If you’re thinking that is no right or wrong way to write down your goals – you couldn’t be more wrong.
There are few separate occasions each year (think birthdays, Christmas and New Year) when people tend to focus on setting goals they want to achieve in the following year. While some might be more realistic than others, people rarely go through with these forced resolutions.
And the reason why it happens isn’t because of what goals were set, but how they were set.
When setting and writing down their goals, people tend to focus more on the goal itself and what it means to them, instead of the actual way they can achieve it. Without a sound plan in place, reaching even a perfectly obtainable goal is extremely hard, and sometimes even downright impossible. That kind of failure is hard on everybody, and can often prevent people from aiming high and striving for greatness.
Although this might sound overly pessimistic, it’s a reality many people face. Luckily, there is a right way you can set and manage your goals. Incorporating these few simple steps into your yearly goal-setting routine will help you get better at it, enabling you to achieve things you never thought were possible.
Step 1: Don’t think too much
People usually spend a while thinking about their goals and analyzing them before they actually write them down. That means by the time your goals reach the paper, they’re already filtered out and ranked.
This is an entirely wrong way of doing it, as it fails to provide you with your raw, unfiltered thoughts and wishes.
Instead, take a piece of paper and set a timer for two minutes – setting a tight time frame will prevent you from thinking too much and overanalyzing what you write. Start the clock and write down as many things as you can think of that you’d like to happen in the next year. It can be as simple and uneventful as being more organized, or as monumental and life-changing as moving to another country or starting a family.
Being forced to write so many things down in such a short period of time will help you get a better idea of what you really want deep inside.
Step 2: Think a bit
Once you’ve got your impromptu, ad hoc goals written down, you can take a while to think about some of the other things you’d like to accomplish.
The things you consider longer are more likely to be a bit more thought-out and realistic than your spur of the moment wishes – and that’s great. It’s the combination of these two types of goals that you should be striving for.
These goals are also less likely to be plagued with as many hardships and challenges as your spontaneous wishes usually are. That means that these goals are not only just more realistic but also much easier to put into practice than you might think they are.
Step 3: Identify what’s most important
Take the two lists you’ve made and single out the goal that’s the most important to you. It’s important to remember that the most life-changing goal doesn’t necessarily have to be the most important one
It’s important not to rush this – take some time and really think about which one of your goals is the most meaningful to you.
Step 4: Get proactive
Now that you’ve got your important, your thought-out and your spontaneous goals all set out in front of you, it’s time to get proactive.
Start writing all of the steps and actions you need to take to achieve each and every one of the goals you’ve set. Don’t leave anything out – even the most mundane things are easy to forget or skip if you don’t have them written down.
Step 5: Create your own blog
Based on our personal experience, we can strongly agree on the fact that there’s no better way to stick to your goals than to share them with your friends and family. Having the people closest to you aware of your resolutions can be a fantastic motivator to do your best to achieve them.
Handing out handwritten lists of your goals to all of your friends isn’t all that practical. There’s an easier, and a definitely more fun way to do that – a personal blog. It’s an interesting and unique way you can keep your goals close to you at all times.
However, you don’t want to be spending the hours you could use to get closer to your future plans on building a website. SITE123 is a fantastic free website building platform you can use to create a beautiful, inspiring personal blog in minutes.
Having a constant reminder of what you’re striving for at your fingertips is pretty convenient, and seeing all those things getting crossed off the list one by one is the best motivation there is.
Knowing how to set your goals right is as important as taking the steps to achieve those goals. These four simple steps will help you go from intimidated and unsure to a positive, confident goal-getter ready to take all the necessary steps to get where you want to go.