Setting goals is the best way to ensure that things get done. I know a lot of people can find goal setting off putting and feel like they are setting themselves up to fail. This is only the case if the goals are unrealistic.
Of course it can be hard work to achieve your goals – setting them doesn’t give you some magic formula to get things done. What it does give you is something to aim for. A written record of what you plan on doing and when.
Personally, I have a very specific five year plan (which is something I never thought I would say – in the past, I would just flounder around with no real aim) which I break down into yearly goals, all of which have the main goal at their centre.
Setting goals can be quite difficult. Are they too easy? Too hard? Are they really what you want to be doing? These are all things to consider when you start setting your goals. Below are some guidelines to help you set realistic goals that are not only achievable, but will keep you on target to succeed:
See The Bigger Picture
Before you even begin to set individual goals, ask yourself what you want to achieve overall. It could be what you want to achieve this year, in five years, ten years, or your life long goal. Whatever it is, it’s important that you keep the main end goal in mind and ensure all your smaller goals are targeted towards making that happen.
For example, if your goal is to publish a novel in two years time, then doubling your social media following would be a useful goal – you are setting yourself up for success by building up your platform for when the time is right to publish the book.
Consider Your Time
It’s important to know how much time you can realistically put into your goals. You are pretty much guaranteeing you will fail if you attempt too much at once. For example, setting a goal that you will write for two hours each day isn’t going to happen if you know that realistically, you only have forty-five spare minutes a day.
Make the goal fit the time you have available. If that means your two year goal becomes a three year goal, that’s better than making unrealistic goals that you won’t achieve. If you do this, then you will end up disheartened and by becoming disheartened, you are much more likely to give up.
Get The Balance Right
I mentioned at the start of this post that it can be hard to set a goal that isn’t too hard or too easy. If your goals are too hard, then you will reach the end of the year (or the time frame you allowed yourself to complete the goal) and feel like you achieved nothing – even though you did achieve something. If you goals are too easy, you might find that you achieve everything very quickly and then spend the rest of the year twiddling your thumbs.
You want to know that reaching your milestones is possible, but you want it to be challenging. Nothing good is every easy to come by. Building on from the example above, where you have a spare forty-five minutes every day, lets think about a realistic goal.
It’s not realistic that you will want to dedicate literally every spare minute in your life to this – everyone needs some down time now and then. So firstly, think about what you could easily commit to. Ten minutes, three times a week sounds pretty easy. Now, consider that you don’t want it to be too easy. Why not say thirty minutes, five times a week. It’s going to be tough at times, but it’s doable.
If you have a long term plan, and you do find that one of your goals was too easy and you crack it early, bring the next stage of the timeline forward and keep ahead.
Set Measurable Goals
If you really want to succeed, you need measureable goals rather than general goals. It’s no good saying “I want to up my Twitter following” for example. You get one new follower, you’ve done that. You need to put a figure on it. Maybe “I want to grow my Twitter following from 100 to 1500” for example.
It’s also a good idea to set mini deadlines. For example, “I want to have reached 300 Twitter followers by April”. Really think about what you want to achieve and work out exactly what you need to do to make it happen. Mini goals such as this one help you to keep a track on your progress throughout the process and they can help to keep you motivated and moving forward.
Know You Want It
Ultimately, goals are different for each person depending on what you want to achieve and how serious you are about getting it. For example, if we use the writing a novel goals from the first point, this only works if you seriously plan on doing this. If its just a pipe dream (and there’s nothing wrong with that – we all have them) then no amount of goal setting is going to make it happen.
You have to want to succeed. Make sure your goals centre around the things that really matter to you.
Good luck with setting and achieving your 2017 goals. I would love to hear what your goals are for this year in the comments. I will be sharing mine at the end of the month 🙂
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Great tips hear about setting goals. I love writing things down which really helps me to see what I want to achieve. I also totally agree about setting smart goals, putting a figure to it gives you something to aim for. #BloggerClubUK
Some good advice here. I’m rubbish at setting myself goals and targets. But then it’s partly a conscious thing because, as a mega perfectionist, if I set goals, I can’t think of anything else until they’re fulfilled which becomes a bit of a nightmare #BloggerClubUK
Great tips! I think it’s great to set goals and your tips make sense, and make bigger goals feel achievable! #bloggerclubuk
Great advice for setting goals. Having a five year plan and trying to work towards a big goal and then breaking it down is a good way to do it. The hardest part is making that commitment and then sticking to it for the first few weeks – once it becomes a habit, it becomes easier. #bloggerclubuk
There’s some great tips here, I’ll be taking something from this. The bigger picture is great for maintaining perspective. #bloggerclubuk
I think the biggest difficulty I have is getting the time to set the goals! This will at least help me focus! Thanks #bloggerclubuk
Some great tips – I always panic when I have to set goals though – so maybe my first goal should be to set goals! #bloggerclubuk
Some really helpful advice here, I am off to set some goals for my new blog now that it is up and running! I have actually just written a post which looks at how to identify your wider goals and make sure you’re working towards them – hopefully you might find the article interesting.
Sounds right up my street, I’ll check it out!
Totally agree, I must do this too I am awful at not setting goals #bloggerclubuk
Awesome advice! I am trying to set goals more this year, so far the year has started well xx Have afab year too lovely #bloggerclubUK
I love this and agree with every point you make. I love the fact that you have a five year plan – me too!! It’s about being realistic and this is something that I speak to my children about. We often have chats at the dinner table about five year plans – really helps give them some focus too – you see that lightbulb moment in their faces as thy realise that their dreams could actually happen if they set realistic goals and work towards them. I wish you every success with yours lovely xx #BloggerClubUK
Good list and step by step way of goal planning. It’s too easy to say that things are going to get done without a little bit of planning behind them. Not to stress about them is also really good. Notes and plans are all the rage at mine:)
Mainy
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I really struggle with balance right now that is for sure.
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Really good advice! I haven’t set my goals yet this year because I want to time to think about them properly and set realistic ones – we have lots going on this year so I need to focus and not be too ambitious in what I want to do! #BloggerClubUK
My problem isn’t setting goals, it’s getting off my mum and doing them. Maybe I make them too hard and need to break them down a bit. I’m just very good at only doing the fun stuff and avoiding the boring stuff. #bloggerclubuk
Great tips! I just came across the S.M.A.R.T goals and your tips follow that wonderfully =) My problem is always sticking to them. UGH. Haha.
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Great tips! No point in settin goals that are totally unrealistic. I need to utalize a lot of these tips!
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Great points to think about! I’ve set myself goals for this year, specifically around content and social media. But I also want to write 2 ebooks (at some point) and ideally I said I want to have one drafted by June. The trouble is that I haven’t broken that down any further, and therefore it’s just not happening. I think I’m due a little re-think, as time is limited, and I just can’t be doing all the things I want to be doing, not in one year! I’m totally rubbish at looking at 5 years into the future though – I’m really impressed you manage to! Well done and thanks for sharing this thought-provoking tips! #BloggerClubUK
Such sensible advice, to me the last one is critical, a challenging goal can only be achieved if you really want it. #bloggerclubUK
Oooh, this was a very timely read – I was just thinking about putting some goals down on paper today! Some great advice here, thank you. #BloggerClubUK
Enjoyed this. Always find I have a real motivation to achieve when it’s the start of a new year but don’t always fulfil my goals. Maybe some are unrealistic or it is partly down to me not sticking to the task! Me and my wife currently have a long term goal to move house – and I do feel we are doing well to get our current property in shape to be sold this year or early next 🙂
I’ve set lots of goals for this year, some of them realistic and measureable, some of them less so! #bloggersclubuk
Great advice for achieving your goals – especially about making them around what really matters to you. As a teacher I try and remember these things when setting the children targets – it’s good to be reminded to remember these things for myself too!
I can only aspire to be as organised as you, I now want to write a 5 year plan!! Some really great ideas here I will try to put some in practice.
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I have always set goal for myself but I have never really put deadlines on them. It was always a “as soon as possible” thing. My goals are more like steps that I want to get through in a particular order. Maybe it’s a good idea to put a time on them. Light a fire until my goals so to speak. #bloggerclubuk
I think the key is to set realistic goals that are measurable. You want something that you can work towards but that isn’t completely I achievable, otherwise it can just be disheartening. Some fab tips here #bloggerclubuk
good post
I definitely find that setting measurable goals is the best way to make you stick to them. if its something you cant measure its too easy to put it off and only realise you’re failing when its too late to recover.
This is really helpful. I’m no stranger to setting goals but what i think i need to do is look at the bigger picture. And definitely think about a 5 year plan!
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Good advice, I have goals for the year and I think they are realistic. It’s everyone around me that thinks I should set my goals higher!
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Do what’s right for you – don’t let anyone bully you into setting goals you aren’t comfortable with!
This is really good and helpful. I think having goals and plans helps keep perspective on things. #bloggerclubuk
I totally agree with setting measurable goals, I have a five year plan but in that time have mini goals that I want to achieve which will help make the five year goal achievable in the long run! #BloggerClubUK
popping back from #anythinggoes
I like that you say that you never thought you would have a five year plan. I never thought I would! But that’s mainly because I would set myself unrealistic goals and then be miserable that I’d not achieved them. Realistic goals would keep me on track. Useful advice 🙂 #BloggerClubUK
Not trying to do it all at once would be helpful hu? And time – that’s a tough one. I’m trying to decide which social media network to focus on right now as focusing on more than one at a time just doens’t work! #BloggerClubUK
It would! But it’s easier said than done – I promised myself I wouldn’t flit, yet I’m in the middle of writing a short story and here I am answering comments and tweets 😉
Smaller but more achievable goals I think. That way I’m more inclined to set more once I’ve achieved them. #bloggerclubuk
Great post, I really struggle with the balance point!
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I think I may be making my goals too broad! #BloggerClubUK
Great tips here. I am pretty good at setting goals, not so good at sticking with it 🙂 #BloggerClubUK
Setting achievable goals is so important. Thanks for the advice.
#anythinggoes
Sound advice here.
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This is so hard to do but so important to acheive anything
Great tips! Setting goals, even for blogging is really important. #anythinggoes
I’m not so hot on goals. Always associated them with feeling constrained when in fact it is more liberating to have a rough timetable. I’ve saved this to Pocket for future reminding! #anythinggoes
I can’t focus without goals, but if they don’t work for you, then I say scrap them and go with the flow!
Don’t have a five year plan, but each day for the next several weeks I have a list of things that I hope to accomplish. I find it really helps me to actually get things done, #anythinggoes
So VERY essential not to set yourself up for failure right out the gate! I definitely agree with you on all points. Not nearly enough people will set measurable goals, but more of the non-specific variety where you never actually FEEL like you have reached your goal. Thanks for a great read! #BloggerClubUK
Yes! I have to have goals, otherwise, where is the motivation? They have to be flexible, but I agree that they are essential. My next big goal is to publish my book I am writing. Smaller goals are to increase my social media presence to help with this and to keep up the blogging too – which I love. My long term goal is to go travelling again. Thank you for sharing your advice. Alison x #AnythingGoes
I swear it’s all about being realistic. I’m a “baby step” kind of girl. So I make a point to write down three things before I go to bed that I want to achieve the next day. (Sometimes a nap is one of them. Hey, it counts.)
Great post!
Great way of doing it! And a nap totally counts 😉
Great tips. Very practical. Good luck with yours! 🙂 #anythinggoes
This is so true – it’s hard to find a balance between ambitious/challenging and realistic. I’ve set some goals for my blog this year and only a month in I feel I may have aimed too high – but, it’s all about time and committing the right tasks to the time I have. Next month I need to use my time more on social media I think. urgh I hate that!! #BloggerClubUK
I’m sure you’ll get there – sometimes it does feel a bit hopeless early on!
Such wise words! I struggle with goals as I always want to achieve everything all at once – I am very impatient its the sales person in me!! However I have never really considering making sure all my goals lead to the thing I want to achieve! Doh!! Thanks for the insight lovely xx
Thank you 🙂 Good luck with this year – I’m sure you will achieve everything you want to! x
Great goal setting tips! My mummy needs to be more realistic with her timeframes! #BloggerClubUK
Great read. I am really motivated to go back and look over my goals now. I agree with you about making your goals measurable and achievable. Thank you. #AnythingGoes
I definitely needed these tips, i often get focused on the end goal and set straight for that and end up overwhelmed! #AnythingGoes
I find it hard to set goals – I need to set goals to set goals! These are good tips! #AnythingGoes
Brilliant advice, thank you! If the timing isn’t right, I always end up failing and feeling discouraged in future, so I find it’s best to know when not to force anything.