The setting of goals is a very powerful, yet often neglected strategy for both personal and professional success. The importance of having aims is illustrated when looking at the biographies of very prosperous people – every one of these had a clear idea of their aims, goals, aspirations and desires and knew exactly what they wanted to achieve. An excellent aim gives us powerful motivation to do whatever it takes to reach it.
In the following I will show you how you can set up your goals in an effective way:
1. Apply the “SMART” – rule! All your ambitions must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed.
- Be as precise as possible to keep your goal specific
- Choose aims that are achievable
- Set up a time frame to accomplish the targeted goal
An excellent goal would sound like: “I will lose 19 pounds in order to reduce my weight within two months.”
2. Keep it simple! Especially when you are having ambitious aims and purposes you should separate your main goal into several sub-goals. This helps you to approach your aim step by step and enables you to stay motivated. Another very common mistake is that people try to concentrate on a lot of different goals at the same time. This will not only scatter their energy but can also have a negative impact on their motivation once they are not able to reach some of these. Instead of having several aims you should focus on a few key goals so that you can invest all your energy in reaching them.
3. Have a clear purpose and be committed! It is absolutely necessary that you know the exact purpose of your goal. Why do you want to reach it? What is going to be the outcome once you have achieved it? A specific goal is so much easier to reach once you are really committed to it and have the “whatever it takes” attitude. This mindset is absolutely necessary when it comes to extremely ambitious aims and goals that you have set yourself!
Sets goals like a top achiever
4. Identify possible obstacles! Once you have set a goal or aspiration you should try to think about obstacles that could prevent you from reaching your goal. This not only helps you to think about strategies to overcome these but also lets you act a lot faster once it occurs because you aren’t as surprised as you would have been if you hadn’t thought about it.
This will also interest you:
What are the goalsetting methods you utilize in your own life?
Photo by darkpatator
6 Comments
As a consumer of multiple self help books, I found myself nodding as you covered key concepts.
Goal setting is one of the most underused and powerful tool available to humankind.
Hello David!
You are absolutely right… Goal setting is unfortunately very underused and the majority of people are not even aware of this powerful method. I hope this will change in the near future
I listened to this great podcast on Goal Setting from a guy called Bevan James Eyles. He seems to be a top fitness professional. This was a different take on goal setting and it opened my eyes on how to be more successful in doing it. You can get it here: http//www.bevanjameseyles.com…/
Sarah
Great post. Number 4 is absolutely essential– most people set goals and then believe it is smooth sailing from there. When that inevitable obstacle comes tumbling down the mountain at them they throw away their goal plan completely. Anticipating difficulties, and preparing yourself to be willing to see past them is an underrated aspect of goal setting.
-Alex
YourGoalBook.com