February 9th, 2023
So, there is this uncomfortable feeling lurking at the back of your mind that there is something wrong with your life or something missing in it….
You have the desire to change your life and your head is full of ideas about what this new life should look like, but you do not know where to start. You have no idea how to go about achieving what you want.
You need a set of well-written goals and a well-designed plan to achieve them.
Follow these ten proven ways to set SMART goals:
One:
Sit down and write all your goals down. As a matter of fact, you should write down 25 things you want to achieve in your life. Number them from 1 to 25.
Once this is done, narrow it down to five. That’s right. It is usually the first five that you have written that are the most relevant to you. Cross out the other twenty and never think about them again. They are a waste of time and a distraction from the other five.
This is known as the famous Warren Buffett’s 5/25 Rule. I like to follow Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule, to set goals for both personal and professional life.
Now, that you have your five most important goals for life, you need to decide if you have the time and energy to pursue all five, or you want to concentrate on just one for the year. I suggest the latter. Choose the most burning desire or the most pressing need that needs to be addressed.
If you have decided on that one, most important goal that you want to achieve, you need to articulate it the best way you can.
That’s where SMART goals come in handy. What are SMART GOALS?
SMART GOALS stand for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely.
Two:
Specific: the more precisely you define your goal, the simpler it will be to devise the sub steps. Your goal needs to start with: “I will.”
A specific goal would sound something like that: “I will make $200,000 this year by selling $548 worth of my product every day. I will accomplish that by setting up my website and automating my sales, so I can sell in my sleep. I will actively seek new customers by utilizing my two social media accounts. I will create enticing videos to encourage people to buy and organize give-aways to introduce new customers to my products. I will always ask for testimonials and use them on my website.”
Once you have a specific goal, you can devise a step-by-step plan as to how you will achieve it.
Three:
Measurable: How will you know you have succeeded? You can measure your success every day by writing down the total volume of your sales and comparing it against the planned volume of sales. This is how you know if you have fallen short or you are ahead.
Four:
Achievable: Your goals need to be realistic. You need to be able to achieve them with hard work and time. Achievable goals cannot be way beyond your capacity. A goal to make $1,000,000 may not be realistic, if your business is a start-up.
Five:
Relevant: You need to be sure the goal is still important to you and you really want to work on it. Reaching the goal will require considerable amount of time and effort. Are you prepared to work very hard to get what you want or is your goal not all that close to your heart?
Six:
Timely: How much time will you need to accomplish what you want? This is an estimate, of course, but it is better to adjust your timeline rather than not have one at all. You need to include the timing when devising a detailed plan of sub steps.
Seven:
If you are unsure where to start, create sub steps. Turn each goal into actionable steps. Think about the things that will help you achieve your goal. Maybe you will need to learn something new. Perhaps you will need to ask someone for help. Maybe you will need some resources (money, supplies). Arrange every action logically and according to importance and set a timeline for all small steps.
There may be various problems coming up when putting your plan into action.
Eight:
If you ever feel stuck while executing your plan follow these steps:
- Take a step back and reflect. What have you done right? What have you accomplished so far? Slow progress is better than no progress. Maybe you just need to take a rest or adopt a different approach to the problem.
- Re-evaluate your overall goal. Maybe some steps need to be re-arranged. Maybe you are experiencing a hardship because you missed an important step like learning a necessary skill. If you need to learn a new skill, learn it.
- Ask for or get help if you need it. Read about the problem and follow advice on how to solve it.
- Stay patient and trust your journey. Not everything always goes according to the plan. Accept the fact that you will sometimes experience setbacks and slowdowns.
Nine:
If you get discouraged and lose focus, and you feel like abandoning your goal, follow these steps:
- Remember your ‘why’. Is your goal still important to you? If yes, then visualize your end result. Imagine how nice it would be to have accomplished the goal.
- Give yourself a pat on the shoulder for work well-done. Acknowledge all you have already achieved. Reward yourself for even the smallest effort.
- Surround yourself with positivity. Read positive books and be around positive people. Talk to others. Get rid of distractions.
- Don’t compare yourself to others and believe in yourself.
It is important to deal with being overwhelmed early, so that you do not become burnt out.
Ten:
If you experience burnout…..
Burnout is a common problem these days. Fortunately, there are ways of dealing with it. If you tend to procrastinate, be cynical, be chronically late, suffer from unexplained tiredness, lose faith in the goal or continually doubt yourself and do not experience happy moments, you may be experiencing burnout. Even though burnout takes some time to overcome, it is totally possible to do it.
To properly treat burnout, you have to first determine what is triggering it. Which area of your life is particularly unmanageable and causing you the biggest distress? Is your tiredness coming from interpersonal relationships? Is it caused by negative self-talk? Is it the result of organizational problems or too much work?
If the burnout comes from interpersonal relationships, consider discussing the issues with the people involved and establish boundaries that are comfortable to you. Do not overextend yourself by promising people too much.
If your burnout is caused by negative self-talk, manage your internal dialogue. Work on practicing self-acceptance and praise. Learn to always start and end your day on a positive note. Practice repeating affirmations such as: ‘I am a respectable person. I am important for many people. I do worthwhile work that brings value to others.”
If your burnout is the result of organizational problems, prioritize your tasks, cut down on workload and delegate some work to gain more time for yourself. Being continually overworked is not worth it.
Have you ever set SMART goals? How did the process go? Have you gotten into any of the pitfalls or experienced any setbacks?