Goal Setting. A How-To Guide.

"Setting goals is the first step to turning the invisible into the visible"

What is Goal Setting?

Do you ever daydream about the things that you’re extremely passionate about? A dream career? A dream physique? Those aspirations that drive you so completely bonkers, that you can’t stop thinking about it, so you write it down and post it on your mirror? Congratulations… you just set a goal.

Now in all reality, I’m sure you’re aware of what goals are. I mean, you’ve been writing them down in your agendas since grade school. But now you’re at the age where you have much bigger aspirations than that one poster board due tomorrow morning in 6th grade and you’re working up the courage to ask your parents for help last minute.

You have a hundred things going on in your mind at once, I get it. I bet you’re constantly thinking, “how the hell am I gonna achieve this goal when I have a million other things going on right now?”. Well... I’m here to help.

Here you’re going to learn how to properly set goals so you can accomplish anything your heart desires AND in an efficient manner.

Why set Goals?

Successful business people, pro-level athletes, and high achievers, in any field, all set goals.

“Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation.”

Goal setting focuses your learning of knowledge and helps you organize your time and resources so you can make the most of your life. By setting defined and specific goals, you’re able to properly track progress and take achievement for accomplishing those goals. You'll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long and pointless grind.

Setting definitive steps towards a goal allows you to take the appropriate steps towards that overarching achievement and sets you up for success.

Your mind isn’t wandering around thinking about a hundred tasks anymore because you’ve laid it all out for yourself beforehand. Plus, your self-confidence increases because let's face it, it’s pretty satisfying to cross off those tasks from your list each day.

How to Set Goals?

You may be asking, “so let's get to the point, man, how do I start setting my goals properly?”.

To achieve your goals, you should break them down into a hierarchy of levels:

1. First, you start with a list of large-scale goals that you’d like to achieve, say, over the next 10 or so years).
2. Then you break each of these goals into smaller targets that can be accomplished over time. (For example, you may want to lose 20 or so lbs over the next year. Break this down into losing ½ lb each week, etc.)
3. Once you have each goal broken down into smaller, more obtainable goals, then execute the plan and commit to it daily.

Step 1: Setting large-scale goals

The first step to setting your goals is to list out every goal that you’d like to achieve in your lifetime. Setting larger goals will give you a grand perspective on what your life may be like and shapes your decision making for the future.

To get a broad coverage over significant areas of your life, here’s a few categories to consider:

• Career - what do you want to achieve in your career? What are you going to do for a living that means the most to you?
• Financial - How much do you want to earn, and by what stage of your life? Related to career?
• Education - Is there any knowledge you wish to acquire specifically? What skills do you wish to obtain in order to reach your goals?
• Family - Do you want to be a parent? If so, how are you going to raise your children? How do you want to be perceived by your partner or extended family?
• Attitude - Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Is there any part of the way that you behave that you dislike? (If so, how can you improve?)
• Physical - Are there any athletic or fitness goals you wish to achieve? Do you want to be in good health at an old age? How can you achieve this?

Step 2: Break Larger Goals into Smaller Targets

Once you have those larger-scale goals set in place, it’s time to break those down into more achievable targets that can be accomplished over time.

Take your larger goal and set a five-year plan for smaller goals that you need to complete in order to reach your larger goal.

After, create a one-year plan, six-month plan, one-month plan, and so forth of progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your larger-scale goals. Each of these smaller targets will be based on the previous plan. Get it?

*TIP:

In order to prioritize which goal to work on first, author of the book, The ONE Thing, Jay Papasan, broke it down perfectly.

• To start, write down about 20-25 goals that you wish to accomplish.
• Then choose 5-10 of those goals you wish to achieve first, or is of most priority.
• Now, rewrite a list of those 10 goals. Then, circle the ONE thing that takes most priority and can be accomplished first.
• After, repeat this process until you have 3-5 of your MOST important tasks that can be accomplished the soonest.

Now you have a priority list of the top 5 tasks that need to be accomplished first, starting with number ONE. Now go execute that first goal.

SMART Goals:

SMART goals are extremely useful when thinking about goal setting. But, what are SMART goals?

SMART Goals are statements of specificity that explain what you are working to accomplish. It can be broken down by the mnemonic – you guessed it… SMART:

• Specific - What will be accomplished? What actions will you take?
• Measurable - What data will measure the goal? How much? How well?
• Achievable - Is the goal doable? Do you have the necessary resources to accomplish this?
• Relevant - How does the goal align with broader goals? Why is the result important?
• Time-Bound - What’s the time-frame for accomplishing this goal?

Extended Tips for Setting Goals

• Set achievable goals - It’s important to set goals that you can achieve. Bosses at work, friends, or even family, can set unrealistic goals for you. This is often done in ignorance to your own desires and ambitions.

It’s still important, however, to set goals that seem like you’re “shooting for the stars” and are too far off into the distance. This is because if that larger-sale goal is TOO achievable, then you’ll never know if you’re able to actually execute and achieve it.

So please do “reach for the stars” and set goals that seem too out of reach, so that if you don’t achieve them just yet, you’re still well ahead of where you thought you would be.

• State each goal as a positive statement - Express your goals positively. (saying “execute this step well” is much better than, “don’t make this stupid mistake”.
• Write goals down - Writing your goals down solidifies them into existence and gives them more force.
• Set priorities - When you have several goals swimming around your mind, give each a priority. This helps to avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones. (See TIP above!)
• Be precise - Set precise goals, putting in dates, times, and amounts so that you can easily measure achievement. If this is done, then you’ll know exactly when you’ve achieved a goal, and receive some satisfaction from having achieved it!
• Set performance goals, not outcome goals - You should set goals where you have as much control as possible. It can be very disheartening when you fail to achieve a goal for reasons that are beyond your control. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of them, and bring satisfaction to them.

Achieving Your Goals!

When you’ve achieved one of your goals, please take the time to enjoy the satisfaction from doing it! Absorb the inference of the achievement, and observe the progress that you’ve made towards your other goals.

If the goal was a larger, significant one, then reward yourself appropriately! This will all help you to build self-confidence, which you deserve!

With the experience and knowledge gained from achieving this goal, review the rest of your plans:

• If you achieved this goal too easily, then reevaluate and make the next goal harder.
• If the goal took a disheartening length of time to accomplish, then make the next goal a bit easier.
• If you learned something that would lead you to change your other goals, then do so!
• If you noticed a deficit in your skills despite achieving the goal, decide whether to set more goals to fix this.

In the end,

properly prioritizing and planning out your larger-scale goals into much smaller, more achievable, target goals, makes your dreams and desires are even more achievable! All you need to do now is EXECUTE! Have some discipline and consistently work towards your dreams everyday and nothing is out of your grasp! Good luck and #KEEPPLUGGIN.

Until Next Time.

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References:

“SMART Goals: How to Guide.” How to Write SMART Goals, University of California, https://www.ucop.edu/local-human-resources/_files/performance-appraisal/How%20to%20write%20SMART%20Goals%20v2.pdf.

The Mind Tools Content Team By the Mind Tools Content Team, et al. “Personal Goal Setting: – Planning to Live Your Life Your Way.” How to Set SMART Goals - from MindTools.com, https://www.mindtools.com/page6.html.