How to Set Goals and Achieve Them

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score. -Bill Copeland

Goal setting and achievement is a necessary part of living a fabulous life. Goals give us purpose and meaning. At the simplest level, goal setting gives us something to do. Without goals, we would wander, aimlessly, through life going wherever fate decided to take us. For some people, this is good enough. For the majority of us, though, this leads to an unsatisfactory life filled with work we hate and people who aggravate us.

But goal setting does more than lead us towards more fulfilling lives. Goal setting helps us filter out distractions and make better decisions. For example, you want to buy a house within two years. The desire to achieve this goal would inspire you to spend your money more wisely. Instead of splurging at a fast food joint, you would make the frugal choice of taking lunch to work and investing the money you saved into a high interest savings account.

Here are a few things that I’ve learned about goal setting that I think will help you in your quest to shine your light and live a fabulous life.

Set a goal

Goals come in all shapes, sizes and seriousness. Some goals are fun to pursue and others not so much. However, this should not be your primary criteria for the goals you commit to. I believe that the purpose of goal setting is to enrich your life and your goals should inspire you to work on them even when you don’t feel like it.

It’s important to not let the current condition of your life interfere with your goal setting. I’ve fallen into this trap myself. When I decided to learn how to design web sites, I didn’t even know what to type into the search engine to find the information I needed. I think I typed in something like, “Make a Web Page” and was lucky enough to have the first site I clicked on teach me the basics of web design.

Setting effective and worthwhile goals requires that you think outside of yourself. This is because you have preconceived notions about your strengths and weaknesses that will taint your results. Ignore your limitations, lack of knowledge or inexperience. Ask yourself, if time, money, education, experience or other excuse wasn’t an issue what would you do? Don’t worry about how you’ll do it, just write it down!

Draw up a map

The second step in goal setting involves detailing how you will get from where you are now to where you want to be. Just like it is ten times better to backpack across Europe using a map, outlining the steps you will take to achieve your goal will provide you with much needed direction.

On a piece of paper, write down your goal. Underneath, write down the things you will need to achieve it and how you will get them. For example, let’s say you want to design custom clothing. You might write down “get a sewing machine” and “borrow one from mother” next to it.

If you can, talk to someone who has already achieved the goal you have set. They can help you identify the skills and resources you need to be successful. The internet is a great place for meeting people who have accomplished similar goals.

Walk the road

Goal setting is easy. It’s the follow through that most people have trouble with. The secret to success is to work slow but steady; especially in the beginning. Working fast and furious to achieve your goal only sets the stage for burn out and procrastination. It is best to break up your goal into small steps you can take every day.

When you find yourself suffering from a lack of self motivation, you may find it helpful to pull together visual representations of your goal. Going back to the goal of design custom clothing, one idea would be to design the label that will go on your clothes. Another would be to create a fake magazine with pictures of your clothes on the cover.

I’ve found that keeping a journal is immensely helpful. I write down my goals and what I need to do to achieve them. I also write down any thoughts and feelings I have about the goal as well as the successes and setbacks I experience. This helps to clarify my thoughts, focus my efforts and keep me on track.

Another helpful thing to do is to take a few minutes every day to visualize achieving your goal. Work out every detail. Say your ultimate goal is to complete a novel. Imagine, among other things, the feeling of accomplishment you will have when you type the last word. Whenever you need a push to get going, think of this image and let the energy from the vision infuse and motivate you.

Last but not least, it is important that you limit your interaction with negative people. They will try to derail you by telling you that your dreams are stupid or some other foolishness. Instead, as mentioned before, find someone who is willing to mentor you to success.

You have arrived

When you achieve your goal, celebrate! Allow the feelings of victory to fill you. Then find another goal and start all over again.