January is a popular month for setting goals. According to statistics, it’s also a popular month for people to decide that they may have bitten off more than they can chew. That doesn’t have to be you, though. If you’re determined to set goals and achieve them, these are some great tips for making sure you’ll be satisfied when December rolls around.
1. Choose Passion
People may not always find it easy to stick to the goals that they’ve set but it’s more likely to happen if they’re passionate about it. If you want to accomplish your goals, seek out what actually holds your interest. Don’t go for the ones that other people have set or what an external source says you should focus on. You’ll probably give it up if you’re not dedicated.
2. Make Your Goals Realistic
In that same vein, lofty goals may look attractive but if they’re not achievable, you’ll only end up demotivated. When setting your goals, assess where you are now and where you’d like to be. If your end goal seems far away, you may be looking at a long-term plan instead of a one-year one. Break the overall plan into small achievable goals and move from there.
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3. Be As Specific As You Can
Sometimes when people set goals, they focus on the wrong thing. “I want to get 10 new customers for my business.” That sounds good but it’s not specific enough. What do you need to get there? It might help to look at these possibilities instead: Updating at least one aspect of my website per day, creating one new product per month, or researching and implementing one new marketing campaign per quarter.
4. Set Your Priorities
In many cases, all your goals won’t have the same urgency and you should treat them accordingly. After you’ve decided on your goals, arrange them in order of priority. This includes determining how long each goal is supposed to take. Are there smaller tasks that can be accomplished while you’re waiting for another to be done?
5. Include Risks And Threats
An important point to note is that accomplishing goals aren’t always completely up to you. What if you plan to launch a new product and your supplier runs out of materials? While you’re setting your goals, look at all the external factors that could affect how well things can turn out. It can help with designing a backup plan.
6. Write It All Down
After putting in all that work, you can’t possibly leave it in your head, can you? Absolutely not. Even as you’re brainstorming, write down everything that you’ve come up with. When your goals are finalized, write it all down in a way that will be usable for you. Some people prefer a large chart they can place on a wall and look at every day. Others like having a document they can scribble on. Find what works for you.
7. Seek Accountability
Nothing says you’re serious about your goals quite like telling others about it. It helps when you go even a step further to ask them to hold you accountable. Whether you tell your family members, close friends, work colleagues, or a professional group, the result will be the same. They’ll keep checking up on you to see where you are and offer support where necessary.
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8. Create Checkpoints
Twelve months is a long time and a lot can change between the time you’ve set your goals and six months in. Make sure to set check-in times throughout the timespan of your tasks. These should be well within your deadlines so you have time to change things if you need to.
9. Give Yourself Room To Re-evaluate
This step works well with your checkpoints. Occasionally, you’ll find that a particular goal may no longer be achievable. Whether that means setting it aside completely or assigning a longer timeline depends on you. However, re-evaluation is important so you’re not wasting time and energy on tasks that won’t get you where you want to be.
10. Reward Yourself
Finally, make plans to reward yourself for what you’ve accomplished. Some experts suggest that celebrating completing each task, no matter how small, can be an effective way to motivate you to get more done. The rewards don’t have to be big either. Focus on the small things that make you happy.
Anyone can set goals but if they don’t take them seriously, nothing will get done. Of course, there’s always room for improvement so don’t get demotivated if things don’t go exactly as you planned. You can use the lessons you learned to inform what you want for the next year.
