At any stage in our life, it’s essential to have new goals to keep us motivated and excited about our daily work. So whether you are looking to push yourself further in your personal or professional life, setting SMART goals is the way forward. Keep reading to discover how to set goals and create a plan to help you achieve them in the upcoming months or years.
Think and Grow Rich
by Napoleon Hill
⏱ 13 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Use the SMART Goals Method
SMART goal setting is one of the best ways to help you clarify your aims and focus on achieving what you set out to do. The SMART goals method focuses on creating specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-sensitive goals. By keeping all of these five areas in mind for each goal you set, you can ensure you don’t overwhelm yourself when making plans for your future. One of the most common reasons people fail when setting goals is that they aren’t realistic and measurable. When you overwhelm yourself by planning unrealistic goals, you’ll soon be put off from making any effort to achieve them.
Here are the key things to keep in mind when it comes to setting SMART goals:
- Specific – Make sure your goals are simple and sensible. Don’t create vague goals where you won’t know if you’ve reached the goal in the future.
- Measurable – To keep your motivation high, you need to be able to measure your goal. This could be achieving a new position at work, saving a certain amount of money, or selling a specific number of products.
- Achievable – Don’t make your goals so difficult that they are unattainable. While we’d all like to be able to run a marathon if you’ve never entered a 5k before, start with something more realistic.
- Relevant – Your goals need to be relevant to your life and your career. Don’t base your goals on someone else’s dreams. Also, keep in mind the resources available to you so that you don’t feel disappointed when you are unable to achieve your goals.
- Time-bound – A goal should always have an end date in mind. This helps to keep you motivated and on route to achieving your goals in the future. The length of time will depend on the goal but could be a week, month, or year.
How to Create SMART Goals That You’ll Really Achieve
Now that you know what a SMART goal is, you need to apply this to your personal situation. For example, if you aim to train for a race or save up for a house deposit, go through each stage to create an achievable and realistic goal. Make sure you aren’t creating vague goals with no end date, as this is one of the most common reasons people give up on their goals. With the new year fast approaching, it’s a great time to sit down and think about what you’d like to achieve next year. Don’t just create goals you need a whole year to achieve, though, and set smaller goals that you can tick off within a week or month. The more often you achieve your goals, the more motivated you’ll be to keep going on this journey.
Measuring Your Goals
One of the key ways to ensure you stay on track with your goals is to plan out how you will measure them. For example, if you want to sell 100 products this month, break it down into weekly targets. You’ll find that these mini-goals help you to take smaller steps to achieve your overall goal. Next, find a notebook or diary which allows you to track your goals, and keep reviewing the goal each week to see how you are progressing. While there will be good and bad days on your journey, you’ll find that you stay motivated when you realize how far you’ve already come by tracking your progress more regularly.
Tell Your Friends and Family About Your Goals
While some goals may be very personal, for the most part, we recommend sharing your goals with someone you trust. This could be your boss, a colleague, or partner, but it needs to be someone who will check in with you regularly to see how you are doing. The more you hold yourself accountable for your goals, the more likely you will achieve them. If you are trying to accomplish a personal goal, why not consider doing this alongside someone else? You can find a local support group for almost anything nowadays, and you’ll find like-minded people who are on the same journey as you to support each other.
Write Your Goals Down
Although you likely know your goals by heart, we recommend writing them down to hold yourself accountable. First, find somewhere to write your goals that you’ll see every day, such as your office or bedroom. Then, each morning when you wake up, you’ll be reminded of your goals. From there, you can take small steps each day to get you closer to these goals. This is especially important if your goal is related to your overall lifestyle. For example, you might find that putting your health or fitness goals on the fridge stops you from snacking late at night. Finally, put your goal somewhere where you are tempted to take actions that will stop you from reaching your goal. Along with everything else we’ve mentioned so far, this is one of the best ways to reach your goals in less time than you imagined possible.
To reach your goals this year, we recommend taking the time to plan out your goals and how you will achieve them. Break your goals down into small and achievable mini-goals, and you’ll find that even the most significant task seems more manageable. The SMART goal-setting method is used by people worldwide and is known for helping people get one step closer to their dream life. We often put off starting work towards our goals as they seem overwhelming, but by breaking them down into smaller sections, you’ll start living a life you are proud of in no time at all.
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