How to Set Goals – A Guide to Goal Setting plus Tips on How to Achieve Them

The beginning of the New Year or a new decade isn’t the only catalyst to learn how to set goals. Goal setting can be done at any point during the year or it can also be done a few times a year. Setting goals helps us put on paper the things we want to happen—it gives us an opportunity to envision our future and works as an incentive to push ourselves to eventually reach our dreams.

Last night, I wrote on my journal a list of things I have gone through and achieved in the past 10 years. This exercise helped me reflect and figure out what I’m currently lacking and what I need to focus on to live the life I want. Before you begin to learn how to set goals, you need to do two essential things:

Determine your big goals

Ask yourself what it is you really want out of life. What future do you envision for yourself? What is your desired outcome? Take some time to think about this. Consider if they align with your core beliefs and values. Are they realistic? If your dream is to be wealthy, don’t shoot it down as too ambitious because with planning, hard work and good relationships, that is achievable. However, if your dream is to marry Henry Cavill and you don’t know him and you don’t know anyone who knows anyone who might know him, then you’re in for a lifetime of waiting for nothing.

Some questions that may help you with identifying your big goals could be:

Do I really want this? Do I want to do this?

How does this make me feel? Does it excite me?

Will this make me happy?

Here’s another good advice I got from Stever Robbins who wrote an article about “How to Set Goals for the Life You Actually Want” on FastCompany.com:

Instead of setting life goals, think about setting a life direction. Figure out the things that would create a fun, meaningful, compelling journey.

Ask yourself:

How do I want to spend my time?

What daily activities make me want to leap out of bed?

What do I want to learn?

Who do I want to hang out with? Talk with? Collaborate with?

Now set your goal. Choose one that will create the journey you just designed.

In fact, the specific goal you set is almost arbitrary–it’s simply setting a direction so the pursuit itself gives you the life that you want. With the right journey, it won’t even matter if you reach your goal.

Identify your why

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Friedrich Nietzsche

What is it all for? What’s your cause? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? What is your purpose? Figuring out your why might be the only thing that’ll push you on your bad days when you’re feeling completely discouraged on your path to your big goal.

Once you’ve determined these two things then you’re now ready to start your journey.

GET SPECIFIC

Once you’ve identified your big goal, you need to map out the road you’ll take to get there. This is the time for you to list your smaller goals. These are actionable tasks that are in line with your plan or roadmap.

One of my big goals in life is to get a black belt in kickboxing. I only started my martial arts journey a few years ago and the reason why I learned it was to help me with my self-esteem and personal growth. I just got out of an extremely toxic relationship where a traumatising incident occurred that made me feel completely vulnerable and I felt that picking a sport that would teach me how to defend myself would be useful. My smaller goals to reach this big goal of earning my black belt are:

• Attend kickboxing club training twice a week

• Set up a free standing punching bag to help train at home

• Schedule a sparring session with one of the club members once a month

SET A TIMELINE

It’s important to note that when writing down actionable tasks, you also need to give yourself a timeline. You don’t have to strictly adhere to it because that’ll put unnecessary pressure on yourself. The pressure of dogmatic demands could set you up for failure. You just need to use it as a guideline.

Using the same example as previously mentioned, I currently have a blue belt in kickboxing. I’m aiming to get my black belt by the time I’m 35 years of age. I’m 30 so I’m giving myself a few years to earn my purple, brown and eventually my black belt.

e.g. Get graded in 6 months’ time

You can then use these as milestones.

REWARD YOURSELF

To keep yourself motivated, for each milestone reached, you need to reward yourself. You have to celebrate your small wins. It’ll help you keep going.

SCHEDULE INTERVALS

In your journey, you should include a few opportunities to check in.

It’s good practice to ask yourself if the goals you set in the past are still the same goals you want to achieve presently for your future.

Use this time to reassess and update your list.

Three things to remember:

1) Allow for flexibility

There are certain things in life that you can’t control. One thing that’s constant in this world is change so anything can happen—you need to accept that to avoid disappointment. Make sure to allow for flexibility so you can adapt.

2) Be kind to yourself

Please, for the love of God, be kind to yourself! Make sure you’re not putting yourself under extreme duress to reach your goals. If you’re sacrificing your physical, mental and emotional health for any of your goals, you need to stop.

3) Be present

Don’t be too caught up with trying to tick each and every single actionable task on your list. Enjoy the journey.

Here are 8 apps for goal setting that you might find useful:

Evernote (Free, Android and iOS)

Wunderlist (Free, Android and iOS)

Way of Life (Free, Android and iOS)

Coach.Me (Free, Android and iOS)

Habit Bull (Free, Android and iOS)

I’m thinking of designing a free downloadable goal setting worksheet template for you to use. Let me know in the comments below if this is something you would be interested in and what features you might like on it.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your short-term goals below.