In part one of my articles about setting goals...
I previously gave you some tips on goal setting as well as a goal setting planning tool. Today, I'm going to give you some great tips to complete this topic, with "3 Tips for Sticking to Your Goals How to be "SMART" about it."
Goal Setting Is a Must
We should strive to better our situation every day, but more often than not we find ourselves in the same old spot, not making much progress. We do not achieve our goals as we expected, and we keep wondering why and where we went wrong.
Well, change is hard. For us to realize our goals, we must learn how to stick to them. Below are tips that can help you stick to your goals and hence achieve them.
1. Set the right kinds of goals to focus on the right things in the right way
The first step of sticking to your goals and achieving them is by setting the right kind of goals. Create SMART goals, which is an acronym that stands for: Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic and Timely.
An important thing you must realize up front is that goals must meet all requirements of the SMART acronym, to give you the greatest probability for success in achieving your goal.
Let's look at these acronym elements of SMART for a moment, as they relate to goals:
S = Specific = if goals are not specific enough, then it is hard to make take the right actions to achieve them. For example, let's say your goal is to lose weight. By just saying "lose weight" that does nothing. Instead, target your goal more specifically - "lose 15 pounds" is much better.
M = Measurable = goals must be quantified and measurable, because if you can't measure something, then progress cannot be noticed and making improvements will be difficult to measure, especially over time. This relates to the first item, to be specific. Maybe you want to lose "15 pounds in a week" but this also brings another problem.
A = Achievable = Your goal must be achievable. 15 pounds in a week is not very achievable. However, 15 pounds in a month, in some cases, is achievable. However, for your situation, it might not be realistic.
R = Realistic = Your goal must be realistic. You cannot, for instance, lose 15 pounds, even in a month, if your timing only allows you to work out 3 times a week, instead of every day. This would further slow things down, so maybe losing that 15 pounds in 2 or 3 months is more realistic.
T = Time Based/Bound = Your goal should be time-based or time-bound, rather than open-ended. This means that losing 15 pounds should have a minimum limit, such as 2-3 months, and a maximum limit, such as 4-6 months.
This is also called your objective and threshold values, where your most desired "objective" might be 3 months but your least desired but still-acceptable "threshold" might be 6 months.
Without using the SMART approach for your goals, you might try to lose 15 pounds in a month, and fail. You would fail because although you had specific, time-based and measurable aspects of your goal covered, you were not being realistic and your goal was not achievable. What follows is feeling like a failure, and even quitting. That would be bad.
If you set realistic and SMART goals, you will be able to stick to them, and progress will be evident. Where progress is evident, there is motivation and you keep realizing even more goals. The lesson here is twofold:
First, your that must meet all requirements of the SMART acronym, rather than just part of it, as I mentioned previously. Second, incremental progress is the key to success in most things, to include goal setting and achieving.
2. Properly Prioritize Your Goals
The only way of doing something, is by doing it now, not later - because procrastination breeds more procrastination like quitting breeds more quitting. Do not procrastinate when it comes to achieving your goals.
If you have your priorities upside down, then you will not stick to your goals and consequently, you cannot achieve them. But if you prioritize your goals, then you will know what to do, and when to do it. If your goal is to work out in the morning, do not hit the snooze button, wake up and hit the gym!
3. Put Reminders in Place and Believe in Yourself - Have Faith!
Sometimes, our attention as human beings tends to wander off from our goals. To help yourself stick to your goals, put reminders in place, such as motivational post-it notes, or other things which can motivate and remind you. Set alerts on your phone. Use whatever works for you.
Doing these things will remind you that you have some goals to achieve, keeping you focused. Also, use the goal planning tool I gave you in my other post, or use whatever other tools you need to get started, and keep track of your progress.
Most importantly, believe that you can do it. Clear any doubts that you may have, and have faith that you can succeed, if you persevere. If you have doubts about achieving your goals, then you will lack the motivation to stick to them.
Believing in yourself gives you confidence that you can actually achieve your goals and that you are in control. Also, you can only achieve your goals if you stick to them. Have the self-discipline to see it through.
The above tips are a SMART way to measure and bound yourself to stick to your goals and eventually achieve them. Good luck, and I hope you found this helpful! #Goals #GTD
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