiest and fulfilled in your life. Start with some easy or simple ones to get into the practice.
Remember, no matter which type of goal you’re looking to achieve, it should be something specific and personal. It’s important to break each big goal down into small and easily achievable steps.
Good luck with working to achieve your dreams! The more you set goals and achieve them, the easier it will become to keep it up, and the more success and happiness you’ll be able to achieve.
“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” — Andrew Carnegie
The goals you set can have a major impact on your life. You may not realize it, but goals actually play a huge role in how successful and happy you become.
Setting goals to work towards sounds like a pretty straightforward task. However, as you may already know, following them and achieving them can prove to be surprisingly difficult.
With this post, I want to give you some ideas for how to set goals that you can actually achieve, rather than large lofty goals that you may eventually give up on.
5 Reasons Why It’s Important to Set Goals for Yourself
When you set goals, you’re setting yourself up to live a more intentional life. You have a plan that leads you closer to success with each mini-goal that you complete with it.
Here are a few ways that goal-driven decision-making influences your journey to your dream life.
Helps you to live with intention
Goals are a great way to help you to live with intention. Why is this important? Because living with intention helps you to become more proactive.
When you don’t have goals, you’ll typically find you lead a more reactive lifestyle. That is, you will spend your time reacting to the situations you’re placed in, and the events which occur, rather than controlling them.
So, if you’re looking to take control of your life and better focus on the things you want, setting goals is crucial.
“In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.“
— Unknown
Keeps you accountable
Setting goals can also make you more accountable. Have you ever noticed at the start of January, gyms get full up pretty quickly? Then, once the end of January comes, they tend to empty out again. This is because the motivation you initially have to achieve your goals does fade pretty quickly.
When you’re determined to meet your goals and provided you set small, measurable goals, it really does help to keep you accountable. You’ll teach the mind to become more focused and to keep going even when that initial motivation has died down. This is a great skill to develop and it all starts with goal setting!
Helps you to become more successful
All successful people have one thing in common – goal setting. Talk to anyone who has achieved what they want in life and you’ll quickly see it’s all about creating and sticking to your goals.
After all, how can you possibly achieve success if you don’t know what you’re aiming towards? Once you’ve got goals, you’ll be able to measure your progress and make adjustments if required to ensure you meet them.
Increases the chances of fulfilling your dreams
You’re not going to be able to fulfill your dreams if you don’t know what steps you need to take to get there. Setting goals helps you to see your future more clearly.
It also ensures you have the most control over how your life turns out. Rather than letting life decide what it is you’ll achieve, you’re making the decision over how it will be.
This can be incredibly empowering and help you to fulfill your dreams much quicker than you would without any goals.
“In all things that you do, consider the end.”
— Solon
Boosts your motivation
Did you know that goals can be a great way to foster your motivation? While staying motivated to achieve their goals is something many people struggle with, this is usually down to the fact that they’ve set the goals too big.
When you break down your goals into smaller, more achievable steps, it actually helps to keep you motivated throughout. Every time you tick off a goal that you’ve set, it increases your motivation to aim towards the next one and so on.
Improving your motivation can help you in all areas of your life. So, if you’re looking to improve your motivation, focusing on proper goal setting can really help.
6 Tips for Setting Attainable Goals
Hopefully by now, you’re convinced that you need to set some goals! However, if you want to maximize your chances of actually sticking with and achieving those goals, you need to take a look at your approach to goal setting.
Following through with your goals, especially lengthy ones, may be tough if you aren’t able to experience results as quickly as you’d like.
There are a lot of mistakes you can make with goal setting that can unintentionally sabotage your chances of success. Use the 6 tactics below to approach goal setting to create goals that you’ll actually achieve.
Break up your overall goal into smaller goals
One of the key mistakes you can make when setting goals is making them too big or too challenging. While your goals should still push you to grow, they shouldn’t be so far out of reach that you’ll lose interest or motivation before you can complete them.
One way to make this easier is to break this goal down into smaller, more easily achievable goals. That way you’ll be able to start checking off progress towards your end goal more quickly and regularly, which increases your chances of actually seeing your goal through to the end.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Create measurable goals
Have a basic expectation for how you’ll feel or what tangible, physical result is available once you reach each mini goal and your end goal. This is something that makes you really feel like you’ve made progress as you work to achieve your end goal.
If your goal doesn’t end with a clear feeling or physical evidence, try using a checklist or journal to write down the progress and outcome you’re experiencing as you go. This will create a way for you to see the results of your goal.
Set hyper-specific goals
Make your goals as specific as possible. The more vague they are, the less likely you are to feel like you’re making progress, which means you’ll probably feel less motivated to continue.
It’s also pretty difficult to stay focused on a vague goal. Your mind needs to know exactly what steps need to be taken.
Take your overall goal – let’s use losing weight for an example – and break it down into more specific, smaller goals, such as eating certain meals or exercising for a set number of days each week.
Make a commitment to your goals
Whatever goals you choose to work towards, you’re going to need to make a commitment to stick to them. Do everything you can to achieve each goal that you set.
Start by writing your goals down first, then come up with an action plan to achieve them. Remember to make your goals small and specific for the best chances of success!
It’s also important to realize that you’re not going to see overnight success. Committing to your goals is a long-term process that needs continuous work.
This is why having smaller goals that you can achieve in shorter periods of time is so helpful.
“Dreams don’t work unless you do.”
— Unknown
Make your goals public
If you’re worried you won’t have the willpower to stick to your goals, it can help to announce them to friends or family for added accountability. Knowing that your friends and family are expecting you to progress with your goals can help to give you that push to continue on.
Online groups on places like Facebook, Reddit, or other public forums may also promote a sense of accountability, but the more personally connected you are to people, the more motivation you’ll feel. It’s much easier to slack or not care about the thoughts and opinions of strangers.
Give yourself a deadline
It’s all well and good to set your goals, but if you don’t have a specific deadline in mind, it’s going to be more difficult to achieve them. This is because if you give yourself free reign to just work on your goals whenever it’s more than likely you won’t actually work on them at all.
It’s easier to put them off and think “I’ll start on them tomorrow”, then before you know it months have passed and you’re no closer to your goals.
So give yourself a deadline for each goal you create. Make sure it’s a realistic timeframe that actually works for you and your lifestyle (or the one you want to achieve).
Ready to set your goals?
By approaching goal setting in the right way, you can easily improve your chances of actually achieving your dreams. The above 6 ways are a good place to start if you want to ensure your chances of completing your goals successfully.
The most important thing to remember is that small steps nurture greater goal completion, which makes you feel like you’re actually making progress no matter how far down the line your overall goal is.