How to achieve goals

How to Set Goals and Achieve Them Successfully

Neuroscientist and C-Suite business executive who writes about the intersection of mindset, productivity, entrepreneurship and how to reach goals. Read full profile

At the beginning of every year, many of us create New Year’s resolutions. We think about what we did or didn’t accomplish last year, and create new hopes and dreams for the coming year. Unfortunately, not everyone knows the difference between a resolution and a goal, and few people understand how to set goals and achieve them successfully.

According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, only 9.2% of all people ever feel that they are successful in achieving their New Year’s resolution. And 42% give up after the first month. [1] But there is a way.

If you’re looking to save money this year or achieve some level of self-improvement, like so many of us are, we can turn those resolutions into goals and achieve them successfully. Here is how to set goals and achieve them successfully.

Table of Contents

What Is a Goal (and What Isn’t)?

A goal can be a lot of different things. But what a goal is not is a dream or a hope. I dream of owning my own home. I hope to take better care of my health. Those are great and admirable dreams, but they are not goals.

For something to truly be a goal, you need to know when you get there. When you reach it. Those are the kinds of goals that set you up for success.

Setting a Goal: Dream Big but Start Small

One of the best ways to set a goal is to pick a small, tangible milestone.

Dream big, but start with a goal of reaching one realistic step that will take you closer. Setting an actual goal should be small and tangible. Once you hit the first one, you can set another goal that brings you further down the path to your dream.

How to Achieve Your Goals

1. Tackle Your Scary Thoughts

Let’s get real for a minute. Your goal is scary. You doubt yourself. You don’t know if you can do it. You’ve tried before and failed. Also, what if it gets uncomfortable? What if you have to do things you’ve never done before?

Be realistic about what is going on in your mind. When you sit down to create your goal, also write down your scary thoughts. Take a look at them, and pick one, tiny, realistic thought that will help you reframe what that negative voice is telling you.

If the voice is telling you “I’m not good with money,” think about that sentence: Is it really true? What does a blanket statement like that mean? Maybe you haven’t always reached your goals in the past, but you’ve made some steps in your journey.

So instead, reframe that negative thought. You could try thinking: “Sometimes I have managed my money,” or, “It’s possible that I can learn to manage my money.” Because if your body is going in one direction and your mind is going in another, you’ll never get where you want to go.

2. Break Down All the Steps to Get There

Let’s break down an example of how you could approach it:

The list might feel overwhelming, but remember, you don’t have to tackle every task at once. Learning how to focus is essential to achieving your goal.

3. Schedule the Time to Do All the Tasks

Once you have your full list, consult your calendar. Find some time, and schedule each task. On Tuesday at 2 pm, you will look at your spending. On Thursday at 7 pm, you will look at your sources of income. Work your way through the list, one step at a time.

Scheduling each task is a great way to manage that giant list. When 2 pm on Tuesday comes around, all you have to do is that one thing. You don’t have to worry about all the other steps. You’ve already planned when you will do each one.

Scheduling each step toward your goal is critical to achieving them successfully. And after all that analysis, the actual method of reaching your goal could come down to a small change in your habits.

4. Ask Yourself: What Will You Do When Life Gets in the Way?

Dr. Peter Gollwitzer is a Psychology professor at NYU. He has done fascinating research on the power of planning for obstacles. He calls it creating “if-then plans.” He found that people are much more likely to reach a goal if they plan for what to do when things go wrong. [2] And the reality is, life is going to get in the way.

You committed to the new habit of bringing your coffee from home every morning. Then, one morning, your son spills your to-go cup all over the kitchen counter as you are scrambling to head out the door and drop him off on the way to work—no time to re-make your coffee. But coffee is what you desperately need, now more than ever. What will you do?

There are several options. You could figure out a coffee place with less expensive coffee that is also on your way to work, or you could wait it out and drink your first cup once you get to the office—there is a coffee maker in the break room.

But you are not going to want to think of these options in the heat of the moment, and you’ll be even less likely to actually do them. That’s why you need to make a plan for when life gets in the way—in advance.

Pick one option for times when you can’t bring your coffee with you. You know it will happen. So, why not plan for it? Then, in the heat of the moment, you don’t have to think. You don’t have to get frustrated and exasperated. You know the plan. You just have to follow it, and you will keep moving closer to your goal.

5. Reward Yourself for Your Efforts

Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power Of Habit, talks about what is called a habit loop. There are three steps to the loop:

In this instance, the cue is morning. The routine that you are trying to create is to bring your coffee from home. But to truly solidify the new routine, you need to make this new habit satisfying. You need to provide a reward.

Maybe your reward is to drink a special flavor of coffee from home or to use a travel mug that you really like. Maybe you top off that mug with a little more coffee than you’d drink if you got it from Starbucks. The choice is yours, but the research is clear. You’ll have more success reaching your larger goals if you find the right reward for the smaller steps. You just need to learn how to build or break a habit effectively.

6. Don’t Beat Yourself Up If You “Fall Off the Wagon” a Few Times

Habit changes are hard. It’s difficult to reach new goals. You’re asking yourself to stretch, to grow, to try new things.

Of course, there will be times when you take a step back—afternoons when you just want your favorite Starbucks coffee and nothing else will do. But if you are kind to yourself and realize that no one is perfect, you are more likely to keep moving forward and ultimately get where you want to go. Then, celebrate when you do!

Final Thoughts

“In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.”—Henry David Thoreau

Instead of simply drifting along reacting to what life brings you, take proactive steps to go out and create the future you want. While we can’t control everything that happens to us, we can control ourselves by setting goals to achieve our big dreams. Just follow this guide on how to set goals and you’ll be off to a good start.

How to achieve goals?

5 tips to help you achieve your desired goal. Of course, it is not necessary to carry them all out and in the order indicated. However, it is important not only to read them and forget, but try to apply them in your life.

1. Write down your goal!

The well-known rule — «If the goal exists only in the head, then consider that it does not exist».
We write down the goal and it takes on real form. Yes, and the brain begins to perceive something written down as already quite real, prompting him to start doing a deferred project, explore a new industry, go in for sports, etc.

Human memory is limited. When you write down a goal on paper, then you have a free amount of memory that you can use for new thoughts and ideas. That is why, thanks to a simple action “to write down a goal”, we are more successfully moving towards it.

2. SMART criteria

SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound. Each letter is a criterion for the effectiveness of goals.

• Specific
The more specifics, the higher the probability of achieving the goal. Determine exactly what result you want to achieve. For example, «I want to climb the Eiffel Tower.»

• Measurable
The end result should be easily measurable. Ask yourself «What indicator or criteria can you use for this?». Selfies on the Eiffel Tower are an example of a measurable result.

• Achievable
If you have resources to achieve your goal, then your goal is achievable. Logical, isn’t it? Resources are knowledge, information, money, time, etc. Before you begin to reach your goal, stop and analyze what you already have, what you may need and where you will get it.

• Relevant
Ask yourself the question — “Will the implementation of a task really accomplish the desired goal?” You need to make sure that each task is really necessary.

• Time bound
Set a deadline for achieving the goal. This mobilizes your strength and will not allow to waste time in vain. Set yourself an adequate time! For example, it is impossible to lose 10 kg in two days.

3. If you make a plan — make it in the form of actions

Build your plan of action with clear and specific instructions to yourself.

To begin with, answer yourself the following questions: where should I start? What do I already have to achieve the goal, and what do I need? For example, if you want to climb the Eiffel Tower, the steps will be as follows:

1. Buy plane tickets.
2. Book a hotel in Paris.
3. Pack a suitcase.
4. Get to the airport.
5. …

See how the goal becomes clear, specific and realistic? However, you should not make a plan in too much detail — some things you cannot control, and this is normal.

4. Diary of achievement

Leave short comments as you complete the points of your plan. Thus, you, first of all, streamline your thoughts, as well as be able to make adjustments to the plan (of course, if the need arises). And most importantly, you constantly maintain your focus on the goal.

When you write in your diary about the difficulties you encounter and about pleasant moments, your commitment to achieving the goal is strengthened. After some time, when you set yourself new goals, a diary of achievements will help you to remember the main obstacles and pleasant moments to achieve certain goals!

5. Explore people with similar goals!

Find several people with similar goals/concerns/aspirations. You don’t have to meet them personally! In the age of social networks, you can simply watch them, borrow from them solutions for various tasks, be motivated by their success, etc.

For long-term goals, when much has already been done, but there are still many difficult tasks ahead, it is very useful to see ahead of the person who has already passed this path. Or vice versa, compete with a person who is at the same stage as you.

Achieving Goals: The Ultimate Guide to Goal Achieving & Goal Setting in 2022

What Is Goal Setting And Why Is It Important For Goal Achievement?

Goal setting is when you have a desire in mind and then plan to achieve that task to achieve any goal and move forward with bigger goals you want to achieve to improve your life. You’re going to need to create a plan for any significant dream or vision you hope to accomplish. When you set goals the right way, you’re formulating a plan for success. You will have to get out of your comfort zone, but that’s how you become the best you.

To begin your plan for success, keep these steps to achievement in mind:

Start Small For Achieving Goals

Choose small, easily achievable goals. Quitting coffee for one single day a week; or waking up 30 minutes earlier than normal each day. Once you’ve built a habit of setting and achieving small goals, you’ll be mentally focused and ready to tackle bigger obstacles like a career change or getting into shape.

Find Your Life’s Purpose

It’s important when deciding your major goals that they align with your life purpose. If you fail to do this, then your goals won’t have meaning and it will be difficult to stay consistent.

Set a Specific Date

Set a specific date when you want to achieve your long-term goals. You don’t need to achieve your goals on an arbitrary day, but you must create meaningful deadlines so you feel obligated to work hard every day.

Why Is Setting Goals And Achieving Small Wins Important?

Empower You

Effective goal setting creates unshakeable confidence that will propel you forward through life. You’ll start the snowball effect, and your short-term goals will lead to your long-term goals which lead you to success. When you plan for your future, you’ll be able to tangibly realize the fruits of your labor.

It’s hard to create goals when you don’t have a clear vision of what you want in mind. When you force setting yourself to set goals, you’re talking to your inner being and questioning what it is you truly want out of life. Living with purpose makes it easier to continue pushing forward every day.

Utilizing the proper goal-setting process gives you the tools you need to achieve your dreams and desires.

Check out Why Goal Setting Is Important to a Fulfilling Life for more proof of the incredible power of goal setting.

Give You Feedback

Once you start setting goals, you’ll be able to understand yourself better and set for yourself the best action plans. Unless you’re living inside of your dream, it’s going to be difficult knowing if that’s where your true desires lie. When you’re setting goals and accomplishing them, you’re getting intimate feedback from your inner self.

You’ll start understanding what it is you truly want out of life. Until you start experiencing life, it won’t be so straightforward what your true dreams are.

Help You Avoid the ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’

Shiny object syndrome is getting distracted from one idea to the next. It can stifle your growth significantly. If you don’t have the proper success mindset, it will be hard to see your goals through until the end.

Setting multiple goals is healthy, but you won’t be able to achieve any of them if you’re getting distracted from your initial focus.

Trying to achieve too many things at once will lead to confusion and burnout. Stick with what’s most important to you. Stick to your goals and follow the small steps to achievement for what’s best for you.

Why People Fail to Reach Their Goals

There are 3 main reasons why people fail to reach their goals. The good news is, whether you currently fall into one, two, or even all three categories, you can put the following solutions into action right now.

Not Taking Action Plans Consistently

Your goals will remain goals if you fail to take the action required to achieve them.

People who don’t take action to achieve their goals might suffer from:

Taking small actions every day will have a compounding effect. Going for a 30-minute walk in a single day might seem pointless, but going for a walk every day will lead to drastic changes in your appearance. If you’re having difficulty staying consistent, try to aim for a few performance goals that you can follow through on each day.

Banking small wins will give you the confidence to continue on your path of success.

Not Picking the Right Goal

If you don’t choose the right goals you’ll end up becoming frustrated due to a lack of progress or lack the enthusiasm to stay motivated.

You’re picking the wrong type of goals if they are:

Choose a goal that is possible to achieve. Having ambitious goals is a good thing, but wanting to become an astronaut is highly unlikely. Pick a goal that you could see yourself striving for every day that is realistic. You won’t have any trouble staying motivated when you’re inspired and your goals have a sense of purpose.

Failed to Plan

It’s easy to get disappointed fast when we’ve all become addicted to instant gratification.

While we’re used to getting things at a push of a button, the reality is that long-term life goals are just that, long! You’ll need to plan every step accordingly so that you know which direction you’re headed in.

Without a plan, you’re destined to walk around aimlessly. You don’t need to plan every minute of every day, but learning how to utilize time management is going to do wonders for your results.

Do You Need A Lot Of Willpower To Achieve Your Goal?

Willpower isn’t a necessary element to achieve your goal and it’s a mistake that many people fall into. Your aim is not to dig deep and muster up the same willpower a mother needs to save her child from under a burning car. You’re looking for a combination of motivation, consistency, and willpower that will help you to set realistic goals.

You can unleash the power within yourself without the help of business coaching or a productivity coach. The barrier to achieving success lies with you. Setting personal goals will give you the willpower for the road to success.

A classic example of overexerting willpower is college students studying for finals. In the final week leading to it, students muster up all of their willpower to study and find that everything immediately collapses. Students will eat anything that they can find, pick up smoking to destress, and many are fine with sitting in their sweatpants all day.

Seeing as willpower isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, what you need is a solid system that keeps you focused and motivated throughout a challenging process. Here are some things to consider:

Delve Into Choice Architecture

The idea behind this is that choice architecture is stronger than sheer willpower. If you are trying to eat healthily, the first thing to do is deal with cravings. This means clearing out your fridge and cupboards of anything that will take you away from that goal. Replace junk food with healthier options. Buy more fruit instead of candy and chocolate. Buy more vegetables rather than popcorn or crackers.

Build the Essentials For Success

Be aware of what makes you happy

This allows you to find the motivation you need to push yourself forward. This can be done in various ways like delving into your past or trying new hobbies.

Be open to changes

Willpower is still an essential piece, but it’s not the only thing that you need to find success. Consider that you might not know everything. It will make it easier when you have a setback and need to reflect on what went wrong.

Incorporate Methods To Boost Willpower And Other Aspects

Plot progress

Knowing what you’ve accomplished will give you evidence that you’ve been successful in the past. When you start doubting yourself, take a look at the progress you’ve made.

Get Tough

Your determination to overcome tough spots in life is vital when it comes to achieving and setting smart goals and personal goals. You’ll hit roadblocks and your willpower is what will get you through hard times.

Forgive yourself and learn from mistakes

Being able to forgive yourself will allow you to move forward quicker. When you aren’t hindering your own progress by feeling sorry for yourself, you’ll be able to accomplish your goals much easier.

Your Ultimate Solution for Goal Setting

In this section, you’ll learn the steps of achieving and succeeding when setting the goals.

1. Set SMARTER Goals

Understand What You Truly Want to Achieve

Aim to understand what types of goals you’d like to achieve.

To do this, you can use the 5 Whys framework to dig deep into your desires. The purpose of this framework is to be asking yourself the question “why?” five times. Every single time you ask why you’re getting to the source of why you started goal setting in the first place.

Let’s say your initial want is to ‘make more money.’

Why do you want to make more money? «Because I want to buy a big house.»

Why do you want a big house? «Because living in a big house is comfortable»

Why does only a big house make you comfortable? «Because I have a big family, with a wife and three kids; we need a big house for everyone.»

Why do you want a big house for everyone to live in? «Because I want them to live in a comfortable place.»

Why is that? «Because I love my family and I want them to be happy.»

Can you now see the clear difference between the initial want and the true purpose at the end? In this example, you thought you wanted more money; but in reality, what you truly want is for your family to be happy. While making more money and getting a big house could do that, how you treat your family and the time you spend with them are key elements too.

How To Set SMART Goals

Setting SMART goals and start accomplishing significant personal goals with personal accountability – without limiting beliefs.

Set Specific Goals

Goals that are vague or generalised are ineffective because they lack direction. Keep in mind that you’ll need targets to guide you. Make it as simple as possible to get where you want to go by identifying your destination in detail.

Set Measurable Goals

Use specific numbers, deadlines, and other details in your milestones so that you can track your progress. How would you know that you’ve achieved your target if it’s as simple as «reduce expenses»? If you have a 1% reduction in a month, what would you do in two years if you have a 10% reduction? You lose out on the joy that comes with thinking you’ve accomplished something if you don’t have a way to track your progress.

Set Attainable Goals

You can only demoralise yourself and erode your trust if you set a target that you have no chance of achieving. However, fight the temptation to set too simple targets. At best, achieving a goal for which you didn’t have to work hard can be anticlimactic, and it can even make you dread setting potential targets with a chance of failure. You achieve the required balance by setting practical and daunting targets. These are the kinds of targets and types of goals that force you to «lift the mark,» and they have the most personal fulfilment by fulfilling these challenging goals.

Set Relevant Goals

Goals should be important to the path you choose to follow in your life and work. You’ll build the focus you need to get ahead and do what you want if you keep your priorities consistent with this. Set expectations that are disjointed and contradictory, and you’ll waste your time – and your life.

Set Time-Bound Goals

This means you’ll be able to recognise when you’ve achieved something. When you’re running on a deadline with your goals, your sense of urgency rises, and you’ll do more quickly.

The above is a great example of SMART goal setting that will get you started on creating a successful plan. You want to have every step written down before you start your life-changing mission. Being efficient when planning your goals will make it easier to accomplish them.

Ultimately a SMARTER goal is something that has an added incentive to do it. To get further details on setting SMARTER goals, download The Dreamers’ Guide to Reaching Your Goal below to help you get there.

Take Action

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2. Plan Your Goal

Start with Set Milestones

Goal setting starts to have a real impact when you see your hard-earned work turn into results. Setting milestones will help you to achieve your goals. To create a milestone it has to meet the following criteria:

— Break down your plan into milestones. These will be bite-sized steps that once completed you can check off on your way to completing your long-term goal.

Create a backup plan in case any milestones fail — You should have a back-up plan in case life gets in the way.

You might find the following quick example helpful:

Let’s say that your goal is to get a new job. You could map out this goal using a plan such as this one:

When you have a plan like this, you’ll quickly be able to start ticking off items from your list, which will encourage you and motivate you to keep going until the finish line.

Create Actions

If you want to achieve your goals you need to focus on taking the right actions. Your actions should have:

Have A Reward System

Rewarding yourself is going to make it easier to achieve your goals. When you’re seeing the results you want and getting to celebrate them, it’ll be easier to continue creating bigger and more impactful goals.

Schedule The Tasks

Keep yourself on track by planning your actions. Block scheduling is one method to ensure you’re staying on track.

But despite all the planning done, remember that plans can still fall short. Planning around Planner’s fallacy means ensuring that you have a back-up plan in mind and are open to the idea of reviewing and making adjustments to your milestones or plans should you fail. One other consideration to consider is to download The Foolproof Guide to Reaching Goal This Year below. In it, we share more plans to consider to reach your goals.

Don’t Get Stuck in Planning Fallacy!

Plans don’t always go according to plan. Don’t get stuck trying to force your plan, go with the flow.

The issue is that when you put together a plan, you can become stubborn when your plan changes. Here is how you can avoid it:

Take Action

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3. Act on Your Goal

The third step is to follow through on your goal setting. With a plan, it should be pretty clear cut, but consider the following things to make acting on your goals much easier:

Start Small And Schedule

There are all kinds of tools and methods to help you schedule tasks. Just be sure that they align with the milestones you’ve planned.

Here’re some options for you:

Take Action

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Review Progress Consistently

Make it a weekly activity to review your progress. If you’ve made a small step towards your goal, celebrate it through your reward system. If you didn’t, consider what you need to do to make sure you’re staying on track.

Take Action

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Create An Environment That Helps Your Goal

If you’re in an environment that hinders your success mindset, you have to think of ways to change your environment. Things like cleaning your desk, letting more natural light in, being around different people could be what you need to get your mind into focus.

Imagine this scenario:

You have a goal to lose 20lb of weight in the next 6 months.

If you tried to get fit without a road map, then you’d probably fail to achieve your aim.

However, by getting your environment right, such as by only stocking healthy food in your home, you’ll give yourself the best chance of success.

Add to that making yourself accountable — perhaps by getting your partner on board with your goal — and you’ll start to find the motivation you need.

If you keep reviewing your progress and reward yourself every time you hit one of your incremental targets, then you’ll have everything you need to help you reach your weight loss goal.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg for consistency. You can run into other problems with consistency such as:

Practice, Practice, Practice

While the SMARTER goal system can be a great way to set goals, this is only the start of your story.

Before deliberate practice, you have naive practice and purposeful practice.

Naive practice is where most people are at and it satisfies the following conditions:

For purposeful practice you have to:

To be someone who deliberately practices, you have to:

For further ideas to make things happen, grab the Make It Happen handbook to condition your mind for action.

4. Stick With Your Set Goals

Create a Solid Accountability System

An accountability system is a solid way to ensure you are committed to holding yourself accountable and working towards your set goals. It’s an extra incentive to be performing your best. Examples of additional accountability are things like giving people or yourself updates on your progress, recognizing progress, and celebrating. This is a key way to stick to your goals, and of course, reach your goals.

How to set goals and achieve them: 10 strategies for success

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The word ‘goals’ is thrown around a lot these days. So much so that it can be confusing what a goal really is.

Are resolutions and objectives the same as goals?

Why do we need to set goals?

Research by a psychologist and career coach at Dominican University of California shows that there’s a direct correlation between setting goals and achieving success. Properly defined goals help trigger new behaviors and help you focus on what’s important to you.

Of course, it’s not just about setting goals. It’s also about achieving them.

Let’s take a look at the top strategies for how to set goals and achieve them in both your personal and professional life.

Goals: what are they, and what aren’t they?

Before setting goals, you need to know what a goal is.

A goal is something you want to achieve. It’s the desired result that you, or a group of people, plan and commit to achieving.

Goals are often long-term. They relate to people’s life and career plans or the long-term goals of a company or organization.

Put simply, a goal is a dream with a deadline.

Still a bit confused? Here are some characteristics of what goals are and what they aren’t.

Why should you set goals for yourself and your team?

Here are some of the many reasons why setting goals for yourself and your team is important.

It gives a sense of direction

Taking the time to think about what you want in life gives you a sense of purpose.

For example, you could create a 5-year plan based on what you want your life to look like in five years. Having this long-term plan can help you move from just dreaming into actually doing.

In the workplace, setting goals helps to set a clear path of where you want your team to go. It also helps to set expectations of different team members.

It helps to see the bigger picture

Setting goals helps us take a step back and get some perspective on what’s really important in life. It’s the first step toward creating a life full of meaning.

At work, setting goals as a team helps everyone get the whole picture. Knowing the long-term goal and what a company is striving toward can help each team member perform better in their role.

It provides motivation

By nature, consciously setting goals gives you something to aspire to. Having a specific goal will motivate you to put your best foot forward.

As a team member, having a clear vision of what your team is aiming to achieve provides inspiration and motivation. Working with your team to move toward a common goal is motivating and satisfying, giving your team purpose.

It gives you greater control of your future

Setting goals puts you in the driver’s seat of your life. Just by writing down goals, you are actively acknowledging what you want out of life.

It’s the first step toward taking control of your future.

How to set realistic goals at work and in life

Now that you know how beneficial goals are, it’s time to dive into how to set goals and achieve them.

Whether you’re setting group goals for your team or personal goals, it’s important to start with goals that are realistic.

Here are tips for setting both personal and team goals:

Personal goal setting tips

Let’s take a look at three tips for setting personal goals.

1. Consider your passions

Part of the process for how to set life goals should be deciding what inspires you and what your values are. You should be passionate about your goals if you want to achieve them in the long run.

Your goals should be meaningful to you and provide you with a sense of pride once you meet them.

2. Set goals you can control

If your goal is based on something outside of your control, you won’t be able to control whether or not you actually achieve it.

Your personal goals shouldn’t be dependent on other people. They also shouldn’t be reliant on external factors that you have no control over.

Be realistic about what you can and can’t be directly responsible for.

3. Imagine your future

Take some time to really think about what you’d like your life to look like. What does your ideal future entail?

For example, if you’re setting personal career goals, ask yourself some questions that will point you in the right direction.

How much money do you ideally want to earn? Do you want to work for yourself? How many hours do you want to commit to on a daily basis?

Even if these questions don’t immediately help you pick a single job, they will certainly make you realize what you don’t want your career goals to be.

Tips for setting goals at work

Let’s take a look at three tips for setting team goals:

1. Brainstorm

Before you write down the first goal that comes to mind, take time to brainstorm as a team. Asking big questions like “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” will get the creative juices flowing.

2. Include everyone

It’s important that everyone is heard during the goal-setting process. Each member of your team should feel they can speak openly and contribute their ideas for goals.

Having everyone’s input will help create goals that everyone is invested in.

Write down each team member’s ideas, no matter how silly, so that they feel heard. Together, you can go through each goal to decide if it works for the whole team.

3. Ask why

It’s important to discuss the purpose of your group goal so that everyone is on the same page. During your goal-setting session, create a relaxed atmosphere that encourages questions from everyone if there is any uncertainty.

What are we doing? Where do we want to be? What does success look like?

Every team member should have a shared vision for why you have set this common goal. It will give your team clarity on what you want to achieve and make it easier for everyone to work together.

10 tips to achieve your goals

Setting goals is just the beginning. After taking the time to identify what your goals are, achieving them is a whole other ball game.

Working to achieve your goals can feel overwhelming at times. Here are some effective goal-setting tips on how to achieve life goals to the best of your ability.

1. Have SMART goals

You’re not going to achieve your goals if they aren’t SMART. If you haven’t heard of SMART goals already, they are goals that are:

Research by the creators of goal setting theory, Locke & Latham, found that in 90% of studies conducted, specific and challenging goals lead to higher performance than when people were set either easy goals, “do your best” goals, or no goals at all.

Of course, goal completion is important, and having goals met or worked towards is the overall idea when setting them, but this is only really beneficial when the goals are productive in the workplace environment and will contribute to company success in some way.

This common pitfall can be incredibly demotivating for staff. They’re either left with an abundance of time in which they are not pushing themselves, or left feeling stressed and demotivated when they fail to complete goals in the time frame provided.

By setting goals that have these characteristics, you’re setting yourself up for greater success.

SMART goals examples

Now, let’s walk through some SMART goal examples.

S. Provide more growth and learning opportunities to each member of my team

M. Give feedback to each member at least 2 times per month

A. Feedback should come from the manager

R. Improves team communication and feedback culture

T. Provided before the end of the next quarter

S. Have customers complete satisfaction rating surveys at the beginning of their contract and again after two quarters

M. Increase customer satisfaction by 15% over the next two quarters

A. Customer success team to analyze and report improvements every two weeks

R. Become well-known as a company for our focus on customer satisfaction

T. The following 2 quarters

S. Begin new social media campaign

M. Generate 75 new content downloads

A. Marketing team responsible for running campaign and measuring performance

R. Promote our new feature

T. In the next two months

2. Write them down

Don’t just daydream about your goals — put pen to paper and write them down. This makes your goals more tangible and makes them seem more real.

A study by Dr. Gail Matthews of Dominican University of California shows the effectiveness of writing down goals. According to his research, people who write their goals have a better chance of accomplishing more than those who do not write down their goals.

3. Make your goals visible

To keep your eyes on the prize, put your written goals somewhere you’ll see them. It should be a place you visit regularly so that you’re constantly reminded of where you want to be.

If it’s your personal goals, put them on your bathroom mirror or fridge as a nudge every morning of what you want to achieve.

For teams, your group goals should be somewhere all your team members can see them. This could be a bulletin board or incorporated online into your group management software.

4. Break it down

Because goals are often long-term and abstract by nature, make them more digestible by breaking them down.

Use a “goal ladder” by writing your main goal at the top rung of the ladder. Work your way through the rest of the ladder steps, writing down the smaller goals you need to achieve in order to achieve your main goal.

5. Develop a plan

Now that you know what you’re working toward, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to get there.

Write down the individual steps you need to take to achieve goals. Creating an action plan will keep you on track. As you work your way through each step of your plan, cross it off so you can see how much further you have to go and feel optimistic about your progress.

6. Take action

Goals aren’t going to achieve themselves. Once you’ve got a clear plan of how you want to achieve your goals, it’s time to get proactive.

Put your plan into action. Even the smallest act makes you one step closer to your goal.

7. Keep perspective

It can be easy to become obsessed with achieving your goals. You might reach a point where you feel you would do anything you have to in order to get closer to achieving your goal.

But this can lead to burnout and even abandonment of your goal.

Avoid burnout by living a balanced life. Take breaks from your plan and look at the bigger picture. Practice kindness toward yourself and give yourself time.

8. Identify potential obstacles

Be realistic in that you’re going to face challenges along the way. Recognize what these problems might be and make a note of them.

Being aware of your potential obstacles will make them less intimidating if you are faced with them along your journey toward success.

9. Be accountable

Trying to accomplish a goal entirely by yourself can be lonely and overwhelming. Accountability helps you make consistent, steady progress and keeps you striving toward your goals.

Keep yourself accountable by sharing your goals with a friend. If it’s a group goal, have your team share their goals with another team.

10. Reflect and adjust

Maybe you haven’t achieved your goals in the time frame you wanted to. Maybe your goals were a bit too unrealistic. And that’s ok.

Rather than feeling defeated, take time to review your goals and see what you can change. You might need to adjust your goals or maybe just tweak your plan to achieve them.

Ready to set life goals and achieve them?

Now that you know how important goals are, it’s time to take the first step toward setting goals and achieving them.

Whether it’s personal goals for yourself or company-driven goals for your team, the goal-setting process can help you find purpose and meaning in your life.

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and your team members. Even if you don’t reach all of your goals, just having them written down can provide a deeper sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.

Still not sure how to set goals and achieve them? Or do you just need more help on your goal-setting journey?

Get in touch with a BetterUp coach to guide your team on the path to reaching their full potential.

How to Achieve Your Goals in 9 Steps

Do you want to achieve your goals?

Do you want to know how to achieve your goals?

But wait a minute, do you have goals?

Most people don’t have goals, they only have wishes, and wishes are not goals. Wishes are just vague words with no power beyond them, lacking the incentive and motivation to make them come true.

There are so many articles and books nowadays, trying to teach you how to achieve your goals, but what’s the use of them, if you don’t have goals?

Are goals necessary? For some people they matter, and for others they don’t matter. Some people need them, others don’t care about them. Some are too lazy to define goals and follow them, and others are quite happy without goals.

The truth is that everyone has goals, but most of them are minor goals, such as arriving on time to work, see a certain movie, or cook a certain dish.

Next, there are bigger goals, such as finding a new job, earning more money, or buying a car.

Still bigger goals are buying a house, having a successful business, becoming the CEO of a big company, a prime minister or a president.

The bigger the goal, the smaller is the number of people trying to achieve it.

Goals are not related only to money, possessions or status. Being successful with love, learning new skills, or making progress in self-improvement or meditation are also goals.

To achieve a goal, you must step beyond wishing and beyond daydreaming. There must be a definite and clear goal, a plan, and a burning desire.

How to Achieve Your Goals – 9 Steps and Tips

Below, you will find 10 steps, showing how to achieve goals. These are suggestions. Some steps and tips might suitable for you, and some might not.

1. Define what you want as clearly as possible

You cannot achieve anything if you don’t know what you want. Devote to this step as much time as you need. If you don’t define your goal, everything would be just vague and you will not know how to proceed and would not be able to formulate a plan.

2. Find out what information and what skills you need

Every goal requires you to be familiar with some sort of information and to possess certain skills. You need to know what they are, and if you don’t possess them, starting working on getting the information and developing the skills.

3. A clear mental image

Build a clear image in your mind of what you want to get or achieve, and focus your attention on it a few times a day. This will unfold new ideas and opportunities, and make it clearer to you what you need to do next.

4. Find some pictures that show the things you want to do

Looking at pictures, showing what you want to do or get, keep you motivated and focused on the goal.

Do you want a house? Get some photos of houses. Do you want a car? Get a photo of the car you want. Do you want swim faster, run faster, find love or have more money? Get photos pf people who achieved success in these areas.

Look often at these photos, a few times a day. Imagine that they are part of your life, and visualize yourself doing or getting similar things, as in the photos.

5. Believe you can get what you want

Set goals that you believe you can achieve. The goals can be big or small, but it is important that you believe you can make them come true. If you have doubts, or think they are too big or unrealistic, you will set obstacles on your way.

6. Make plans

Don’t just wait for things to happen. Set realistic and practical plans that you can follow.

7. You need perseverance

You can know everything about how to achieve your goals, but without perseverance you will not achieve them.

All kinds of obstacles and difficulties might stand in your way to success, but if you possess persistence you will not be intimidated or discouraged by them. Getting to the starting line and beginning to run is the first step, but also need to arrive to the finish line, and for this you need persistence and self-discipline.

8. Keep doing and working

Every day, do at least one thing to get you closer to where you want to go. The key to success is doing things and not standing still. Each action and each step will get you closer to where you want to go.

9. Review what you are doing

These questions should be from the sincere desire to improve what you are doing and progress toward your goal, not because of doubts or disbelief.

If you want to know more about how to achieve your goals, I would recommend reading the following articles too:

If you want to learn how visualization can help you achieve your goals, I suggest you read the book Manifest and Achieve, where everything is explained in detail.

About the Author

My name is Remez Sasson. I am the author and creator of SuccessConsciousness.com, which I have been running since 2001. Join me on a fabulous journey to self improvement, happiness, success, positive lifestyle, conscious living and meditation, through my website, articles and books.

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