How To Effectively Set Goals

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY SET GOALS
Everyone has something they want to accomplish in life, whether it be something incredibly simple or maybe a grand plan yet to be started. But how many of those people are actually taking measured steps towards it by setting effective goals?
 
Without setting goals it’s very easy to meander around, lacking any real direction, getting no closer to where you want to go. And a subpar goal might outline the right direction, but does it show you what you need to do to get there?
 
This post should explain how to set concise, effective goals, that can help you on your way to achieving whatever your heart desires.
 
Why?

Have you ever actually sat down and thought deeply about what you wanted from your career, your relationship, your body? The majority of people haven’t, often bumbling their way through life, accepting whatever comes their way because they’re not clear on exactly what they want.
 
Just the exercise of sitting down and deliberately thinking about what you want from different areas of your life can be liberating. It can also be hugely motivating mapping out in front of you what you want to achieve, and can give you a real sense of purpose going forward. Not to mention the self-confidence you acquire when you start to hit some of these goals. If you’re not familiar with the ‘Law of attraction’, it’s a belief that you can attract into your life whatever you focus on, setting goals will help you to direct that focus.
 
HOW?

Once you’ve thought about what you want, the first thing you need to do is map out the different stages you need to complete to achieve this goal. For example, if your goal was to lose 5kg, you might split this up into 1kg a month. If you’re a consultant and you want to become a Senior Manager, you might break it into Senior Consultant, Manager, Senior Manager.

OUTCOME & PROCESS GOALS

Once you’ve separated your goal into stages, it’s likely they’ll all still be OUTCOME goals, these are important as they show you the direction you’re going, but as I said before, they don’t actually map out how you get there. You need to set PROCESS goals – actions within your control that outline what you need to do on a daily/weekly basis. Using the general examples before, a process goal for losing 1kg a month, might be eating 1500 calories a day. Becoming a Senior Consultant might require you to make the company a certain amount of money monthly, so you might use a process goal like booking 10 meetings a month, with people that you have the capabilities to do business with. It’s important to have both OUTCOME and PROCESS goals.
 
SMART GOALS

Now you’ve got both your outcome and process goals, it’s time to make them SMART. The SMART acronym, of which there are a few variations, is a simple checklist to ensure your goals are as effective as possible.
 
SPECIFIC – Make the goal is clear and specific to what you want to achieve
MEASURABLE – The goal must be measurable to track progress
ACHIEVABLE – Push yourself but make sure it’s ultimately attainable  
RELEVANT – All goals need to align and be relevant for what you want to achieve
TIME BOUND – Every goal must have a deadline to work towards
By using the SMART checklist, it should give your goals clarity and meaning by defining the aim, completion date and how success will be measured.
 
Hopefully this post has given you the tools to go and set your own goals now, and I really urge you to, don’t underestimate the positive effect it can have.

If anyone wants help with their own goals, or has any questions, feel free to drop me a message.