Quick Tips for Goal-Setting Success

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Success and goals go hand in hand, because without goals, reaching "success" is nearly impossible - Unless somebody suddenly gives you $1 Million Dollars just because you were walking down the street to a coffee shop.  However, even then you had set a goal - Moving from Point A to Point B. Setting goals is a science and it is important that you do it right. You need to take the right approach so that your goals are reasonable and achievable. You want goals that are associated with your career and goals that help you to be more productive. The ultimate goal is moving up in your field and increasing upon the success that you have currently achieved.

Make Sure that Your Goals have Focus

When you set a goal, it has to have a focus because this provides the structure that you will follow. When you start to develop your goals, use the following steps:

a)      Your goal should be specific

b)      It should be measurable

c)      Your goal should be accountable

d)     It should be realistic

e)      You need to set a timeframe

When your goals hit all five of these points, you have given yourself a blueprint. This means that the goal is reasonable and something that you are able to achieve with moderate effort.

Set a Specific Goal

When you are creating a goal, it must be specific. For example, if your goal is to lose weight, saying "lose weight" is not specific enough. A more specific example would be "lose five pounds in two weeks." This is a specific goals that you can make the necessary changes to achieve. The same is true for all goals. For example, instead of making a goal to be more productive at work, set a goal to finish your Friday reports before lunch instead of at the end of the day.

Set a Measurable Goal

You must be able to easily identify when you reach your goal, making it a measurable goal. Using the weight loss example, saying you want to lose five pounds in two weeks is measurable and the measurable aspect is stating the specific amount of weight that you want to lose by a specific time. You can use this goal to track your progress to ensure that you are on track. In this example, at the end of one week, you know that you need to lose 2.5 pounds to be on track to losing five pounds in two weeks.

Be Accountable During the Process of Reaching Your Goal

Procrastination is the killer of most goals. When you are working toward a goal, you will set a start date and you need to start your work on this date. You cannot procrastinate and wait until the last minute or else you will not meet your goals. For example, when you are trying to lose weight, you have to cut calories and move more over the entire goal period. For example, if your goal is five pounds in two weeks, you re cutting calories and exercising during that entire two week period. You can use something like a food journal and exercise log to track your progress for accountability.

Set a Realistic Goal

The most important part of goal setting is creating a goal that is realistic. Losing five pounds in two weeks is realistic, but losing 10 pounds in two weeks is not. Your goals should fit within your personal lifestyle and they should be something that just about anyone with the right tools can accomplish. Since very few regular everyday people can realistically lose almost one pound a day, you know that this goal is not realistic.

Set Your Goal's Timeframe

Goals should never be open-ended because this prevents you from knowing how to properly work toward them. You need to establish a realistic start date and end date, so that you have an exact timeframe to work in. When you make a goal to lose five pounds in two weeks, you know that you have 14 days of changes to prepare for to achieve your goal on the fourteenth day.

When you are creating your goals, you must be strategic about it. Create an ultimate goal and then create a series of small goals to help you work toward this. These small goals should be in order to help you to break down the process of reaching your ultimate goal. How many goals you set is up to you, but you want them to be something that you can accomplish in under a month. This way you stay motivated to continue to meet your goals and work toward what you ultimately want.

- Rosemary Kitchen

Resources

Halford, S. (2010). 7 Tips for Setting and Achieving Your Goals. Retrieved on February 24, 2015 from http://www.businessinsider.com/7-ways-to-set-and-achieve-your-goals-2010-6