Are you planning on setting new goals this year? If you haven't succeeded with your goal before, you may not understand what you must do to create the achievable goal. Today, I am going to talk about what a goal is and ways to develop goal success in your life. Follow along for some wise words and make your goals attainable.
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First, let's define it in a few words.
What is a goal?
A goal is a way to motivate ourselves to take action and help us move toward where we want to be. The challenge is to determine where we want to be in our lives. Remember, this is not a wish or desire. Those our not attainable.
How Do I Make a Goal Achievable?
Now that you understand what it is let's talk about ways to help you achieve it. First, determine your passion and why you are creating this goal. If this goal achieves success, what will it bring you? What will you exchange for this new goal? Remember, we only have so much time in our day, so we must give up something or reduce some tasks to add something new. Determine what you are OK with letting go of and not doing it perfectly so you can incorporate your new goal.
Determining a well-defined goal will help you see the path to the smaller goals you need to achieve. Resulting in more focused tasks.
Pick only a few goals this year.
First, to create goal success, you need not to do too much goal setting. The fewer you have, the easier it will be to achieve them. A goal can quickly get overwhelming when you have too many complex ones. Make them have different purposes in your life. One could be to eat healthier, and the other is working out at least three times a week. Each has its own set of habits that you will need to establish to help you achieve the goals.
When determining the right goals, try setting SMART goals. They are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals. Instead of saying "I want to get healthy", you say, "I want to run a 5K in September."
Pick only the goals that are important to you.
The next thing you need to do to achieve success in your goal is to prioritize. Priority is key (affiliate) when determining a goal. We all can have so many goals, but picking a few may be difficult. Pick a goal that is essential to you to help you stay on track. When those hard struggles or busy times occur, the importance of the goal will help see you through and keep you focused. Read our THE BEST GOAL SETTING ADVICE YOU WERE EVER TOLD for more tips from other Professional Organizers!
We offer some questions to ask yourself in our HOW TO JUMPSTART YOUR GOALS THIS YEAR and SEVEN SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO MAKE YOUR GOALS STICK to help you decide and make your goals achievable.
When you have determined your goal, decide a set of steps to get yours started.
To achieve goal success, visualize yourself doing these steps—the smaller the steps to reach your goal, the better. Achieving your important goals does not happen overnight. You could be dealing with long-term goals, so take your time and decide how to make it a reality. You can then group those steps and determine a milestone showing how far you went.
An Example of determining a milestone
Say you want to cook home-cooked dinners during the week. You would plan out the meals you could easily do during those four weeknights. Maybe you pick quick but healthy ones that only take you 20 minutes to cook. You may print out or save recipes for easy access. Then, prepare the food ingredients in the pantry (affiliate) and refrigerator on Sunday by sorting the ingredients into containers. Then, plan to do this for 2 weeks to see how it goes. At the two-week point, you determine what isn't working and what is working and adjust as needed. That milestone will give you a second to breathe, see how things are going, and adjust as needed.
Writing Down Goals and Small Steps
Writing the goal(s) down will help you determine the steps. This is one of my favorite things to do when creating new goals. I like to use sticky notes (affiliate), then, I write down each task I need to do to achieve my goal and move them around to pick the order from easiest to hardest. Do the easier ones to achieve first, then move on to the more difficult ones. Or place them in order of need. If you have a task that needs to be done before another because one task relies on the other, order it accordingly.
Create a Vision Board
Some people like to create a vision board(i.e., a goal board) for their goals. This reminds them of what they need to do and helps them see the steps they need to take to get there. Simplify101.com shares instructions on how to create this type of board. This type of board is great for visual people, especially artists, writers, etc... to help them succeed at their goals.
Talk About Your Goal to Others
Talking about new goals is a great way to see if they are the right goals for you or if they are just wishes. Speak with someone like a therapist, a boss, a coworker, a spouse, a friend, and even an accountability consultant like me. The other person can easily see if your time frame is correct, if it is a realistic goal, if the plan can establish simple steps, and if it is a measurable goal.
After you have determined your steps for your achievable goal, it's time to move forward and take action: visit the other goals posts below on our blog for more support.
Remember, you are never too old or young to have a goal. I hope this year is excellent for you and your family. Peace!
What is yours this year? Please share in the comments section below.
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