Discover 7 powerful goal-setting strategies to unlock your full potential and achieve your dreams. Learn how to set goals and achieve them.
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We’re just three months away from the new year, and I thought now would be the perfect time to share 7 simple tips that really helped me plan my goals and achieve them this year. You might wonder why I’m sharing this blog post so early, but if you genuinely want to reach your goals for the upcoming year, starting your planning ahead of time is key. Don’t wait until January; start laying the foundation for your success now.
These simple goal-setting strategies have been proven to work, and I’m excited to share them with you to help you make the upcoming year your best one yet. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through 7 steps for setting and achieving your goals. Additionally, I’ll recommend some books I’ve read this year that had a significant impact on helping me reach my goals.
Many people become discouraged when it comes to setting goals for the new year because they often give up by February. However, the reason for this is down to two reasons: firstly, they haven’t set their goals properly (which I’ll show you how to do), and secondly, they struggle with limiting beliefs (I’ll also share how to overcome these).
I hope this blog post helps you set your goals and experience the benefits of goal setting properly as I have since incorporating these strategies.
This post is all about goal setting.
Goal Setting
How To Set Goals And Achieve Them
1. Planning
The first step is thinking about what you want to accomplish in the coming year. Is there something you couldn’t quite achieve last year that you’d like to tackle now? Maybe there’s an area you want to improve, like your health or a particular skill. Take a moment to reflect on your desires and then organize them into 4 categories (e.g. personal, health & fitness, business & career, faith or home & family).
Now, here’s the key: limit yourself to just three goals for each category. By doing this, you make your goals more manageable and realistic. Plus, you’ll have enough time to work on them without feeling overwhelmed. Once you’ve outlined what you want to achieve, turn those plans into SMART goals.
2. SMART Goal Setting
SMART goal setting is a framework for setting clear, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives. I will go through each below:
Specific
Once you plan out your goals, you need to turn each goal into a specific goal. For example, if one of your health goals was to start eating healthier then you need to be more specific on how you will eat healthier. A specific goal would be: “Cook at home 6 times a week by planning meals every Sunday and limit takeouts to once a week.” This clearly shows you that in order to start eating healthier you will have homecooked meals at least 6x a week and only have takeout once a week.
But in order to achieve this goal you need to also stack your goals through habit stacking to ensure you are also being specific on when you will be implementing this goal.
For instance, let’s say your usual Sunday evening routine is: Dinner, wash up, watch TV, go to bed. Your new routine will be like this: Dinner, wash up, watch TV, plan new week’s meals, and then go to bed. This will help you achieve your goals because you are not only being specific with what you want to achieve but you are also being specific on when you will be implementing your goals.
Measurable
You need to make sure your goals are measurable. For instance, you can’t set a goal that says ‘read more books’ because that is not measurable. How many books? Let’s say you want to read 1 book every month and 10 pages a day. You can easily measure this through progress tracking by seeing if every day you are reading 10 pages in order to meet the goal of 1 book per month.
When you make sure your goals are measurable, it becomes easier to see whether you’re making progress or not, and also shows you whether you are showing up for yourself. so, if you ever wondered ‘Why is it that goals be measurable?’ then this is the reason why.
Achievable
Typically, the word achievable within SMART goal setting means making sure they’re realistic and doable given your current situation and resources. However, I firmly believe that you can achieve anything, regardless of your circumstances.
The reason I mention this is because it ties back to what I mentioned earlier: Keep your goals to a maximum of three per category, and limit yourself to four or five categories at most. This approach makes it more manageable and increases your chances of success. If you try to tackle too many categories with numerous goals, like six or seven categories with ten goals each, it can become overwhelming and you are most likely going to give up.
Relevant
Make sure your goals match up with what you value and your long-term plans. When you set a yearly goal, it’s a good idea to break it down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals. But you need to make sure that these smaller goals are connected and relevant to your main goal.
Time Bound
Assign a deadline to your goals to add a sense of urgency. While this may not apply to every goal, there are certain ones where setting a time limit can be quite effective.
Take, for example, the goal of applying for a job you’ve always wanted. Decide on a specific month when you’ll complete that application. This time constraint creates urgency and motivates you to work towards the goal. You might need to prepare by improving your CV, gaining experience, or improving a skill to strengthen your application. So, your daily, weekly, and monthly goals can revolve around these preparations, ensuring you’re ready to start your application by the set deadline.
3. Prioritize Your Goals
To reach your goals, it’s crucial to prioritize them. Many people give up on their goals or feel like failures because they try to tackle too many at once. By prioritizing, you identify which goals matter most and focus on the most important ones. But you need to make sure you are focusing on one goal at a time as this is proven to help people achieve their goals.
Here’s what I did this year: for the first three months, I concentrated on my most vital goals (especially the ones with a deadline – goes back to time-bound). These were the ones I knew I really needed to achieve this year. I made sure to set monthly goals that would lead me closer to those big ones. Some goals, like health, require continuous effort throughout the year.
For example, if you have three business-related goals, pick the most crucial one and start working on it straight away. This way, even if you don’t accomplish all your goals in the new year, you’ll know you’ve achieved the most important ones. That’s not to say you won’t achieve the others, but sometimes life can get in the way, and some goals may need more time. In such cases, carry them forward into the following year. The key is to never give up on your goals and dreams.
4. Break Down Goals Into Smaller Steps
There’s a saying that goes, ‘The secret to success is hidden in your daily routine.’ In simple terms, what you do each day determines whether you’ll achieve your goals. That’s why it’s crucial to break your goals into smaller steps, also known as daily goals.
For instance, if you want to start working out five times a week, Monday to Friday, you’ll need to create a daily habit of exercising for 10-30 minutes. But it’s equally important to specify when you’ll implement this goal (remember the ‘specific’ part of SMART goal setting) and use habit stacking. Here’s an example: ‘At 7 a.m. when I wake up, I’ll follow this routine: brush my teeth, do a 30-minute workout, take a shower, have breakfast, and get ready for work.’ This daily habit helps you track your progress and ultimately achieve your goal of working out five times a week.
5. Create A Vision Board
I didn’t fully grasp how powerful making a vision board could be in goal setting until I made my first one last year (the pictures above are not my goals – just an example I created). Having a visual reminder every day really motivated me to see why I started and why I should stick to my daily habits to reach my goals. Create one and place it somewhere you’ll see it every day. For instance, your laptop wallpaper or on your bedroom wall – wherever works for you.
How To Create A Vision Board:
Above is an example of a vision board I created (not my goals) and if you want to create a similar vision board, here are the steps to take:
You can also watch a short 10-second video tutorial I shared HERE
- Begin by exploring Pinterest for images that resonate with your goals. For instance, if your goal is to travel to Greece, find and save a picture that captures that dream. Also, download affirmation quotes so you can always see and read those affirmations out loud (make sure they link to your goals).
- At the right-hand corner there are 3 dots when you click on the image. Click that and download the image.
- Once you have downloaded all your images, go to Canva.com and click on ‘Create a design’ in the top right-hand corner. On the search button write ‘wallpaper’ then click on desktop wallpaper.
- Once you are in, upload all your downloaded images. Select and place them where you want them to be – adjust the size if needed (I do some big, some small, and some I may have to crop out). I would recommend placing them in ‘sections’ without actually creating a section. For example, one corner has all your personal goal images, the bottom corner has your health goal images, and the other two corners have your two other categories. This way your images are not all over the place.
- When you complete your vision board, select text and ‘add a heading’, choose your font, and write the year that you will be working on these goals.
You can also print out the pictures you downloaded, and stick them in this vision board I have (and LOVE!) so you can place it somewhere in your house (e.g. your room) and see it every day.
6. Stay Positive
Maintain a positive mindset. Visualize your success and use affirmations to boost your confidence. This is incredibly important for achieving your goals. While working towards your goals, you may face setbacks that can challenge your positivity. You might start doubting your abilities or knowledge. Whatever it is, to reach your goals, you must overcome these limiting beliefs. Here’s a simple process:
- Identify Your Limiting Beliefs: Recognize what’s holding you back.
- Transform Them into Affirmations: For instance, if you think, ‘I lack the knowledge and skills to start my dream business,’ change it to, ‘I will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to launch my dream business.’ Repeating this affirmation will boost your confidence and keep you going when you encounter obstacles.
Remember the quote, ‘You always pass failure on the way to success’ by Mickey Rooney. Clear away those limiting beliefs, build confidence, believe in your ability to achieve anything, and have faith in yourself.
7. Write Down How Each Goal Will Make You Feel
I never realized the incredible power of writing down how achieving each goal would make me feel until I did so myself. If you are looking to achieve your goals in the upcoming year then DO NOT miss this step. This is another amazing way to get rid of limiting beliefs.
After you’ve planned your goals, put them in writing, and created your vision board, it’s time for this next step. This step can also aid you in staying positive.
Writing down how achieving each goal will make you feel is like painting a vivid picture of your future self. It intensifies your desire for the goal and keeps you motivated, even when you face setbacks. Here’s an example: Let’s say your focus is on a business goal, like earning a specific amount of money by year-end. List down how this achievement would make you feel. Envision your future self in that precise moment, and imagine the emotions, like the exhilaration of quitting your job or the joy of being able to afford a family vacation. Put these feelings into words.
This practice works wonders, and I genuinely believe it’s what keeps individuals going and committed to their goals. It’s a fantastic way to manifest your aspirations.
Book Recommendations:
These are the books I recommend to help you build habits to help you achieve your goals and manifest them too.
Achieving your goals begins with clear goal-setting, breaks down into actionable steps, embraces daily habits, and thrives on positivity. So, as you start this journey to achieving your goals, remember to stay focused, stay self-disciplined, and never give up on your dreams.
I hope you found this helpful and you achieve all your goals!
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Lots of love, Mariam x
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This post was all about effective goal-setting strategies.
Other posts you may also like:
- 5 Healthy Daily Habits To Take Into The New Year And 5 Unhealthy Habits To Abandon
- 5 Ways To Get Back On Track With Your Healthy Habits
- Embracing Self-Care Sundays: Nourish Your Mind, Body, And Soul
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