Five Ways to Set and Achieve Your Personal Goals

This article is all about goals, why they are important, how you can set them, and finally how to achieve them.

First off, what is a goal? Well in this context, a goal is a personal objective. Something you want to achieve within a specific period of time.

All successful people are goal-oriented. They know exactly what they want they are working toward the achievement of their goals every single day. They tend to accomplish far more than the average person in all aspects of life.

Goals are flexible and can be used for short term tasks such as booking a holiday or long term goals such as graduating from university. So how do we actually work with goals? There are myriads of ways to do this; I will present the 5 steps I have found working well. Remember that this is an important life skill so pay attention…

1. Decide exactly what you want

The more precise and clear your goals are the easier it will be to know when they are complete. Just like in business, objectives should be specific and measurable. Ensure they are achievable and within the realms of reality otherwise you will run the risk of them becoming demotivating. For instance, the chances of me winning a Nobel Prize this year are very slim, but me doing my next Toastmasters speech before Christmas could actually happen.

2. Write it down

If you do not write your goals down, they will merely be wishes. Something magical happens when you put pen to paper, your writing etches its way into your subconscious. I have found that writing by hand is more powerful than on a computer, just as with any learning.

3. Make it time-bound

Make your goals time-bound by setting deadlines and sub deadlines in case you break it down. Give yourself a realistic but aggressive time scales so that your goals challenge you. Goals are here to get things going as we all know that life is not a dress rehearsal.

4. Get it out there

By this I mean put the list of goals up very visible at home or at work, or if you prefer to put images of what you want to achieve up. When we see our goals, we are sending an important message to the brain that activates us, and we then take steps to do what must be done to attain those goals. Tell the world about your goals as well, this will make it very hard for you to pull out If you have ever run a race for charity, for instance, you know what I mean.

5. Take action immediately

You have to have momentum going and you should ideally be taking an action every day to bring you one step closer to the achievement of your goal. An example could be if you want to own a brand new Rolls-Royce, take action by ordering a brochure, or even book a test drive.

Bottom line

So that was the five steps, not exactly rocket science. It sounds easy enough but the trick is to keep things up and move closer to achieving your goals every day. I have found that the more clarity I have on goals the more likely I am to achieve them. Working with goals has worked really well for me, especially when writing them down and seeing them every day. Your subconscious gets to work and sometimes it feels like you attain a goal on autopilot.

So take the time to sort out what you want and then place your order… Having said that, if you do not have that clarity already it’s best to put something down now and you see these goals developing over time. Remember that goals aren’t carved in stone and as they are yours, you can change them as often as you like.