goal setting for success

Why Goal Setting Will Set Your Success in Motion

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What are your goals for this year? Get debt-free? Start investing? Start a business? Earn a higher income level? Whatever they are, now’s the time to make a plan to make those goals happen.

Maybe your goal is to become financially free. Or perhaps you crave peace of mind when it comes to your tax return, where an office of accountants who are willing to help would be hugely beneficial. You might have big plans to grow your business. Whatever your goals may be, it’s essential to know what they are if you want success.

When we get particular about what we want to achieve, we are much more likely to set things in motion to make them happen. But all too often, we make New Year’s Resolutions, then forget about them before January is over. Here’s what you need to do, to get on track and make stuff happen. 

Get Specific About Your Goals 

How many times do you say to yourself “I really must get started with investing”. Or, “I want to eat more healthily this year”. But what are you doing to make that happen? It’s all very well setting an intention, but what happens then when something else comes along to distract you? Something looks appealing, and we forget our initial plans and begin fantasising about new ones. 

“I want to run a 10K,” or “I’d love to go travelling,” are wonderful dreams to have, but are you committed to making them happen? 

I’m a big fan of manifestation, but here’s the valuable truth. Saying “I want X, Y, Z…” is a great affirmation, but it’s not just going to magic itself out of thin air, unfortunately. They key to manifestation is to focus – continuously – on that which sets your soul on fire, and taking ACTION to make it happen. Of course, affirmations and visualisations help, but for one reason only. Because you’re focused. And what may seem like magic, is actually a chain of events brought about by your change in mindset and active approach. 

Think really hard about what you want to achieve, but then break it down into something specific. Instead of saying “I want to be rich”, change it to “I want to make £100,000 in [number of] years”. 

Then, break it down into manageable steps, and write it down somewhere you can be reminded of it every day, such as a planner. More on that below.

Consider Time-Frames and Plan Rewards

How soon do you want to achieve this goal? Within 3 months? 6? A year? 3 years? Getting really specific about when can help you to break it down into manageable chunks. Work out when you want to achieve something by, then consider how much time you’ve got to tackle each step. If something seems a little too unrealistic, you need to adjust it. 

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably super-impatient. But, this is where planning will actually help. For each small step you take, make a note to reward yourself each time you reach your mini-goal. It could be something like treating yourself to a new fitness tracker when you reach a milestone. Or treating yourself to a Netflix binge when you’ve completed a work project, or two – no matter how large or small. 

What Are Your Top 5 Goals? 

Write down all the things you’d like to achieve in your life. It doesn’t matter how unrealistic you might think they are. If you want to move to Thailand and become a digital nomad, it’s not impossible. Write down everything your heart desires, then write down when you want to achieve these goals by. 

From there, choose 5 things of what you’d specifically you’d like to achieve this year, and make them your priority. As mentioned above, write them down somewhere you can see and access every day, without forgetting about them.

Then, plan the next few weeks of the month and work out what you can do to achieve your first goal, based on when you want to achieve it by (for example, 3 months). One of my goals for 2021 is to run a 10k. I have 3 months I want to achieve this by, so I need to ensure I increase my current 5k ability by half a km each week. 

If you want to write an ebook within 6 months, you need to be committed to work on it every week. Whether that be every weekday, every other day, every Saturday, or for 30 minutes each morning, you need to schedule it in. Scheduling ensures your commitment, and makes you less likely to put it off.

How To Plan Your Goals for Success

  1. Make sure your goal sets your soul on fire. Is it something you’re really passionate about, and will either improve your life or give you a real sense of accomplishment? That’s key here. If it’s something that makes you happy, 100% go for it.
  2. Get SMART. You’ve probably heard this before, but your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. For example, setting a goal to travel to the moon next month isn’t likely achievable in a realistic time-frame. (Unless you have connections at NASA of course.)
  3. Write it down! I know I’ve mentioned this one already, but it’s so important. And what’s even more important is that it’s written somewhere you can access it regularly. Personally, I’m guilty of buying several notebooks and starting new ones, forgetting where I’ve written things down and forgetting my goals! It’s prone to happening when life is super-busy, so keep it close-to-hand.
  4. Plan of action. In order to achieve something big, you need to break it down into manageable steps. So do this, and decide when you’re going to do it.
  5. Schedule. Schedule. Schedule. If there’s one thing I’ve learned lately, it’s the importance of scheduling and carving out the time you need to get the stuff done. It’s all too easy to lose the day scrolling through social media and finding you’ve lost 30 minutes. Imagine if you used that time scheduling your social media strategy instead, and set aside a specific time for networking? Use your down time for scrolling. Or, better yet, use your down time for doing some self-care like having a bubble bath or a Netflix binge.
  6. Don’t give up – revisit your goals on a daily, or weekly basis. Keep them forefront of your mind. Focus on them every opportunity you get. Re-work your diary to get stuff done.
  7. Progress, not perfection. This one is so important. In today’s hectic lifestyle, we put so much pressure on ourselves to achieve so much. But the truth is, there’s only so much you can accomplish in one day. So just take everything one small step at a time.
  8. Celebrate, acknowledge and reward your progress. Each time you complete a task, reach a milestone, or achieve your goal, reward yourself appropriately. It’ll keep you motivated with a dopamine hit to keep going on your next one.

Once you’ve got these key factors in place, you’re much more likely to be able to achieve your goals. Even if you only achieve 2 out of 5, you’ve still reached 2 of them. And if you don’t achieve your goal within the time frame you’ve set, that’s OK too! You can review it and adjust it as necessary.

Goals give us ability to realise our dreams, and in order to make them successful, you need to plan. By planning and putting these measures in place, you’ll be well on your way to setting your goals in motion.

For more tips on setting goals, visit this post from Real Girl’s Wobble including techniques and using a diary to achieve what you set out to do.