In this article, I will share with you valuable knowledge on how to efficiently define your goals. Like it or not, planning is an important part of goal achievement and you need to become great at it.
A Foolproof Method to Set Your Goals and Achieve Them!
Table of Contents
Table of contents
Set goals that are important to you
Use the SMART method
Write your goals down
Plan your actions
Put your plan into action
Set goals that are important to you
Your goals must be important for you to be motivated enough to pursue them and put in the necessary work. You should only set 3 to 5 major goals in your life. From those you should define smaller goals and tasks, you need to complete to achieve these major objectives.
Use the SMART method
A great set your rules for you to clearly define your goals. According to this method, they should be:
- Specific: without clearly defined goals you will procrastinate.
- Measurable: you can do it by adding deadlines, amounts, percentages, etc.. E.g: “increase clients by 20% in the next 9 months”
- Attainable: goals need to be realistic and achievable or you’ll be setting yourself for failure and frustration.
- Relevant: align your goals with the professional and personal life you desire. Make sure shorter-term goals, take you closer to your long-term ones.
- Time-bound: setting deadlines will give you a sense of urgency to complete your tasks and, consequently, increase your productivity.
Write your goals down
Preferably somewhere you have to face them on a daily basis. You should also write down every necessary intermediary goal and task needed to achieve them. I usually use software like Trello or Asana to add all this information. They’re extremely useful for the next step.
Plan your actions
Now that you wrote down everything you need to do to achieve your goals. You just need to plan your days. Sunday afternoon, it’s a great day to plan for the week. Add everything you need to do, giving yourself realistic time blocks to do. If you use the software above, it’s a much easier process and you can even integrate them with your calendar.
Put your plan into action
You would be surprised at how easy it is to get de-railed from your plan. You should be flexible with your plan, but still, be able to get things done. If you’re constantly underachieving, it probably means you need to work on drafting better plans.