Goal Setting…One of the most popular topic ideas out there and so many people are telling you to do it!
But…what exactly is goal setting, why should we do it..and HOW do we do it correctly?
Why Should You Set Goals?
EVERYTHING that we do in life either moves us to the life we want or away from the life we want.
The choices we make, the actions we take, and the habits we build, are what determines where we end up in life.
Setting goals is like having a personal guide in unchartered territory.
If you don’t know where you want to go, you will never get there.
Goals give you a destination, but they also give you the journey to that destination.
A guide for your journey to ensure you are on the right path and don’t get lost in the woods.
Determining What Your Goals Are
In order to determine what your goals are and which goals you should set, you need to know where you want to go. To do this we need to ask ourselves a few questions.
- Question #1 – What makes me happy right now? And Why?
- Question #2 – What can you talk about for an hour or more without having to research or plan the topic? (these will be your interests, strong points, and potential strengths for your goal setting)
- Question #3 – Do I want to keep my life the way it is right now? Which parts do I want to keep? Which parts do I not want to keep?
- Question #4 – How can I grow this into the future? ( is it a Hobby? Feeling? Relationship? Career? How will each of those evolve as you get older and grow through your goals)
- Question #5 – What do I want to leave behind when I am gone? (This is a deep question that does need to be looked at in order to figure out how you want to live your life)
- Question #6 – What obstacles in your life currently may hold you back from reaching your goals? (Be brutally honest about this one so we can address each one, or you might not reach your goals.)
- Question #7 – Where do I want to be in 1 year? How about 5 years? 10 Years? (do this one after you have answered all the other ones to have a realistic idea of what you can accomplish in these time frames.)
Correctly Setting Obtainable Goals
Now that we have an idea of what our goals are, we need to set them in place.
Writing down your goals allows you to see them and make sense of them and their timeline so you can accomplish them.
This can be on your phone, tablet, or computer, or you can go old school with a pen and paper. (There is a link below for the journal/planner that I use.) you can also get a whiteboard or type it up and print it out to hang on your wall. There are many ways of getting your goals written down just pick the one that will work best for you and your situation.
When we set our goals we want them to be in small measurable increments. This way we do not get overwhelmed by seeing our life goal in one big picture that we have to accomplish all of at this very second.
Setting small goals allows you to take steps toward your big picture and ultimate goal.
As you complete your goals list, break them all down into bite-size pieces, like baby steps. A slow and steady plan of action to be completed each day, building strong habits to lead you to success.
The Follow Through
Have you ever set a new years resolution with the highest of hopes and you just KNEW you were going to follow through?
…and then you didn’t…
This is NOT what we want in our goal-setting outcome.
This means there are certain things we must do daily in order to ensure we follow through on our goals and not end up like that new year’s resolution you made to lose weight or make more money, that you didn’t take action on.
- The first thing we need to do in order to stay focused and follow through is JOURNALING. For this, I personally use this 6-month planner https://amzn.to/3iF64jT which has monthly calendars, weekly layouts, and daily schedules, tasks, and goals. It even has a daily affirmation to keep you in a positive mindset which, let’s face it, is hard to do.
- The second most important aspect of following through on your goals is ACCOUNTABILITY. This can be hard to find sometimes with our family and friends all wrapped up in their own lives, you can’t really talk to them as much as you used to or even might need to. That is why you can’t go wrong with getting yourself an accountability partner or better yet a coach or mentor that can help you stay on track daily or weekly or if you think you got this, even just monthly. My Goal Setting Program by Xeyva Warriors does just that.
- Lastly, we need GRIT. Setting goals and carrying them out is a journey that is going to try you at every turn. You will fail, you will start over and you will want to stop at different points on your journey. With grit, you keep going. One of the hardest and yet easiest concepts in life is to keep going, keep trying, and get up again and again and again. You can build grit by practicing and never giving up you will feel yourself get stronger and stronger in mind and body if only you keep going. This is not something that you can buy, it is not something that someone else can give you. Grit is built from the inside out and only you have control over it. Once again, in my Goal Setting Program with Xeyva Warriors, we strive to help you find this inside of you and help you to draw it out, in order to succeed and complete the program.
Outcome
The outcome you have from this practice is ultimately up to you. If you do everything in this post you are much more likely to succeed than if you stuck to the New Year’s Resolution cycle every year.
If you are sick of not being happy with your own body, sick of being broke, sick of not having self-confidence, and sick of failing, and If you want to change your life and accomplish your goals big or small, then it is time to take action. Sign up for my program and let’s start TODAY!