How To Set Your Goals And Achieve Them

ten MIN READ

Golden Rules of Goal Setting

V Rules to Set Yourself Upward for Success

Have you thought near what you want to be doing in 5 years' fourth dimension? Are yous clear virtually what your chief objective at piece of work is at the moment? Do y'all know what you want to take accomplished by the terminate of today?

If you want to succeed, y'all demand to set goals. Without goals y'all lack focus and management. Goal setting not only allows you to have control of your life'southward management; information technology also provides you lot a benchmark for determining whether you lot are really succeeding. Recall about it: having a million dollars in the bank is only proof of success if one of your goals is to amass riches. If your goal is to practice acts of charity, and so keeping the money for yourself is all of a sudden contrary to how yous would define success.

To accomplish your goals, however, you need to know how to ready them. Y'all can't but say, "I want" and expect it to happen. Goal setting is a process that starts with conscientious consideration of what you desire to achieve, and ends with a lot of hard work to actually do information technology. In between, there are some very well-defined steps that transcend the specifics of each goal. Knowing these steps volition allow yous to codify goals that y'all can accomplish.

Hither are our 5 golden rules of goal setting, presented in an commodity, a video and an infographic.

Click here to view a transcript of this video.

The 5 Golden Rules

1. Set Goals That Motivate Y'all

When you prepare goals for yourself, information technology is of import that they motivate you lot: this ways making sure that they are important to yous, and that there is value in achieving them. If you have footling involvement in the outcome, or they are irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of yous putting in the piece of work to make them happen are slim. Motivation is key to achieving goals.

Gear up goals that relate to the high priorities in your life. Without this type of focus, yous can end upwardly with far too many goals, leaving you too little time to devote to each one. Goal achievement requires commitment, so to maximize the likelihood of success, y'all need to feel a sense of urgency and have an "I must practise this" attitude. When yous don't have this, you take a chance putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality. This in turn leaves you lot feeling disappointed and frustrated with yourself, both of which are de-motivating. And you can end up in a very subversive "I tin can't do anything or be successful at annihilation" frame of mind.

Tip:

To make certain that your goal is motivating, write down why it's valuable and of import to you. Ask yourself, "If I were to share my goal with others, what would I tell them to convince them it was a worthwhile goal?" You tin use this motivating value statement to help you if you start to doubt yourself or lose confidence in your ability to actually brand the goal happen.

ii. Set SMART Goals

You lot have probably heard of SMART goals already. But do you always utilise the rule? The simple fact is that for goals to be powerful, they should be designed to be SMART. There are many variations of what SMART stands for, but the essence is this – goals should be:

Specific.
One thousandeasurable.
Attainable.
Relevant.
Time Spring.

Set Specific Goals

Your goal must exist clear and well defined. Vague or generalized goals are unhelpful considering they don't provide sufficient management. Call up, you need goals to prove you the style. Make it as easy every bit y'all tin to get where you desire to go by defining precisely where you desire to finish up.

Prepare Measurable Goals

Include precise amounts, dates, then on in your goals so you can measure your degree of success. If your goal is simply defined as "To reduce expenses" how volition you know when you lot have been successful? In one calendar month's time if you have a 1 percentage reduction or in two years' time when you lot take a 10 percent reduction? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you have really achieved something.

Set Attainable Goals

Make sure that it'southward possible to achieve the goals you set. If you set up a goal that you have no hope of achieving, you will only demoralize yourself and erode your conviction.

Nonetheless, resist the urge to set goals that are also like shooting fish in a barrel. Accomplishing a goal that you lot didn't have to work hard for can be anticlimactic at best, and can also make you fear setting future goals that carry a risk of non-achievement. Past setting realistic nonetheless challenging goals, you lot hit the balance you need. These are the types of goals that require you to "raise the bar" and they bring the greatest personal satisfaction.

Set Relevant Goals

Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your life and career to accept. Past keeping goals aligned with this, yous'll develop the focus you need to get ahead and do what you want. Set up widely scattered and inconsistent goals, and yous'll fritter your time – and your life – away.

Set Time-Bound Goals

Your goals must have a deadline. Over again, this means that you lot know when you can celebrate success. When you are working on a borderline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker.

3. Set Goals in Writing

The physical human activity of writing downward a goal makes information technology existent and tangible. Y'all accept no alibi for forgetting about it. As you write, use the give-and-take "will" instead of "would like to" or "might." For example, "I will reduce my operating expenses by 10 percent this twelvemonth," not "I would similar to reduce my operating expenses by 10 percent this year." The showtime goal statement has power and you can "see" yourself reducing expenses, the second lacks passion and gives you an alibi if y'all get sidetracked.

Tip 1:

Frame your goal statement positively. If y'all want to improve your retention rates say, "I will hold on to all existing employees for the next quarter" rather than "I will reduce employee turnover." The starting time i is motivating; the second one nevertheless has a get-out clause "allowing" you to succeed even if some employees get out.

Tip ii:

If you lot use a To-Do List, make yourself a To-Do List template that has your goals at the superlative of information technology. If you use an Action Programme, then your goals should exist at the peak of your Project Catalog.

Mail service your goals in visible places to remind yourself every mean solar day of what it is you intend to do. Put them on your walls, desk, computer monitor, bathroom mirror or refrigerator equally a constant reminder.

four. Make an Action Plan

This step is often missed in the process of goal setting. Yous become so focused on the outcome that you forget to plan all of the steps that are needed along the way. By writing out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off equally you lot complete it, yous'll realize that you are making progress towards your ultimate goal. This is peculiarly important if your goal is large and demanding, or long-term. Read our article on Action Plans for more than on how to do this.

5. Stick With Information technology!

Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity, non only a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep yourself on track, and make regular time-slots available to review your goals. Your finish destination may remain quite similar over the long term, but the activeness programme you set for yourself along the style can change significantly. Make sure the relevance, value, and necessity remain high.

Key Points

Goal setting is much more than simply saying you want something to happen. Unless you clearly define exactly what you want and sympathize why you want information technology the first place, your odds of success are considerably reduced. By following the V Golden Rules of Goal Setting you can set goals with conviction and savour the satisfaction that comes along with knowing y'all achieved what you set out to do.

And so, what will yous determine to accomplish today?

How to Apply the Golden Rules to New year's day Resolutions

Click on the image below to see how you can use the Five Gold Rules for setting your New Twelvemonth Resolutions represented in an infographic:

Five Golden Rules for Setting Great New Year Career Goals