5 Simple Goal Setting Techniques That Work
In order to improve your ability to accomplish more and be more productive, you need to be able to set goals that you can achieve. Many successful people set goals each day so that they know what they want to achieve for the day, then set out to achieve those goals. Learn five simple steps you can use below to help you set goals that you can achieve so you can accomplish more and be more productive.
First, be sure to write down the goals you actually want to achieve. Many people just think about the goals they want to achieve, but never actually write them down. Some may question what writing down goals will do to help them achieve those goals. Writing them down (either on paper or electronically via Notepad, an app, etc.) actually creates a record of what you want to do so that you can refer back to it and see whether you have achieved what you wanted to do for the day or not.
Second, write down realistic goals for the day, week, and month. These goals need to be ones you can realistically achieve within the specified time period. If you write down goals that are impossible to reach within the time period, you’re only going to get discouraged over not reaching them and think that goal-setting doesn’t work to make you more productive.
Third, when it comes down to larger goals (especially those that take several days or longer to fully achieve), break them down into more manageable parts and write down each part. Estimate how long it will take to complete each part, then write down a part per day to help you achieve larger, longer-term goals.
Fourth, at the end of the day, take a few minutes to review how well you do each day when it comes to accomplishing the goals you set out to achieve for the day. If you fail to achieve a goal for the day, think over why you didn’t achieve the goal; was it because you weren’t putting forth your best effort or procrastinating, or was it due to some external circumstance you couldn’t control? Determine what it was and, if it was through your own personal fault that you didn’t accomplish the goal, consider what you can do in your actions to help you avoid falling short of reaching future goals.
Fifth, when you review your goals for the day, if you achieve every one of your goals, pat yourself on the back and reward yourself with something- it can be spending some extra time doing something you like, such as listening to music, working out, etc. If you continue to meet your goals every day and accomplish more longer-term goals, consider rewarding yourself with something even more special- perhaps a vacation, a new item you wanted to buy, more time off, etc. By rewarding yourself when you achieve your goals, you’ll reinforce the actions you need to take to reach the goals you want to achieve.
Quick Daily Tips To Reaching Your Goals
In order to accomplish the tasks and have the success we want to achieve, we need to be able to reach the goals we set consistently and continuously. Failure to do this on a consistent basis will result in us falling short of our goals and not being as productive as we expect and want to be. The tips and information below will help you to reach your goals more consistently no matter what those goals may be.
First, a major key in reaching any goal is focus. If you can remain focused, you can get more done in less time. If you tend to lose focus frequently, figure out why you do so. Are you not getting enough sleep at night? Are you bored by the work that you are doing? Are you worried about some issue, whether at work, home, or both? You need to overcome the issue that is causing you to lose focus, as focus is a major key in reaching the goals you want to reach in the shortest amount of time possible.
Second, be sure you set realistic goals. If you set unrealistic goals and fall short of them, that’s only going to discourage you and hurt your self-esteem, especially if you continuously fall short of those hard-to-reach goals. “Reaching for the moon” is great, but we all have our limitations, and even the best of us can only do so much in so much time. Expect much from yourself, but don’t expect so much that you can’t possibly achieve it even if you put in 110% effort for hours every day. Be realistic in your goals, and the continued success of achieving them will help to push your confidence and self-esteem to new heights and levels of productivity.
Third, at the end of each day, review what goals you accomplished and what goals you missed. Determine why you missed the goals that you did. Was it because of a lack of effort and/or focus on your part? Did something come up that was unexpected when working on a task, thereby altering the realistic timetable for completing the task? By reviewing the goals you achieved and did not achieve each day, you become better at recognizing what goals you achieve easily and what goals you don’t so that you can adjust your actions and focus accordingly for goals you often miss and do a better job of regularly achieving those goals in the future.
3 Ways To Set Goals And Reach Them
In order to become more productive and have better self-esteem about your ability, it is important to set goals and reach them. This includes goals for the day, as well as longer-term goals that span several days, weeks, months, and even for the year. The more goals you can successfully achieve, the greater your self-confidence and self-esteem will be, which will lead to you becoming even more productive. Learn three ways of setting goals and reaching them below.
First, be sure to write your goals down. This includes for the day, for the week, for the month, and even for the year (especially at the beginning of a new year). Many people overlook the power that writing your goals down has. Writing your goals down will enable you to look back at it and determine whether you are staying on track to achieving them or if you are falling behind. If you just have a mental record of your goals, it’s much harder to keep yourself accountable because you may either forget your exact goals or you’ll just push them to the back of your mind if you do fall behind and not achieve them.
Second, be sure to set realistic goals. Setting unrealistic goals with no chance of completing them within the given time frame will only discourage you in your ability to complete quality work within a given time frame, plus lower your self-esteem and self-confidence. You want your focused, determined effort to be rewarded by achieving reachable goals each day, week, month, etc. Putting down unattainable goals does not help you to become more productive and more capable of reaching challenging goals.
Third, be sure to set some goals that are challenging. Only setting goals that are very easy to attain defeats the purpose of setting goals because you’ll keep achieving them and thinking that you are being so productive and effective at achieving your goals that when you come across a challenging task, you won’t have the skill set and focus needed to achieve it, fail to achieve it, and then be down on yourself because of your failure. Life isn’t just made up of easy tasks; some of what life throws at you is hard, and only determined, focused effort will lead to the results that you want to achieve. Some of the goals you need to set have to be challenging enough to where you have to put in determined, focused effort in order to achieve those goals. That’s how you grow as an individual to become more productive and capable of handling challenging tasks and achieving worthwhile goals that can dramatically improve your life.
Short-Term Versus Long-Term Goals
There are two main types of goals that you can strive to achieve- short-term goals and long-term goals. Short-term goals are those goals that usually involve relatively easy to moderate tasks and that can be completed within a relatively short period of time – usually from within a few minutes to maybe a few weeks at most. Long-term goals are those goals that usually involve either harder tasks and/or a much higher number of relatively easy to moderate tasks that take longer to complete- usually from one or more weeks to several months or even a year or more. We will go over more of the differences between short-term and long-term goals below.
Short-term goals are those goals that usually can be accomplished within a few minutes to maybe a few weeks at most. For instance, if you are a student and have a test at the end of the upcoming week, you will need to review the material and prepare for the test. Doing well on that test can be considered a short-term goal. If you are an entrepreneur and plan to promote someone else’s product, creating a few email marketing campaigns and a few social media posts could be considered a short-term goal, since completing such campaigns and posts should only take a few hours at most to complete.
Long-term goals are those goals that usually need a few weeks to even a few years to accomplish. For instance, if you are a student, doing well on your final exam for a course could be considered a long-term goal, since you have to review all of the course material from the past several weeks in order to do well on that exam. Graduating from high school or college can also be considered a long-term goal, as it often takes four years (or sometimes more in the case of college) to get your diploma or degree. If you are an entrepreneur, preparing for your own product launch and recruiting affiliates to promote your launch can be considered a long-term goal, since it will usually take several months to successfully launch a product and benefit from it. Usually, such a product launch can be vital to your business’ profitability and success, which is another reason why it’s a long-term goal- it’s very important to do it well, which means that much focused effort over a long period of time has to be given to it in order to reach that long-term goal.
Your Shortcut To Turning Goals Into Reality
Everyone has accomplishments that he/she wants to achieve; in other words, people have goals that they want to reach. What many of us struggle with is that we often don’t achieve the accomplishments we want to achieve and fall short in the goals that we want to reach. When we don’t achieve goals we want to reach, we feel disappointed and even dejected over falling short. What we need to do is to consistently turn those goals into reality in order to boost our self-esteem and our self-confidence in achieving the goals we set for ourselves. Learn how to turn more of your goals into reality below.
When you are attempting to turn more of your goals into reality, you need to think and start small. In other words, don’t set these lofty goals that you have no way of reaching. If you are obese and want to lose 100 pounds, you’re NOT going to achieve that in one week or even one month, even if you exercise several hours a day and cut your food intake to one to two meals per day. Yet, if you set your goal to losing all of that weight within one week or even one month, you’re going to fall short and be down on yourself because you fell short.
Instead, set more manageable and attainable goals so that you can turn more of them into reality. If you’re obese and want to lose 100 pounds, start off by aiming to lose 5 pounds by the end of the month. Most dietitians and physicians recommend losing about 1 pound per week; therefore, you would be attempting to lose just over 1 pound per week. If you set a more realistic goal of losing 5 pounds per month, you are likelier to achieve it through good weight management (i.e. less food, more exercise, etc.). This will boost your self-esteem and self-confidence in your ability to lose your overall goal of 100 pounds. Plus, you could lose even more than five pounds per month, which can boost your self-esteem and self-confidence even more so that you achieve your long-term goal of 100 pounds quickly than you expect (i.e. in 20 months, as 5 pounds times 20 months equals 100 pounds).
Therefore, the shortcut of turning your goals into reality is setting more manageable, attainable goals and achieving them. This will boost your self-esteem and self-confidence to where you can more easily achieve your long-term, overall goals, while achieving short-term goal after short-term goal immediately.
How To Discover Your True Goals
Virtually everyone has many goals that he/she wants to accomplish over his/her life. However, we often don’t know what our true or ultimate goals are, especially right away. Children often don’t know what they want to become as adults until they enter college or even later. Sometimes, adults question whether their first career path is the career path they really want to do for the rest of their lives. In other words, it can be difficult to know what our true goals are. Learn how you can determine what your true goals are below.
When attempting to learn what your true goals are, pay attention to what really motivates you. What really excites you in your life? What do you often find yourself talking about with friends and family? Whatever that topic or subject is, chances are that having some activity or even an occupation/career centered around that topic or subject is what will really interest you, bring your life meaning, and help you to find your true goals in life.
Virtually everyone wants to feel useful, but we often don’t know what our true calling is, especially right away. Also pay attention to what you seem to excel at- this could be painting, drawing, creating graphics, creating content (i.e. writing), building, playing sports, speaking, etc. Oftentimes, the activities we have an aptitude for is another sign of what we were meant to do and what our true goals are.
When we determine what really excites us in our lives, see what goals we can accomplish in regards to that occupation or career. What heights or levels can we reach? If it’s writing, can we inspire other people to improve their lives and make a better world through our books, blog posts, and articles? If it’s drawing, can we make people smile and be happier by creating imaginative and funny comic strips and picture books?
Also, look at your life and really ask yourself what you want to accomplish before you leave this life? What do you want your legacy to look like? What do you want to be remembered for? Honestly answering these questions can also help you to determine what your true goals really are and how you will go about to achieve them. Do you want a happy marriage with children? Do you want to have a successful business where you help people improve their lives? Do you want to use your God-given talent to make people’s lives better and/or happier.
By considering all of the information above, you can find out what your true goals really are and the best ways to go about reaching them. Consider what really excites you, what skills you are proficient at, and what you want to do with your life before it ends to help you learn what your true goals are and how to go about reaching them in your life.
Potential Roadblocks To Reaching Your Goals
Virtually everyone who has goals also has challenges that prevent them from reaching their goals. Unfortunately, achieving goals often comes through struggle and hardship; that’s why achieving them can often make us feel good and give us a sense of accomplishment. The key to successfully achieving goals consistently is learning to work through the potential roadblocks that stand in the way of us achieving our goals.
Roadblocks to reaching our goals can be caused by internal or external factors. Roadblocks caused by internal factors can include such things as doubting our ability to achieve the goals we set, procrastination of tasks we should do to achieve our goals, and a lack of focus in doing the tasks needed to achieve our goals.
When it comes to internal roadblocks, we need to work past them by identifying what the roadblock is and why we are setting up that internal roadblock. If we have doubts over our ability to achieve our goals, we have to work past our fear and doubt in order to overcome it and achieve our goals. If we are putting off tasks we should be doing in order to achieve our goals, we have to determine why we procrastinate and deny ourselves the achievement of our goals. If we keep losing focus while doing the tasks necessary to achieve our goals, we have to determine why we keep losing focus so we can keep the needed focus necessary to achieve our goals.
When it comes to external roadblocks, there are many obstacles that can qualify. It can be something we lack to achieve that goal, such as a lack of knowledge or lack of a tool we need to achieve the goal. It can be something unexpected that we didn’t anticipate happening or occurring while we attempt to achieve the goal, such as a change in plans or a change in circumstances that makes it more difficult to achieve the goal.
When it comes to external roadblocks, we have to find a way to overcome the problem. If we lack a specific knowledge or tool to achieve the goal, then we need to gain that knowledge or tool. Whether we invest in ourselves to get that knowledge directly or hire someone with knowledge to do the task necessary to achieve the goal, it must be done to achieve that goal. Whether we invest in the tool or hire someone with the tool, we must do it to achieve the goal. If we encounter a change in circumstances or some unexpected occurrence while working toward a goal, we must analyze the new situation and develop a plan of action so that we overcome the new situation and achieve the goal.
Effective Goal Setting Through Time Management
When we want to achieve several goals, especially those that lead to a larger, long-term goal, we have to be efficient and effective in order to achieve all of those goals that lead to the larger, long-term goal. This means we need good time management skills in order to achieve all of the smaller, short-term goals we want to achieve, which will lead to us achieving the larger, long-term goal as well. Learn how you can be more productive and successful at achieving all of your goals via effective goal setting through time management below.
Setting up the goals you want to achieve each day takes planning, focus, and execution in order to successfully achieve them. When you have multiple goals per day you want to achieve, you have to be focused on doing all of the tasks necessary in order to successfully accomplish them by the end of the day. Failure in planning out your day and being focused in completing your tasks in a timely fashion will lead to you falling short in meeting the goals you want to achieve on that day.
This procedure of planning out your day and being focused on each task necessary to complete your daily goals also works when it comes to long-term goals, such as those you want to achieve each week, month, or even year. You need to plan out exactly what goals you want to achieve over those specific time periods, then determine what tasks you need to complete in order to reach those goals, then have the continued focus to complete those tasks in a timely fashion so you can achieve all of those goals. Failure to plan out those time periods in the proper way to include all of those necessary tasks to achieve all of those goals and being focused throughout to complete those tasks will result in you falling short of your goals over those longer time periods as well.
Therefore, you need to determine what goals you want to achieve over a specific time period and the tasks you need to complete to reach those goals within that time period, then take focused, determined action in order to complete those tasks and reach those goals within those time periods. Failure to properly plan for the required tasks needed to reach those goals within the specified time periods will lead to you falling short of your goals because you won’t have the proper focus necessary to complete those tasks and achieve those goals in that specific time period.
The Positive Effects Of Written Goals
Virtually everyone wants to reach specific goals, both short term and long term. However, very few people write down the goals they want to reach, only choosing to think about the goals they want to reach. What they fail to realize is that writing down those goals they want to reach can increase the power they have over us and increase the impetus necessary to reach those goals. Learn about the positive effects of written goals below.
When people just think about the goals they want to reach, they can easily shove them to the back of their minds and into their subconscious when they don’t reach them. Sometimes, people will alter the goal they originally thought of to match the work that they did, convincing themselves that they reached the goal they had intended. However, if you write down the goal ahead of time, neither of the above is possible.
You can’t just ignore the goal you don’t reach by pushing it into your subconscious when the goal is written down and staring you back in the face. Whether it’s written on a piece of paper, is in a Notepad file, or is in an app, you can’t really escape the goal you set and the reality of whether you reached it or not. If you reach it, you can beam with pride that you achieved it; if you fail to reach it, you can realize that you missed it and take steps to ensure you don’t miss future goals.
Additionally, by writing down your goals, you can’t just alter them to fit the result you got from the work you put in. If you only achieved half of what you intended to do, writing down your goal will show you that you only achieved half of what you intended to do. Conversely, if you only think about the goal that you wanted to achieve, you can always justify that you only got half of the intended work done by thinking that getting half of it done is “good enough” and is a good-enough goal for the day.
Therefore, writing down your goals makes you more accountable on whether you actually reached your goals for the day (week, month, etc.) or not. If there’s no written record, it’s easier to “adjust” the goal to fit the work that was completed. However, if you have the goal written down, you can’t escape the fact of whether you met that goal or not. Therefore, to improve your ability and consistency of meeting your desired goals, it’s important to write them down (on paper, in Notepad, in an app, etc.) before beginning work on them.
Goal Deadlines And Why You Need
Them
Virtually everyone wants to achieve multiple goals over the course of a day, a week, a month, a year, and longer. Achieving goals usually requires completing a series of tasks that enable a person to achieve the goals he/she strives to achieve within a specific time period. In order to achieve these multiple goals and the success associated with them, a person must set goal deadlines and meet them. Find out why goal deadlines are important and why they are needed below.
Goal deadlines are important for a number of reasons. First, to achieve the overall success we want to achieve, we have to complete a series of tasks to achieve the goals and success we want to achieve. Virtually everyone is on a timetable; there is no unlimited time to accomplish the tasks needed to achieve the goals we want. Businesses have to get out products to customers before their competitors do, teachers have to teach students to ensure they are ready to be contributing members of society by the time they reach adulthood, and so on.
There is essentially a timetable on virtually every worthwhile goal we want to achieve. Missing these timetables can lead to significant disadvantages for us and essentially be classified as “missed opportunities” or “not living up to the potential or expectations we or others set on us.” If a business comes up with a new product only after another business does, chances are high that the first business with a new product will benefit the most, while the second business could be labeled as a copycat or imitator, not make as much profit, and even have its reputation damaged. If a student doesn’t learn the essential skills needed to contribute to society by the time he/she is 18-21 years old, he/she will be at a severe disadvantage when it’s time to enter the workforce or create a business, so much so that his/her financial future could be permanently damaged.
This is why having goal deadlines are critical; virtually every worthwhile goal has a timetable or deadline that needs to be met in order to receive the maximum positive benefit from it, whether it’s you, your business, employer, student, or a combination of any of the aforementioned, etc.
Even if there were no timetables in regards to your business or your students benefiting from achieving timely goals, there is one other important reason why goal deadlines are necessary and needed – humans have a finite lifespan. We do not live forever, so we only have a limited amount of time to achieve the goals and success we want to achieve. We only have so much time to leave a legacy for others to remember us by when we are gone. Failure to achieve goals in a timely fashion will lead to less success and others looking upon us as not succeeding as they thought we should or “what could have been” with better efforts and focus.
