Setting goals is a natural part of every person’s life and plays a significant role in becoming a successful person, whether in your career or in your personal life. How does one set realistic achievable goals and work towards achieving them? Continue reading below to discover a few simple steps to get closer to setting and achieving your goals.
Set goals that are challenging but realistic
People nowadays are afraid to chase their dreams because of all the negativity that people associate with dream chasing, denoting it as “childish” or unrealistic, but this does not necessarily have to be true. A lot of successful people who have accomplished their goals in life have done things that they’ve dreamed about and consequently are really passionate about. Chasing your dream means chasing something that is somewhat of a challenge, otherwise it would not be a dream. Challenging goals make sure that you are on your toes and constantly motivated to keep striving forward. Setting realistic goals ensures that – even though your goals are challenging – they are reasonable nonetheless, enough to keep your momentum running.
Brainstorm
Brainstorming can help you gather your thoughts and comprehend what needs to be done in your life so that you can be more content and satisfied with your personal or work life. If you are unsure as to where to start, start off by sitting down every day with a piece of paper or on your computer’s notepad and writing down what you really yearn to achieve in the coming future. The ideas might not come to you at first, but practicing this routine daily until they do is a good way to start.
Set specific objectives
Be specific and reasonable about what it is that you need to accomplish. Research demonstrates that setting an objective that is specific makes you more prone to accomplishing it and can even make you feel more satisfied. Be as particular as you can, keeping in mind that you may need to break down large objectives into smaller sub-goals.
Get some details about your objectives. What do you have to do to accomplish them? Who should help you?
For instance, “be more productive” is too vague and unclear to be an attainable objective. “Eat better and exercise more” makes more sense, but it’s still not very specific.
“Eat 3 meals filled with protein and vegetables each and exercise 3 times each week” is specific and solid, making your goal much simpler to accomplish.
You also need to brainstorm about how you are going to accomplish these objectives. For instance, to accomplish your healthy eating objective, will you take healthy snacks with you to work? Choose veggies rather than fries whenever you eat out? Regarding working out, will you work out at the gym or go a run in your neighborhood? Consider the lifestyle changes you have to make to accomplish your overall objective.
In case you have various stages for your objectives, when should each stage be reached? For instance, in case you’re preparing for a marathon, you need to think about how long each goal-achieving phase will take you.
Write down your objectives
Be clear, and include your deadlines for each goal. Tracking your efforts and results make your goals feel more genuine. Keep your list in a place that makes it easy for you to check on them from time to time. This will keep you motivated.
Write them in a positive tone. You’re much more inclined to accomplish your objectives when they are worded in a positive manner, for example, “Eat more healthy food” rather than “Quit eating junk food.”
Organize
When you have thought of what you truly need to accomplish, you’ll have to organize these thoughts and goals. Attempting to accomplish all your life goals at once can leave you overpowered and not able to accomplish any!
Organize your objectives into three stages: First, second, and third. The first stage objectives are the most important to you. The second and third stage goals are not as important. They may be more specific.
For instance, the first stage objectives could be “enhance my wellbeing” or “invest more time with my family.” Second level objectives could be “keep my room clean, figure out how to surf” and third-level objectives could be “figure out how to knit, do laundry more routinely.”
Ensure that you can measure your objectives
What results will indicate that you’ve achieved an objective? Set quantifiable objectives instead of objectives that are hard to measure. For instance, if your overall objective is to make more money, make sure you decide how much incremental money you’re to work to make each month, and how much time it will take to reach your desired level of income, then work towards that goal while tracking your progress.
Quantifiable objectives give you a feeling of satisfaction when you’ve completed them as you work towards a bigger goal.
Consult with a life coach
Setting goals and following through can be a very daunting task for most of us. You might not know where or how to start. Consulting a life coach can sometimes help you put the pieces of your puzzle together by discussing, brainstorming together, and learning from a professional’s expertise in a certain industry. With the ever-growing number and different kinds of life coaches available nowadays, finding a life coach has never been easier!
Finally, there are several ways to go about setting and achieving your life goals, some of which include setting achievable yet challenging goals, taking the time to brainstorm ideas, and finally consulting a professional. You can read up on so many resources online on goal setting if you’re still not sure where to start, like for instance the following goal-setting resource page, which includes a comprehensive guide to setting goals.
