When you set goals for yourself, you’re putting effort into pursuing your aspirations. But before you start chasing your dreams, you should first define your goals clearly. Make your own goals if you don’t have any. Everything is preferable to having no goals at all. Find out what it is you want to do with your life even if you don’t know what it is yet. A few people have told me, “I’m just not a person who works hard.” Ambition and goals aren’t something you’re born with. Accomplishment or growth in life can only be achieved through a conscious decision to seek it out. Even if you have a reason for existing, life is still meaningless if you don’t have any specific goals in mind. As a result of our inability to passively wait for good things to happen, goal-setting is a necessity. “Hope” isn’t a tactic, either. As long as you don’t take action to achieve your goals, you can’t have hope in the first place.
In just eight steps, you can learn how to set goals that will help you succeed.
1. Aim for Your Dreams
If other people can come up with goals, then you can, too. It’s as simple as deciding to do something after having an idea for it. Setting life goals does not necessitate being exceptional. In the words of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to scale Mount Everest, “If you want to do something, you don’t have to be a superhero. You don’t have to be a high-flyer to achieve lofty goals,” he says.
2. Be Accurate and Thorough
Make sure you know what you’re aiming for before you begin. The words of Pablo Picasso come to mind here:
In order to achieve our goals, we must have a plan in which we are fervently committed, and which we must act on vigorously. To succeed, there is no other way.A goal must be clearly defined in order to come up with a strategy. If you want to lose weight, you need to know exactly how much weight you want to lose. If you want to be debt-free, you must first determine exactly how much money you require.
3. Don’t Be Shy
Don’t be afraid to take risks; a safe life isn’t worth living. Think about what you really want to accomplish and remove all of the mental barriers that are keeping you from it. While it’s possible to aim too high and miss your goal, it’s more likely that you’ll hit your target if you aim too low.
In the words of Michelangelo: – Goal-setting is one of our greatest foes. Too quickly, the voice in our head says, “That’s ridiculous,” causing us to reject the idea. Turn off that inner critic and strive to achieve your highest potential in everything you do.
4. Set a Due Date.
It’s critical to pin down an exact date by which you hope to achieve your objective. If you think you’ll accomplish your goal “someday,” it’s pointless. Make a date in your calendar for when you’d like to make the move to New York City. As an example, I’ll be moving to New York City on June 1, 2018. If you don’t, your goal will be a speck in the distance. A goal with no deadline is unlikely to be achieved. The date on your calendar, in addition, serves as a reminder to work toward your goal.
5. It’s time to make a sacrifice.
You can’t achieve anything without sacrificing something. You can’t eat whatever you want, whenever you want and still lose weight. You’ll have to compromise. Consider the things you’ll have to give up. To achieve your goals, you don’t have to give up everything. Your “cheat day” is your opportunity to eat whatever you want and still lose weight. Prepare your mind and body for what you’re going to give up. To be a professional musician, for example, you’ll likely have to travel. As a result, mentally prepare yourself for the fact that you won’t be seeing your loved ones as often. You have to decide whether or not you’re willing to make the sacrifice.
6. Keep a Log of Your Behaviours
The foundation for achieving your goals lies in your habits. It is not necessary to hit a home run in order to be successful. It’s all about doing the right things, every day. Is there anything specific you need to do each day to reach your goals? Use an app like Coach. me or Way of Life to monitor your daily habits. These apps allow you to set a goal and track your daily progress towards achieving it.
7. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.
Unless we have a system in place to hold ourselves accountable, we’ll quickly lose sight of the objectives we set for ourselves. Are there any goals you’ve set that you haven’t been able to achieve? Forgetting about resolutions or goals is not a big deal as long as there are no repercussions. Suppose you had to pay $100 to a charity you despise if you didn’t meet your goal. What would you do? The “Loss Aversion Theory” from Wharton shows how effective this is. Human nature dictates that we prefer to avoid loss over gain when it comes to taking risks. Tim Ferriss is a big fan of this method of goal-setting accountability. With the help of a site called www.stickK.com, you can accomplish this. You can pledge money to a goal on the site, and if you don’t meet it, they’ll donate it to an anti-charity. More than 78% of stickK.com users achieve their goals compared to just 35% of those who don’t put any money down.
8. Adjustments can be made at this point if necessary.
You should review your goals at least once a month. The goal here is not to change your objectives, but rather to narrow your daily activities. Confucius once stated it thusly: Goals should not be changed if it is obvious that they cannot be achieved; instead, action steps should be changed. Despite the fact that you’re not making any progress, don’t give up just yet. Be mindful of the steps you’ve already taken. Never be afraid to alter your approach if something doesn’t work. Finally, if you set a goal, you’ll be able to build the habits that will lead to your success.
“Habits change into character,” wrote the Roman poet Ovid. And character is what you can rely on the most in your life. What do you have to lose if you set a lofty goal and begin working toward it?
