If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. – Jim Rohn
My last post was about challenges and this one is about goals: can you tell I need a bit of structure and direction? I think we all do. I’ve been able to accomplish a lot in a small amount of time (working 3 jobs + blogging + planning my wedding), but I’m really no different than anyone else. If I didn’t set goals, I would probably spend my weekends playing Skyrim.
Don't be afraid to change your goals now and then photo: Vinni123
Why you should bother with goals
I know exactly what you’re thinking: “But Skyrim is a total blast!” That’s true, but there are some great reasons to set goals that go beyond beating Skyrim.
You’ll feel good about yourself. There’s no better feeling than reaching an important goal. Victory is yours! Not only that, but having goals gives you a sense of direction and hope for the future.
You’ll gain momentum. I find that the more often I complete important tasks or goals, the more likely I am to complete another one soon. I start to gain momentum and become more productive every day.
You’ll be laser focused. It’s one thing to think you want to start a blog. It becomes something when you start making a list of smalls goals that will get you there. As you start setting those initial goals, an entire blog plan will emerge in your mind.
Setting the right goals
You need to set goals. More specifically, you need to set the right goals. The most famous goal-setting method is called SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely, Evaluate, Revaluate. I can’t remember all that, so here’s my ÉLAN method for setting goals:
Make sure it’s something you can do (in not too much time) and make sure you know when it’s done.
Your goals don’t all have to be immediately attainable (I’m all about doing the impossible), but it’s a good idea to focus on attainable goals, too. You need to have some successes to build momentum. Then, you can start doing the impossible.
The most important aspect of any goal is its measurability. You have to be be able to know when you’ve completed your goal. A common goal is fluency in a second language. How do you know when you’re fluent? Is it when you can translate War and Peace into that language? Or is it when you can hold a 15-minute conversation without getting stuck? Those are drastically different, yet entirely valid, definitions of fluency. Define a specific goal that you can measure.
Finally, if your goal is making you unhappy then change it. A good goal should motivate and excite you, not stress you out. As Corbett Barr points out, a goal is not a contract. It can be changed at any time to suit your needs.
What goal are you currently working on? How will you know when it’s complete?
Go check out my ever-evolving “bucket list” to see what goals I’m working on now.
Right now, I’m working on my final six weeks of a seven year journey to get my master’s degree, paying off over $15k in debt, and trying to save an emergency fund. Oh, and eat healthier!
I already tweeted it, but congrats on your upcoming graduation! That’s such a fantastic achievement.
I’m also trying to eat healthier this year. So far I’ve cut out pop and coffee (except for one cup in the morning), but I need to focus on eating less processed food.
Great post! I agree with everything you said about how to approach goals. Last year was the first year I really focused on goal setting, and it change my life.
This year I’m working on increasing my income online and I want to average 1,000 blog visitors a day by the end of the year.
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I agree that it will change your life! Just this morning, my husband (Amir) said to me: “I love this new Élan who always wants to be meeting new people and doing new things. She’s way better than the Élan that would just sit at home on the computer.” Setting goals has helped me moved from reading about things to doing things.
That’s a great goal to have! I have a lot of blogging goals, too. My first one is to get 100 visitors per day! I hope I’ll accomplish that in May, after my 30-day blogging challenge. I’ll have more content here and some great guest posts to send out. I’m trying your recommendation and saving all my best posts for someone else.
I agree. Setting goals is very important. To achieve what we want, we must set our goal and focus on it. Again, I agree with you that you have to set a date of when this goal should be completed in order for you to focus on it and do it successfully.
Absolutely! Setting a date is a great idea. If you don’t complete your goal by the date you intended, stop and reevaluate about your progress and your method.
Setting Clear goals forces us to come up with clear plans to achieve our goals. Once we get clear plans we can take action and with lots and lots of action we can achieve our goal.
Reviewing goals is also important since when we begin to work on our goals things tend to become lot more clear. Then we become more and more sure of what we actually want. So setting a goal is essential to achieve success.
I absolutely agree, and I think it’s essential to review your goals as you’re working on them, just like you said. Thanks for the comment!
I think you’re right on with why you need to bother with goals. You’re especially right about it builds momentum. I remember how many changes I made during the past few years and it just seems like it all snowballs. At one point it even seemed as if good changes pushed me to do even better things. It was like some great feedback loop.
My biggest goal this year is to successfully get through grad school and graduate. Part of that will mean doing some of my school abroad in Morocco. I can’t wait for that!
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Hi Steve! What are you studying? I have been looking at a grad school program here in MN that would take me to Morocco, too. Visiting Morocco is on my “bucket list”, so it would be a double whammy. Thanks for the comment!