Thanks to our 13 hour drive home from Colorado, I was able to compile a list of my goal setting tips to share with you guys!
With a new year comes new resolutions for most of us. I love setting new goals and try and perfect the goal setting process each year. I try to create goals that are practical and attainable, but goals that will still push me out of my comfort zone.
Before I even start drafting goals though, I make time for journaling. I use this time to reflect on the previous year, review the previous year’s goals, and think of some general goals or themes for the new year.
Goal setting can seem overwhelming, but I hope my goal setting tips will make it fun and encouraging. My biggest advice is to make sure your goals align with your values and your life stage. Then use the tips below to create goals that are clear and attainable.
6 Goal Setting Tips:
- Make Them Attainable – it’s important that we create goals that push us, get us out of our comfort zone, and require work, but don’t make your goal so lofty that you won’t be able to attain it. For example, if my goals was to workout every single day, that would not be attainable. There are bound to be days I get sick or can’t workout for one reason or another. So, a more attainable goal would be to “workout 4-5 days a week.”
- Create Clear & Well-Defined Goals – The clearer your goals are and the more specific they are, the easier they will be able to measure. Knowing exactly what you’re working toward will allow you to create actionable steps toward meeting your goal. For example, the goal “be healthier” is too vague and hard to measure. However, the goal “work out 5 days a week” is clear, well-defined, and easier to measure.
- Quantify Your Goals/Set End Dates – Adding a time component to your goals will help you attain them. It will also give you a time frame to work within, which will help you to be more structured in your approach. For example, if you are selling stationary, you might set a goal for each quarter; “I want to sell ___ books in Q1, ____ books in Q2, etc.” Or you may say “I want to run a half marathon by May 2021,” which will give you a time frame to work within. When goals are big and vague and don’t have a specific time frame, I tend to procrastinate – such a common response!
- Categorize Your Goals – So often so many of us create this long list of goals and resolutions for the new year. It’s fun to make them, but then they just feel so daunting when you glance at the list of 10+ resolutions you created. The list seems unattainable and some even get skipped over. Well, to prevent this goals fatigue from happening, I started categorizing my goals. I started this several years ago and it helped so much; it makes the goals more maneagable and more attainable. For example, I’ll create some general categories such as beauty/wellness, fitness, motherhood, and then I’ll give each category 1-2 goals. Like I might have “workout 4 days a week” and “run a half marathon” as my goals related to fitness.
- Accountability Partner – having an accountability partner is crucial to meeting your goals. Pick someone in your life that can hold you accountable for taking actionable steps to attain your goals. I have found that when I set a specific time I’m going to speak with my accountability partner, it works much better. For example, talking with your accountability partner the first Monday of each month at 11:00 am is much more reliable than “let’s just touch base once a month.” The former is much more likely to take place.
- Schedule “Check-In’s” On Your Calendar – write on your calendar several separate times to check in on yourself and see how you’re doing. These “check-ins” will be the time for you to evaluate the steps you are taking to meet your goal. Depending on the goal, you could pencil in these check-ins quarterly or monthly.
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