Proven Approach to Conquering Your Goals
Posted on July 09, 2014 by Meghan Hulsey, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
If you're anything like me, you've got a lot of things you want to do in life. Blast through your goals with this proven approach.
1. Define your goals
What do you hope to accomplish? Whether they are short-term goals for the day, the month or the year, or long term goals for the next five years, or your life, it is important to write them down. Make sure that your goals are realistic. It’s okay to have big dreams, but if you make them too fantastic, you will be discouraged from working toward them. Include details about specifically what you hope to accomplish. You are less likely to achieve vague goals.
Example:
Good: I will earn a 4.0.
Bad: I will earn good grades.
The second example is not a good goal because you will not be able to tell when you have achieved your goal. How will you be able to tell when you have achieved your goal?
2. Give yourself a deadline
When do you want to accomplish your goals by? You don’t have to include an exact date, but the more specific you are with your deadline, the more likely you are to achieve your goals. Procrastination is one of our terrible diseases. Whether people are given a week or a month, they are more likely to do the work within the last few days before the deadline. As with your goal, the deadline should be realistic. When can you realistically achieve this goal? Don’t give yourself so much time that you get lazy and never do it, and yet not so little that you feel pressured.
Examples:
Good: I will earn a 4.0 this semester.
Bad: I will earn a 4.0 one of my years at college.
The second deadline is too vague. It’s easy to push off the goal or forget about it. How will you know which semester to focus on? (Hint: We’ve only got today to worry about.)
3. Detail your approach
Write down how you plan to achieve your goals. If don’t have a plan, how are you going to get there? It’s very important to think critically and list all of the ways you plan to work toward achieving your goals. If you don’t know how to do something, find someone who knows, and ask them to help you.
Examples:
Good: I will pay attention and take detailed notes every day and in all of my classes. I will read each chapter, in each book, as we work through it for each class. I will carefully review the sections that will be on each test during the full two weeks prior to the test. If I have a question or don’t understand something, I will ask the teacher for help.
Bad: I will take good notes and try to pay attention in class.
The second example doesn’t include specific details. What do you mean my “good” notes? Don’t “Try” to do something, just do it. Also, there are many other things that could be added to this approach to make it more successful.
4. Tell everyone who will listen
If you make a deal with yourself and you’re the only one that knows, you’re way less likely to do it. Tell your family, tell you friends, post your commitment on Facebook. Let people know what you’re trying to do. Tell them about your deadline. Not only will you be able to gather the strength of the people around you, but you’ll be more likely to stick it out when other people are holding you accountable.
5. Follow through
Now that you know what you want to do and how you’re going to do it, get out there and do it! There’s no point in having goals if you don’t try to achieve them.
Remember, sometimes, you have to try multiple times before you are able to achieve a specific goal. Don’t give up! Think in terms of trials, not failures. Think: “This is my first try, this is my seven hundredth try; this is not a failure. I can always try again.” Walt Disney went bankrupt four times before creating The Walt Disney Company.
Evaluate your method: What did you learn from this trial? Is there something you can improve in your next trial? Experiment with different methods. When you don’t meet your goals, there’s a problem with your method, not you. If all else fails, seek help.
