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Goal Setting For Success

With a new year comes new goals. However, many of you may have started last year off with a bang, and then within a month or two your enthusiasm dwindled down. By creating better goals, you are setting yourself up for more success. How does one create better goals? There are four key themes present when making goals.

BE DETAILED

Want to set yourself up for success, be detailed. A detailed goal has a measurable outcome.

For example:

  • Non-detailed goal: “Get healthier”.
  • Moderately-detailed goal: “Go to the gym three times a week”.
  • Very detailed goal: “I will go to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, and friday at 6am for an hour”.

Which goal is setting you up for success? By having a measurable goal you are able to identify areas of struggle or strength. This helps set you up for the second theme that is present in goal making.

ADAPT & BE HONEST

After you create a measurable goal, you must be honest with yourself about how you are doing thus far. If we look back at the previous example above about going to the gym, the detailed goal gives us variables we can measure.

  • Variable 1: Going to the gym three times a week
  • Variable 2: Going to the gym at 6 am
  • Variable 3: Going to the gym for an hour each time

After a month of practicing a goal, take time to reflect. Let’s say you are doing awesome at going to the gym three times a week! Wahoo! However, you are going for only a half hour. It is time to be honest with yourself.

Do you need to adjust your goal to be more realistic? Maybe because you are finding it easy to go, you bump up the amount of days to five days a week, and continue to go for only a half hour. Or, perhaps you are going only for a half hour because 6 am doesn’t allow you enough time to shower and get ready for work?


Whatever the reason, adapt your goals.

Do not make it so easy that it’s not a challenge anymore, but make it an achievable challenge. Once you are comfortable in that, then dive into the goals that require much more dedication to reach.

Making and achieving goals are a muscle you must flex on a daily basis in order to create more willpower and strength within you.

Goal Setting

MAKE A PLAN

Every goal needs a plan. If your goal is written well, part of the plan will be within the goal.

Questions to ask yourself:

  • What steps will I have to take in order to achieve my goal?
  • What may be something that gets in the way of me achieving my goal?
  • How can I avoid the obstacles? Or how can I prepare myself for the obstacles? 
  • How will I feel once I achieve this goal?
  • Who can help empower me to achieve this goal?

Example: I want to become healthier. I will do this by going to the gym three times a week for an hour at 6 am. It might be hard for me to wake up in time for me to leave by six am. I can avoid this by going to be earlier, or having Ashley (who wakes up at five) call me everyday at 5:15 to make sure I am getting up for the gym. After doing this for 6 months I know I am going to feel more confident, strong, and proud of what I have achieved.

By answering these questions you help create a success plan. You are able to forsee the difficulties which will inevitably pop-up. You will make your goal more detailed and this will help you visualize how awesome you will feel once you have accomplished this goal you created. 

ACCOUNTABILITY

Some of us are unable to keep ourselves accountable. If you find that you let yourself off the hook too often, it is time to find some stronger accountability.

Someone who helps keep you accountable is:

  • Honest: They will tell you how it is, even if it is not what you want to hear.
  • Trustworthy: They will be there everyday checking in with you.
  • Determined: They want you to succeed just as much as you do.

CONCLUSION

By setting goals that are detailed and measurable, you are creating a foundation of success to build upon.

New goals are goals because it isn’t easy, be honest with yourself and adapt your goal as needed. If you made your goal just a little too big, or a little too small, make the needed adjustments to make it an achievable challenge.

Make a plan, look at the potential difficulties and allow that to inform your goal. Visualize how you will feel once you have completed that goal, and use that power to propel you forward each day.

Your goals should stretch you, by having a close friend keep you accountable it increases your chance of success.

Go get writing!

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