5 Personal Goal Setting Strategies That Actually Work
6 minute read
What you will get from this article | Quick navigation links
Finding Your Why
Goal setting is a skill you develop. You don’t come into existence with crystal clear goals for how you’ll make your mark on the world. As a dance educator, one of the first exercises I did with my students every year was fill out a goal setting worksheet.
Here are the three things that often occurred during this activity -
Students would not know what to write about.
Their goals were too general.
Their ideas were unrealistic (think “doing a triple backflip with no springboard.)
Everyone wants to do something meaningful with their lives they love. However, knowing what that something is can be impossible to figure out if you’re not goal oriented. The key to achieving your dreams is to set clear goals and have an execution plan. Personal goal setting helps you find your why (your reason for being) and you must take actionable steps to get there. Doing fulfilling things with your life is possible, but it requires planning and a lot of hard work.
The Age of Insta Gratification
It’s disheartening to me how society today prides itself on instant gratification. Instagram provides snapshots and clips of amazing achievement and beauty. YouTube is full of videos about how to make thousands of dollars per week while you sleep. However, the person who focuses solely on the result rarely understands what goes into creating that existence. I’ve had to explain to my students that basing their goals on an achievement without understanding the work that goes into it will make them give up within the first week. Instead, I suggest trying to focus on improvement, not perfection.
Over 80% of all New Year’s resolutions fail because they’re a trendy way to express an admirable inclination. You’re just blurting out a broad idea of something you want. If you want to follow the path that influential people have forged, get inspired and specific. Even if you just want simple things like a nice house, a lean healthy body, and a stable career, you will need a plan to make those things reality. The aforementioned examples are not goals, they’re just wishes until you organize the steps to take.
Become an Alchemist
Most people think alchemy is a mystical practice of turning base metals into gold. True alchemy is the process of transformation or creation of something. By creating a goal and working towards it, you are transforming into the person you are meant to be. How amazing is that? Let’s define the perfect goals for you, what to focus on and when, and how to accomplish your goals the right way.
Step 1: Create a bucket list
A bucket list contains big picture goals. Think of what you want to accomplish before you die. Go big and broad here because you’ll narrow your focus in the following steps. Write whatever fits the bill for bucket list ideas by thinking about personal goals, family goals, career goals, travel goals, etc. Don’t spend a ton of time on this step. You just need five minutes to go with your instincts.
Step 2: Create your timelines
Here’s the first phase of narrowing down your big ideas. Go through your list and honestly think about how long it will take to cross each item off. Let’s say you wrote “lose weight.” To transform this wish into a goal, you need to get specific. Decide your target. Whether it’s 50 pounds or 5 pounds, determine roughly how long it might take to get you there. Don’t worry about researching precise metrics and exercise plans yet. Just estimate and put down a number.
Step 3: Choose your focus word for the year
This step correlates with bucket list items that will take up to a year to achieve. Pick one of your semi long-term goals and assign a word or short phrase to it. Let’s say you choose, “start my photography business.” Maybe you would name this goal, “Financial Stability” or “Dream Job.” Make it whatever you want as long as it’s short and easy to remember (corny catch phrases are easy to remember.)
Once you’ve chosen your word or phrase, make it the year’s focus. Write the first three steps or mini-goals that will help you work towards this focus. In the instance of creating a photography business, write some specifics.
What type of photography are you interested in?
Who does it serve?
Why do I want to create this business?
It’s important to be distinct about why you want to do something. If you aren’t excited about the idea you’ve chosen, then you won’t put forth the effort necessary to make it happen. Creating a successful business in five years won’t happen unless you’re ready to hustle. Be clear on the steps to take or you’ll end up hustling yourself into a sad, sweaty heap before you land your first paying client.
Once you’ve written some specifics and your first three mini goals, narrow your focus even more. Decide what steps to take each month, each week and each day. By breaking down your process into smaller parts, you’ll be less overwhelmed. The daily tasks usually begin with some form of research, so plan a specific amount of time you’ll dedicate to reading and gathering information.
Step 4: Choose an accountability partner
This may be the most important step towards achieving your goals. External motivation is necessary for success. Humans are social creatures that thrive on input, support, and even competition from others. When choosing an accountability partner, pick someone you trust or someone who is working towards a similar goal.
A family member or a close friend is the obvious first choice because they care about you. Your success may directly affect them. They can also be the voice of reason if you get lax or go down an undesirable path.
Another option is to find a group of people on a similar journey to yours. Just like there’s an app for everything, there’s a Facebook group for everything. When I need fresh ideas and accountability, I consult a relevant Facebook group. These communities provide direct access to people at different stages of a similar path. Best of all, these are people who want to engage and help each other. Comment and ask questions weekly to make the most of new connections.
Step 5: Reflect and direct
As you work towards a goal, you’ll have bad days. There will be times when you feel like a failure or get overwhelmed. This is normal when you do something new or difficult. “New” and “difficult” are not excuses to give up. They’re tests to see if you really want to succeed.
When you hit low points remember your why, your purpose, and what this goal means to you. Think about all the positive things you stand to gain by continuing on and all the negative things that might occur if you give up. If you find that a certain task or mini-goal isn’t working for you, direct your efforts differently. Try exploring a different way of working and see if things improve. Priorities shift and aspirations change, so adjust your execution plan. If you feel like giving up entirely, ask yourself what you could do differently instead.
Then keep going.
Are you ready to set some personal goals? Grab my free printable here and start thinking aspirationally in the long term, short term, and today.
If you found value in this post consider becoming a part of the Speaker Fam and joining my email list!
Yours in Dream Achievement,
Melanie
Additional reading I’ve found useful: Personal Goal Setting from MindTools.com
