We all have dreams and some of those dreams become our goals. A person without any goals lacks focus on life and just wanders about here and there. To give a direction and meaning to our life we should set a goal and strive to achieve it. Goals vary from person to person and depend on how they are perceived. For some gaining riches could be a goal; for some, living a peaceful life could be a goal. We just can’t sit lazily and say “This is my goal” without any proper planning and thoughts. We need to analyze what makes us happy and what we want to achieve in life and then set our goals. To set and accomplish goals, we need to define our goals clearly and then work towards it strategically. Let’s see how we can do this.
Motivational factor: We should set our goals keeping in view what motivates us. If we are going towards a goal that doesn’t motivate us, we would lack interest in it and ultimately fail to reach it. We ought to set goals that are really motivating and take a high priority place in our life. We should analyze what is that one big thing that we really need in our lifetime and for which we are ready to work religiously. To make sure that we are on the right track in setting a goal, we should cross-check if our goal is valuable and much needed to us and.
SMART goals: We have to set our goals in such a way that they relate to the SMART rule. This means that our goal should be-
1.Specific – We ought to keep our goal specific so that we have clarity on the kind of efforts that we need to put into to achieve the goal and final outcome of the efforts.
2.Measurable – Likewise, our goal should be measurable which means the result could be measured and compared with previous results.
3. Attainable – It is essential that we keep our goal attainable otherwise when we don’t reach our target, we tend to get demotivated and lose direction to set another goal or work again towards the same goal.
4.Relevant– The goal ought to be relevant to our personal and professional life else, we will lose interest and control over it.
5.Time-bound – If we don’t set a timeframe to reach our target, it doesn’t make any sense at all as we get complacent thinking this can be done anytime and procrastinate it. As a result, we keep on working indefinitely and will never accomplish our goal.
Goal statement: To make our goal tangible and feel responsible to accomplish the set goal, it is necessary that we write it down and use positive affirmations that give us the power to reach our goal. Also, it is a great idea to create a to-do-list to add our goal on top of this list so that we never miss it.
Action Plan: Planning is one thing and acting upon as planned is another thing. We should never miss our action plan and go according to the schedule so that we are on track and achieve our smaller goals. As we do this, we gain a sense of accomplishment and get encouragement to go ahead further.
Hang-on: Accomplishing a goal is not an easy task and requires loads of patience and perseverance to stick to the action plan and keep on working. Working towards achieving a goal is an ongoing activity and needs self-motivation at the highest levels.
Clearly defining a goal and creating a perfect action plan to achieve the goal is an absolute necessity for all those people who wish to be successful in whichever path they go. Setting proper goals gives us a long-term vision and facilitates the organization of our time and other resources to make the most of our life.