Setting Goals
You must create objectives if you want to achieve. You lack concentration and direction if you don’t have objectives. Setting goals not only helps you to take charge of your life’s path, but it also gives you a baseline to measure if you’re succeeding. Consider this: having a million dollars in the bank is only evidence of success if amassing wealth is one of your objectives. If your purpose is to do acts of generosity, retaining the money for oneself becomes anathema to your definition of success.
To achieve your objectives, you must first understand how to establish them. You can’t just say “I want” and expect it to be fulfilled. Setting goals is a process that begins with thorough contemplation of what you want to accomplish and concludes with a lot of hard effort to actually accomplish it. There are some pretty well-defined phases in between that go beyond the details of each aim. Knowing how to take these stages can help you set objectives that you can achieve.
Setting Goals
Five Golden Principles
- Make a list of goals that will inspire you.
When you create goals for yourself, it’s critical that they drive you: this involves ensuring that they’re meaningful to you and that reaching them is worthwhile. If the result is unimportant to you, or if it is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, the odds of you putting in the effort to make it happen are small. In order to achieve your objectives, you must be motivated.
Set objectives that are related to your top priorities. You might wind up with far too many objectives if you don’t have this kind of concentration, and you won’t have the time to commit to each one. Goal attainment requires dedication, thus you must have a feeling of urgency and an attitude of “I must do this” to increase your chances of success. You risk putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality if you don’t have this. As a result, you’ll feel dissatisfied and upset with yourself, which will demotivate you. And you may find yourself in a self-destructive “I can’t achieve anything or succeed at anything” mindset.
- Set SMART Objectives
SMART objectives are certainly something you’ve heard about before. Do you, however, always follow the rule? The basic reality is that in order for objectives to be effective, they must be established in a SMART manner. The acronym SMART represents for a variety of things, but the essential is this: objectives should be:
Set Clear and Well-Defined Goals: Your aim should be clear and well-defined. Goals that are vague or generic are ineffective because they lack direction. Keep in mind that you’ll need objectives to guide you. Make it as simple as possible to reach where you want to go by specifying your destination in detail.
Set Measurable Objectives: Include specific amounts, dates, and other details in your goals so that you can track your progress. How would you know when you’ve achieved your objective if it’s as simple as “lower expenses”? If you have a 1% decrease in a month, what will you do in two years if you have a 10% reduction? You lose out on the joy that comes with knowing you’ve accomplished something if you don’t have a means to track your progress.
Set Attainable Goals: Make sure the objectives you set are attainable. You will simply demoralise yourself and weaken your confidence if you set a goal that you have little chance of attaining. However, avoid the temptation to create overly simple targets. At best, achieving a goal for which you didn’t have to work hard might be anticlimactic, and it can also make you avoid establishing future objectives with a chance of failure. You achieve the necessary balance by establishing reasonable but demanding objectives. These are the sorts of objectives that force you to “lift the bar,” and they provide the most personal fulfilment.
Set Relevant Goals: Your goals should be relevant to the path you intend to pursue in your life and work. You’ll acquire the concentration you need to move ahead and achieve what you want if you maintain your objectives aligned with this. Set objectives that are disjointed and inconsistent, and you’ll waste your time – and your life.
Set Time-Bound Goals: Your objectives must be time-bound. This implies you’ll be able to recognise when you’ve achieved something. When you’re working on a deadline, your feeling of urgency rises, and you’ll accomplish more quickly.
- Set Writing Objectives
When you write down a goal, it becomes real and concrete. You have no justification for overlooking it. Use the word “will” instead of “would like to” or “may” in your writing. “I will cut my operating expenditures by 10% this year,” rather than “I would want to lower my operating expenses by 10% this year,” for example. The first goal statement is powerful because you can “see” yourself cutting costs, but the second lacks passion and provides an excuse if you fall off course.
Post your objectives somewhere where you can see them every day to remind yourself of what you want to accomplish. As a continual reminder, post them on your walls, desk, computer display, bathroom mirror, or refrigerator.
- Make a plan of action.
This is a crucial phase in the goal-setting process that is sometimes overlooked. You get so focused on the end result that you overlook all of the necessary stages along the road. You’ll notice that you’re making progress toward your final objective if you write down the individual tasks and then check them off as you fulfil them. This is particularly critical if your objective is large and difficult to achieve, or if it is long-term. For additional information on how to achieve this, see our page on Action Plans.
- Hold on to it!
Remember that goal-setting is a continuous process, not only a means to an end. Set reminders to keep yourself on track, and schedule time to evaluate your objectives on a regular basis. While your long-term target may stay the same, the action plan you create for yourself along the way may alter dramatically. Maintain a high level of relevance, value, and need.