Anything worth doing requires a goal, right? But just setting a goal isn’t enough. Effective goal-setting requires a plan. But even before you can develop a plan, you have to know exactly what success means and the strategies it will take to get there.
Here are 5 keys to effective goal-setting:
1. Develop a Clear Vision
While it might seem obvious, knowing what you hope to accomplish is crucial to achieving your goal. When we take a trip, before we can map out our route, we need to know our destination. It seems obvious, right? Yet, too often our goals are too fuzzy, too general, or too unrealistic to provide the incentive or guidance we need to get on the right track. Start with a clear vision of your goal, one that you can easily explain and understand. If your endgame can’t be easily articulated to someone else, then your goal might not be clear enough. For example, consider the difference between these two goals: “Travel somewhere and learn new things” and “Travel to Egypt and learn about pyramid architecture.” One is focused and concise, while the other is open-ended and blurry. Without that focus, you’ll never be able to create a road map towards that goal.
2. Write Down Your Goal
Writing down your goal is an essential step towards achieving it. When you write something down, you take a delicate and transient idea from your mind – something prone to disappear as quickly as it appeared – and bring it into the realm of physical reality. Now, when you look at that piece of paper or computer screen, you see something real and tangible. There are a plethora of studies that show that writing something down not only helps you to remember it, but also to visualize the components that make the entirety of the goal.
When writing down your goals, use the SMART Goals formula for an effective strategy. Your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Goals that fit these five criteria contain the built-in elements you need to create an actionable plan for achieving them. Create two sets of SMART Goals: one for short-term goals and one for long-term goals.
3. Get Things Done (GTD)
This is often the most challenging part of the process, but also, the most essential. However, a little organization and a good plan of action, like David Allen’s Five Steps that Apply Order to Chaos, will help you Get Things Done (GTD). By categorizing everything that demands your attention, you can put everything in its proper place in the grand scheme of things. This allows you to free yourself to create and follow your plan without distraction, making the transition from planning to action a much smoother one. Your GTD plan will include a list of the specific steps you need to take to meet your goals. Think of each small task as a mini-goal that you can accomplish in a few hours, a day, or a week. Each time you check one of these mini-goals off the list, you are taking a step towards accomplishing your overall goal. GTD will help you clear away the mental clutter, free your mind of barriers, and actually Get Things Done.
Weekly reviews are another crucial step in the GTD process. Checking on what you’ve done and what you still need to do will help you track progress and adjust your plan as needed. Sometimes you will have to add or remove mini-goals based on changing circumstances, but this is good, because this means you’re actively assessing the path towards your goal. These regular assessments let you fine-tune your approach and make sure you stay on track towards completing tasks and achieving goals.
4. Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Never underestimate the power of the “soon to be” to motivate you. When you have concrete and measurable goals and a solid plan for achieving them, and you match it with decisive action, the tangible rewards on the horizon will draw you forward like a magnet. Whether your goal is to be published in a magazine, to sell that big account, or to land that important new vendor, keep the prize in view. Once you have the details in order, you’ll find that visualizing the prize will not only be easier, but it will give you the drive and passion to move forward, even on the most difficult days.
5. Review, Assess, Repeat
Reviewing and assessing the end results of your goal-setting process is another key to consistently achieving your goals. Each time you practice these time-tested goal-setting techniques, you’ll learn something new and achieving future goals will be easier. You’ll learn more about yourself and fine-tune your personal formula, getting that much closer to perfecting your method every time you set a goal.
Get Those Goals Going!
Goals are what make the world go around. Without them, we are just aimlessly throwing out effort and hoping we hit the mark. So first, make sure you have SMART goals, but then – just as importantly – make sure you have a good plan and process to make them a reality!
Get Things Done!
