Setting goals is one of the most important things that you can do in your life. It is a powerful tool for a successful life.
Goal setting is also an effective motivator, the importance of which has been acknowledged in numerous therapeutic and practical settings for more than 35 years.
The first step to setting goals is to identify what it is that you want to achieve. There are three things that are necessary for goal setting:
To set goals, think about your life and identify the specific areas where you would like to make changes or improvements.
Once you have identified these areas, break them down into smaller pieces and set deadlines for achieving them. The smaller the goal, the easier they are to achieve!
In order to achieve your goals, you need to set them! And that’s not the only thing you need to do. You also need to break those goals into smaller steps and define a timeline for achieving them.
There has been a lot of research done on goal setting, especially in organisational contexts. Initially, the goal of this investigation was to determine how the level of expected achievement (the goal) relates to the actual level of performance in an organisational setting.
There are a lot of other people who want to achieve the same things that you do. Competition is tough, and you’ll have to work hard to keep up with them. Pursuit of your dreams can be difficult, but it’s worth it in the end!
This is why setting freedom goals is so important. The problem is that goal setting has become a bit of a cliché and people have stopped taking it seriously, but that is a serious mistake because they can have a dramatic impact on your life…if done correctly.
Freedom goals are different from other types of goals because they don’t have a specific time frame or deadline.
They also have the potential to change and evolve as we do.
So, in order for freedom goals to be successful, you need to take control of your life and make sure that you’re empowered enough to tackle any obstacles that may come your way.
The most important thing is to have a clear vision of your goal and be able to articulate that vision in a compelling way. The second most important thing is to make sure you are constantly learning, growing, and adapting so that you stay on the path towards your goal.
The most often piece of lifestyle advice we hear is to “never give up on your goals,” regardless of whether you’re reading a self-help book or a motivational poster.
We’ve all heard the phrases “live your dreams,” “follow the rainbow,” “the sky is the limit,” and “don’t give up” a thousand times.
Additionally, this is a lovely platitude. It is undoubtedly true that we should keep pursuing our goals and that we can succeed in anything we set our minds to.
One of the most popular pieces of advice, along with “live your dreams,” is to visualise your goals, although that’s a little oversimplified.
Because evidence suggests that, in some circumstances, visualisation can actually lower your chances of success.
Also, visualisation is frequently too abstract to be of any actual use. The science shows that people who fantasise about doing what they desire frequently fail to actually carry out their plans.
However, this does not imply that visualising is ineffective. It only requires knowing how to use it as a tool and how to prevent letting it rule your life.
Up until now, we’ve talked about creating abstract visions and ideas for yourself. It’s now time to set actual priorities and goals.
And this is another place where a lot of folks may experience problems. The issue is that we often write ill-defined or unattainable goals because we lack the knowledge on how to do so.
This is the distinction between goals and visions, as well as the distinction between goals that can and cannot be achieved.
The key then, is to break your goals down into manageable chunks.
The idea is to choose which of these smaller steps will be most useful in assisting you to achieve your larger goals and dreams.
This means coming up with a plan and that means creating a road map.
Examine your overall vision and mission statement, then consider what little, specific changes you need to make in your life to move a little bit closer to making those things a reality.
What needs to happen and how can you make changes to become the person you’ve always wanted to be?
Rearranging your home office, getting in shape, or looking for a new career are a few examples of relatively small things that could serve as the foundation.
Now, translate these into clear goals that you can pursue every day. Keep in mind that these goals must be limited in scope, either pass or fail, and fully within your control.
If you keep taking small steps every day, you will reach your freedom goals and will be able to live the life you really want.
Yes, it takes self discipline, a strong mindset and a lot of perseverance but I’m sure you’ll agree that the end results are more than worth the effort, so what are you waiting for?
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There are several ways to measure your goals, ranging from simple to complex and free to expensive. Sometimes it makes sense to spend money on tools, but when setting goals for your own purposes, keeping it low cost makes sense.
For instance, use a spreadsheet when first starting out. Most people associate Microsoft Excel with spreadsheets, and that costs money. However, there are free alternatives, such as Open Office Calc. The Open Office suite of products is available on multiple operating systems. This software is fully functional and compatible with Microsoft products. The best part is it is free.
Sometimes, you will need more sophisticated tools. For instance, when you work on multiple projects simultaneously and there may be dependencies associated with some of the goals, you’ll need to have a better method than a spreadsheet to manage these. This is also true when you have multiple people that you need to measure their contributions to the projects.
While you could use spreadsheets for this, they are not meant for collaborative activities. The reporting features are lacking in a spreadsheet program. A program such as Microsoft Project gives you more control over these types of features.
Keep in mind the tool should not be used as a means to run the projects for you. They have their uses, but the responsibility rests with you, or the project manager. Also, you have to consider some flexibility in the measurement as not every item will go according to plan. You may need to make some adjustments along the way.
Being too rigid with the plan can cause problems within a team. Strict adherence to a tool will make the projects rigid, by definition. On the other hand, you do need some ways to accurately measure the goals. It’s a delicate balance that requires compassion as well as firmness.
When choosing a tool, try to get your team involved, so they know what to expect. This isn’t always possible as some companies already have solutions implemented. If this is the case, you will need to manage the expectations of the team and provide any training and assistance needed to make the tool work for them.
Your manager determines what course you are to take. This is based on organizational goals or tasks that he or she has been given. Many managers are not adept at setting goals for themselves, let alone for other people. This can lead workers astray and is something that SMART goals can help with.
If your manager is not familiar with the concept, try to become an advocate. This is going to require you learning what it’s all about. It’s not a bad idea to take some training on the concept. There are courses available online, and you can start by searching for the term on YouTube.
Keep in mind that YouTube videos can be posted by anyone, so make sure you scrutinize the videos carefully. If someone sounds like they don’t know what they are talking about, move on to another one.
If your manager is not initially on board, you may need to take the initiative and start using the concept for your own goal setting. It’s much easier to convince people when you are successful with the concept. Trying to convince them from a purely theoretical perspective is not as effective. Managers want results and are afraid to try something that is not proven in their minds.
You may need to negotiate to position your ideas in a positive light. For instance, you can suggest that by setting goals using a SMART framework, you can get more done. Therefore, tell your manager you are willing to take on more responsibility to prove out the concept to him or her.
If your manager is not yet ready to accept this concept, at least you have planted the seeds. It’s likely he or she will look up the concept online based on you suggesting the idea. This will create an atmosphere of familiarity. When you bring it up again sometime in the future, your manager will be more receptive to the idea because it’s not a foreign concept.
One last means of getting manager buy-in is to document your experience with it. For instance, you could set up a journal and show how you used the framework to get your personal goals accomplished. It’s difficult to argue with success when it is recorded for your manager to read.
Having tips about SMART goals is great. However, sometimes it helps to solidify the concept by describing some applications of its use, which are described here. For clarification, the acronym is taken to stand for, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based.
Exercise Program
Goal: To work out every day for 20 minutes per day and achieve a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 20. I will use the X System to attain that goal.
Explanation: The specific part of the goal is to achieve the Body Mass Index of 20. It is measurable as I can take a BMI reading throughout the period to compare. It may be attainable, assuming I believe in the X System or have used it before. It is realistic in that if I go to the gym and the assumptions are true, I will reach the goals. For time-based, I have given it three months and 20 minutes per day.
Save for College
Goal: To save $50 per month in a 521 account and continue to do this until my child is ready for college as the cost of college keeps rising.
Explanation: Based on historical trends, college costs rise every year. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that they will continue to rise. The specific goal is to use a 521 account, which in the United States, allows for tax breaks when saving for college. My bank statements will allow me to measure whether I am saving enough each month and make the necessary adjustments. These goals are attainable as long as I can continue working. If I made some projections based on the number of years before needing the money, this plan is likely to be realistic. However, the best course of action would be to compare alternate plans to see which would give the best return. The frequency (time-based) is monthly over some years.
The ideal situation is to be able to address each of the five components of SMART. Don’t worry if you find some overlap. As long as you can work from your plan, it won’t make much of a difference.
Of course, you will certainly be aware that setting and achieving goals requires a lot of self-discipline, so if you want to learn about growing your own self-discipline then download the featured resource below which is a free report all about the power of self-discipline; download it, read it and take action 😊
Every single decisions matters. Every choice you have made in your life has led you to the point you’re at now.
And when I say that you are probably thinking of all those big choices you made. The choice to go into a certain career for instance, the choice to move to a certain part of town and the choice to marry a certain person. Change any of those pivotal moments and everything would be different.
And when you choose to ignore the nagging voice inside that is telling you: there’s more to life than this.
It’s scary stuff because it means that no moment in your life is inconsequential. But it’s also incredibly liberating – right now, you have a million choices open to you and you can take any of them. But how to know what to do?
If there’s anything you’re unhappy with in your life, then chances are that you got there by making certain choices and decisions. These are your failures, and you are now bearing those scars in your daily life.
Many of us will accept our lot in life and accept these mistakes and thus continue to live a life less satisfying.
But what if we change this approach? What if instead, we take those things we’re unhappy with and we vow to learn from them – to not make those mistakes again.
Did you get to the point of being unhappy in your work by not speaking up and going after a raise? By not looking for work elsewhere? By not taking the chance to go after your dream?
Don’t feel bad about these mistakes – just recognize them for what they are. And knowing that, use the opportunity to head out there and really make a difference – to embrace the life that you want.
Next time the opportunity comes up – take it. And don’t fail to speak up: start telling people what you want. Want to fix your finances? Come up with a budget and stick to it.
It’s not too late, if you are able to learn from those mistakes!
We have all heard of setting goals to get ahead in life; it is espoused by pretty much every self-help or personal development guru out there.
And goals are important as they act as a destination that you are working towards. If you don’t do that, you can wander through life aimlessly and wonder why you haven’t achieved anything!
So, with that being said, what is your goal in life?
For some it is to get into shape. For some it is to get rich. For others, it is to see the world.
Now what is your daily goal?
This is a very different concept but actually the daily goal is far more important than the overarching goal – at least if you really want to achieve the things that you’re dreaming of. And why is that?
Goals are often too vague
The big issue is that for many of us, our goals are much too broad and much too vague. Even if you have a ‘specific target’ like losing 5 stone in a year, this is still much too broad and vague.
Losing that amount of weight is not entirely within your control. There’s lots you can do to increase or decrease your chances of success and of course you’re mostly responsible… but there are other factors at play here too like your health and like your metabolism.
What’s more, is that having a goal that is that far away can actually make it all too easy to cheat. You know you have a year to lose the weight, so what does it matter if you eat a bit of cake today?
And it makes it easy to get disheartened too – when you get 6 months in and realize that you’re actually heavier than you were before.
Daily goals fix all that
But daily goals fix all that. Start with a vision – a very abstract vision of what you want – and then break that down into the smallest possible steps that you can execute every day or every week.
In the case of losing weight, your goal might be to eat no more than 1,800 calories a day, or to go for at least a 10-minute run every day. That’s a small goal but it’s perfect for sticking to because it is completely within your control.
If you don’t manage to run just that little bit, then you only have yourself to blame. There are no excuses to be made – it’s pass or fail. But at least tomorrow you can try again.
Focussing on the small, achievable goal directly in front of you is a great way to get to your destination. They also serve as milestones, and you can look back during your journey to see how far you have come and this can be especially helpful if you are struggling for motivation.
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And the same goes for every other type of objective too. The best way to earn money is to build a business a little every day. And the best way to write a novel, is to write a page every night!
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People struggle with setting goals. It seems like a daunting task. This is largely because they lack the proper knowledge to do so. After all, not everyone goes to management school. Even those that do are not always as prepared as they should be.
This may be the reason why management consultant, Peter Drucker, came up with a system as part of his Management By Objectives (MBO). This system is essentially the SMART Goal setting system. If you are not familiar with SMART, it is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-related. Each component deals with a part of goal setting.
To have a specific goal, imagine creating a video with you telling the viewers what your goal is about. They should be able to comprehend your goal without any questions. The more specific you can get, the better the overall goal setting process will be. For example, suppose you specify that you want more money as a goal. Would this draw questions if you presented this goal as it is? If the answer is yes, then you need further refinement.
When you figure out your goals, the next step is to understand how to measure them. General goals will be difficult to measure, whereas specific goals will be easier. This is the part that can help you be accountable for meeting your goals.
For a goal to be assignable, you need to be able to describe it in a way that you can pass it off to someone else. They should be able to run with it, and not get too stuck on the details.
You need to set time frames for your goals. Otherwise, you will come up with excuses to push them off, and you will never get them completed. The best way to do this is to break up your goals into tasks, and then come up with milestones for each of those tasks.
SMART is an acronym. Those five letters mean different things to different people or groups. While many of the replacements are similar, if everyone who relies on them is not on board, this can cause problems with a project or plan.
For instance, some reference the “A” in the acronym, as achievable. That’s a great aspect of any project to have. If it is not achievable, there is no way a goal or task will get accomplished. However, there are others who consider the “A” as standing for agreement. That is not similar to achievable. And it’s one thing to have achievable goals, but if not everyone on the team is in agreement, that will cause problems down the line.
Another example is the “M” which many believe stands for measurable. That is a worthy aspect of any goal. If you can’t measure your goals, you won’t know when you are successful with them. The “M” can also mean motivational. If you use motivational instead of measurable, somehow you won’t be as inclined to measure how you are doing. It may happen, but there is nothing to guarantee that. This is why people use guidelines such as SMART in the first place.
Some will use rewarding as the “R” component. When you accomplish your goals, that will be the reward. So, it’s difficult to imagine what people come up with when they use this as part of the acronym.
The key when using a system such as this is to come up with the meaning for each that makes sense. This will depend on who is involved in the process. If you are the only one affected by the outcome, then you have some flexibilities in what the definition should be. If you are using it as part of a team, however, you will need to define it in a more concrete manner. If you allow for any ambiguity, this can delay or even derail your project.
Even within a team, you have some flexibility. However, all changes should be communicated to the team. It is going to affect them which means they have the right to know.
You may recall the goal acronym Called SMART. The “S” stands for specific. The others are measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based. If you don’t get the specific component right from the start, it will set you off in the wrong direction. This is the beacon of your goal navigation if you will. If your beacon is going south when you meant to go north, you can guess things will not turn out as planned.
What kind of business do they want to run? If you are good at advertising and you buy an accounting business, you probably are going to struggle getting this concept to fly. Of course, you could hire talented people who know the accounting side of the business.
On the other hand, if you decided you were going to start a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising agency that helps clients increase their return on investments with Adwords, this is much closer to having a solid goal that is specific. You may be able to refine it even further. Perhaps, the businesses that you target are only B2B, etc. This is much more specific than the higher level PPC advertising to anyone you can find.
Is there room to get more specific with your goals? There usually is, but you don’t want to get so specific that you are only targeting a few clients based on your criteria. This is dangerous as those clients can pull the plug at a moment’s notice. However, you may decide that you want to target businesses who have large advertising budgets, etc. You will have more businesses to work from when you do this.
If you want to know how specific you should be, you should be able to explain your goal to a friend in a way where they don’t need much explanation of your concept. If you find they have a ton of questions or need clarification, this is an indication that further refinement of your goals is needed.
Of course, you will certainly be aware that setting and achieving goals requires a lot of self-discipline, so if you want to learn about growing your own self-discipline then download the featured resource below which is a free report all about the power of self-discipline; download it, read it and take action 😊
How do you move a mountain? One shovelful at a time. It’s a cute saying, but how many of us grab the shovel and start frantically banging away at the mountain, trying to whittle it down through sheer brute force?
That’s why so many ideas to help change your life fail—the frustration gives us an out, a way to rid ourselves of something so vast. It’s an open invitation for defeatism and defeatist thinking.
So how do you move a mountain? You make it into a series of tasks. You have the end goal; now you have to make your timeline. The catch is – you need to make it backward. You need to start with the year-long goal first and then slice it into 12 parts (one for each month).
Then slice each of those into four sections (one for each week) and then each of those into seven (one for each day). See the pattern?
Let’s look at this in a little more detail:
Although it might not be the whole mountain that you’re looking at, your yearly goal should be BIG. At least big enough to be a little scary.
There is wisdom in the expression that “it’s only the frightening things that keep us interested.”
Most of our big goals run into a few general categories.
Instead of making a New Year’s resolution, sit down for an hour or so and daydream about this time next year. What do you want this year to look like at the end of it? Who do you want to be in this year? Be specific. And don’t worry about “how.” That part comes later. Just figure out the “what” for now.
Decide what you can reasonably do in a month. If you’re taking a rock here and there from the mountain, it will never look any different. You need to concentrate on one small part at a time. Go back to that year-long goal and pick something that you can realistically do in a month.
Take the mountain out in monthly chunks. If your overall goal is to change your career, one month might involve learning a new skill set, say a programming language. The next month might be getting real-world experience by designing and building a website for a charity for free, just as a demonstration project.
This time, the re-occurring meeting with yourself is once each week. It can be a shorter meeting, about 15 – 20 minutes to plan out some steps you can take to get closer to your goal in the next seven days.
Write these down. For example, using the idea of working toward a change in careers, week one might be researching the best programming languages to study and which ones are in highest demand. Week two might be working through the first half of the book or video course you have on learning the language, while week three would be finishing the book and making some test programs, and so on.
Maybe you won’t have a finished web page or object-oriented database interface by the end of the week, but you’re making progress to get you there.
Now you’re ready to look at the wheelbarrow full of rocks. In the morning, jot down your to-do list for the goal you have in mind. Following the previous example, you might be doing the next three lessons in the language tutorial, finding a server to create pages on, or learning how to create that database.
This type of planning is flexible and powerful. Instead of saying, “I am moving that mountain,” all you’re saying is “I have a wheelbarrow full of rocks to put over there.” You still have the scary, impressive goal to aim for, but you’ve made it manageable. It’s now broken into bite-sized chunks that you can handle on a day to day basis.
Take control. No one will care about your goals like you will. The timeline here is yours, so take ownership of it. Our calendars control too many of us, instead of us being in control of our calendars.
One final note: Do you know someone that cannot make a move without checking their calendar? Are you one of them? If so, you might be begrudging the time set aside for contemplation each week or each month to get caught up on the progress. Don’t. It’s your schedule, and the end goal is worth the time. If that weren’t the case, you wouldn’t have gotten this far.
You have work/school/kids to work around your schedule. That’s understandable. Few of us do not have a full dance card. But isn’t achieving this beautiful far-flung dream worth skipping an hour of TV each week? What if you sacrificed that time you’d spend playing that game on your phone, or checking Facebook?
This fact is especially important for children. Trying to achieve a balance between work and family, and still finding time for some self-investment is a delicate thing. Remember that word – this is an investment. You are investing time and energy and even money into your future. Keep in mind; the payout will benefit you as well as your family.
While this tool is a form of time management, it’s a different type. It’s counting down, making the goal smaller and smaller instead of planning. You’re planning backward – to go forward. Stay the course, and those yearly goals won’t know what hit them!
