We are at the end of another year and for many this is a time of reflection. How did the year go for you? Did you achieve what you wanted to achieve or did you fall short in some categories? If you are like me (and most people) then there are some things that went well and some things that didn't. There are probably a lot of goals that you wanted to achieve this year that you didn't. Or maybe you didn't even set goals for the year. I want to give you a strategy to set and achieve your goals next year. The process of determining what you want to achieve and how to achieve them can be intimidating. You might not know where to start. Hopefully this three part series will help you. In part one I will talk about how to determine what goals to set, in part two I will talk about how to achieve these goals, and in part three I will talk about some goals that I personally have set in the past, how they turned out, what I would do differently, and what goals I am setting for myself for next year.. Hopefully by the end of this three part series you will be ready to tackle the new year with a game plan.
The first step in setting goals is determining what you what to achieve. This can be an exciting process if you think about what all you want to do in a year. It can be very easy to get carried away and write down 10-20 goals or more. I would encourage you to take a step back, however, and really focus on two or three goals. The more goals we set the less likely we will be to achieve ANY of them. The human brain can only focus on so many things at once. If we are getting pulled in 20 different directions by 20 different goals then we will most likely get overwhelmed and not achieve any of them. For this reason I would encourage you to set not more than 3 goals. So what goals should you set? How do you pick a goal? One strategy is to write down everything that you think you might want to achieve. Then go through that list and pick the 3 that will have the absolute MOST benefit to your life. What three things that if you achieved would move the needle the most in your life? Every person is different so this will take some introspection. It could be getting debt free. It could be losing 50 pounds. It could be adding 50 pounds to your back squat. Every person has different goals for their life so it will be up to you to make this decision. Think about what three areas of your life you would most like to change and select those.
Once you have determined the two or three goals or areas of your life then you want to set the actual goal. This is where I see most people falter. There are a few mistakes that I see consistently. One is not being specific enough. Some people might say I want to work out more, or lose weight, or eat healthier, or save more money. All of those are great but what does that even mean? How do you know if you achieved it or not? How do you measure it? Setting a goal like this to me just seems like you are saying something just to say you set it. Very little to no thought went into it and there is about a 0% chance that you will change anything in your life. Your goals need to be specific. If you want to work out more then say you want to work out a specific amount each week. If you want to lose weight then determine a specific amount. If you want to save money then determine a specific amount to save each month or each year. You have to set a specific goal so that you will know when you achieve it.
Another mistake I see a lot is setting your goals too modestly. People do this because it decreases their chance of failing. If you say you want to lose ten pounds this year, or save $50 a month, or work out 3 days a week then they are much less likely to fail (in their eyes). This is a big mistake, however. You wont really have to change your life much to achieve these, and if you do achieve them then your life won't change much. Your goals need to be big. They need to scare you. They need to force you to become a different person to achieve them and they need to have a big impact on your life if you achieve them. Instead of saying you want to lose 10 pounds, say you want to lose 50 or 100. Instead of saying you want to save $50 a month, say you want to save $10,000 this year. Instead of saying you want to workout 3 days a week, say you want to workout 300 days next year. There are a few reasons you should set your goals so big. The first is that, by the shear bigness if your goal, it will motivate you into action. You know that if you are going to achieve such a big goal you better start working now. If you know you need to lose 100 pounds this year then you will have to make a lot of changes to your life, starting now. If you only want to lose 10 pounds then you will keep putting it off because you can get to it later when life slows down. The second reason to set your goals so high is because, even if you don't achieve them, you will still get farther than if set modest goals. If you say you want to lose 100 pounds this year and lose 70 then you are still way farther ahead than if you lose 10. You might look at that as not achieving your goal, but I would look at it as a huge win because you lost 70 pounds. Remember that goals are just tools to get us where we want to go. Shoot for the moon, as they say, and even if you miss you will still be in the stars. It’s corny but it’s true.
The last thing to think about when setting goals is to set a time domain. When will you achieve your goal? This is very important. You need to have a specific time that your goal will be achieved by. If you don't give yourself a time limit then you won't have the sense of urgency to make a change. “Sure it would be nice to lose 10 pounds, but I’m busy with life right now so I will get do that later” We all know this thought process and have all had it and some point or other. Write down when you will achieve your goal. The more specific the better.
So let's look at some sample goals. Remember the main points. 1. We only need to set two or three goals. 2. We need to set goals that will have the biggest impact on our lives. 3. Our goals need to be specific. 4. We need to set big, audacious, scary goals. 5. We need to have a timeframe for achieving our goals.
Here are three sample goals and how I would write them down:
1. I, John Smith, will lose 100 pounds by January 1, 2021
2. I, John Smith, will have $10,000 in my savings account on January 1, 2021
3. I, John Smith, will go to the gym 300 times in 2021
Notice that these goals fit all of the criteria. There are 3. They will have a big impact on this person's life. They are specific. They are very big. They have a timeframe. If this person changed nothing else in their life but achieved these three things then their life would be COMPLETELY different. This is the goal with setting goals. Goals are tools to help us have an impact in our life. Choosing the right goals can change your life if you do it right.
Now that we know how to set goals, the next step is to figure out how to achieve them. We will talk about that in part 2 of this series next week. Stay tuned!