Today let’s talk about something really exciting: goal setting and goal planning! How to set goals and how to achieve your biggest goals this year – to change your life and make your dreams reality!
photo via Taryn Elliott
Goal Setting
So, I was one of those people who never had goals for anything. I had dreams, I had things I wanted but never thought of writing them down and making a plan. That changed. Over the last few years, I’ve started writing down and achieving some of the goals I truly wanted and it has been life changing.
For example in 2019 one of my biggest goals was to start this blog, grow its traffic and hopefully start making some additional income from it. I didn’t have much experience and didn’t expect the workload that came with creating and growing a blog. At times, I had my doubts about it, because it’s a very saturated corner. But it worked out, I’m so grateful to say that I stuck with it and actually achieved that goal and it feels so good.
Today I want to share the most important things about goal setting that I have learned that have definitely helped so much along the way to achieve not only this goal, but many other goals as well.
How To Achieve Your Biggest Goals This Year
1. Define Your Goal(s)
What do you want to achieve – make it specific and think about how it will change your life. Your biggest goals will improve your life long-term and will involve changing your daily habits.
For example, if you say “This year I want to lose 20 pounds”. How will that improve your life? What will you be doing on a daily basis? What will be better?
Now put it down on paper.
2. Choose wisely
We live in a world with almost endless opportunities right now. For example, if your goal is to make some extra money every month, you can start a blog, you can make physical products, online courses, teach piano lessons locally, become a freelancer offering basically anything you’re good at…
There are so many opportunities, so many ways to do things and I bet you have more than one hobby or skill that you can monetize. But here’s the thing: You can’t do it all at the same time. It will not be sustainable.
The same for losing weight. You can do yoga, HIIT, lift weights, count calories, do the keto diet, do a paleo diet…
Write down all of the ways you can achieve that goal and choose the thing that is most realistic for your schedule and seems like the most fun and the one that will bring the best results. It should be something you would like to actually do long-term.
3. Plan
Now it’s time to list the tasks that come with this and create a plan. For example, if you want to improve your health and fitness you can’t just do random workouts every now and then and expect results. It’s best to make a workout plan, decide how many times a week you’re going to work out and which workouts you’re gonna do.
Same for blogging or any type of side hustle. Decide how many times a week you want to post, what you’re gonna post and where. Be very clear and specific about those things.
4. Reflect
Reflect and plan weekly and monthly, so that you keep yourself on track. Set mini-goals, tasks along the way, so you can see progress. It will motivate you and pull you through hard times. Even if that progress is small, it still has something.
By “setting mini-goals” I don’t mean saying this month I have to lose 10 pounds or I have to make $1000 from my side hustle. I mean what actions can you take? Can you go to the gym 3 times a week and eat out only once? Can you free up time so you can work on your side hustle? Maybe find more clients? Can you charge more? What changes can you make, so that you come closer to your goal this week?
Setting weekly mini-goals has changed everything for me, because they take the stress out. I don’t feel bad if I don’t finish something that doesn’t have a date on it, on a certain day. Yet, I know I have the rest of the week to do it. I highly recommend it.
5. Prioritize
The main difference between a goal you achieve and a goal you don’t achieve is how much you actually do about it. Nothing will happen if that goal is last on your list every day. Don’t get me wrong, it might be first on your mind. It might be all you’re thinking of. But if you don’t do anything about it? Nothing will happen. Make it a priority. Maybe not every day, but most days of the week. Put it on your list and make it real.
6. Bite the bullet
I bet when you break down your goal into smaller goals and as you progress every week, you’ll write down some things on that list that you just don’t want to do. But you know you probably have to. And that’s it. In order to grow, you’ll need to do things that are new and scary and you don’t feel comfortable doing.
At first, you’ll need to push through. Even if you don’t feel ready, even if it’s scary, even if you think people will point and laugh. Do the things you know you need to do in order to achieve those mini-goals and those big goals. Don’t think about what others will say, they should be thinking about their own life and goals.
7. Be flexible
Understand that even if you make the perfect plan and actually do everything according to that plan, you probably still will have to face some disappointments along the way. Sometimes things won’t go as planned. It’s called living in the real world where things out of your control happen. Be ready to change direction many times and to make decisions on the spot. Trust me you’ve got this as soon as you let go of your expectations for everything to go perfectly. Be ready for that. And trust that it’s for the better and everything has its place and time.
8. Have Patience and Be Persistent
Finally, if you have a big goal, it will probably not happen a week after you set it. You will need patience and persistence. And you’ll find it in knowing that this is what you want to do and believing it is going to work out. If you enjoy it, you’re seeing progress, even if you’re not quite there yet, you’re going in the right direction. Things just take time.
I hope you found this helpful, let’s make our biggest goals happen in 2020!
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