By Harry Grewal
February 20, 2024
Every year, countless people make renewed commitments to improve themselves, their health, careers, finances, or lifestyle. This becomes evident when we see people start the year off by exercising more, cutting costs, improving their diet, and committing to personal growth. However, this is often short-lived and is rarely maintained past the first quarter, as things tend to return to a state of normality by late February or March.
But why is this the case? Is it lack of discipline, accountability, consistency, motivation, support…or a combination of all these factors?
Effective goal setting is critically important; as it helps align focus, effort, and achievement. The transformative power of establishing clear and well-defined goals cannot be overstated as it will allow you to determine your purpose and establish an identity. Goal setting can act as a compass, serving you by guiding your personal and professional journey. It will allow you to prioritize your actions and decisions, which ultimately will complement a desired objective or outcome.
In this article 8 goal setting factors are highlighted which are fundamental in setting clear objectives and keeping you focused and disciplined towards accomplishing them.
1. Define Your Goals and Establish Clarity:
Be very clear and comprehensive on what you want to achieve. Don’t just conjure up vague objectives, pursue general goals or embrace an ambiguous purpose. Be specific! The more specific you are the better. If your goal is to be financially independent, be specific on what level of wealth you wish to accumulate, what lifestyle and liberties it will afford, how you plan on sustaining your wealth and the timelines you are allowing yourself towards achieving these targets. If your goal is to buy a home, be specific on the type of property you wish to purchase, the size and layout of the dwelling, its location, appearance, amenities, the surrounding community, and cost. If your goal is to obtain a job at a certain organization, be specific on what your title is, how much you wish to be compensated, your purpose and value contribution, as well as the scope and responsibilities associated with the role. All these components matter because by being specific, it referees your thoughts and aspirations, keeps you honest with the type of strategy you need to develop by showcasing gaps between your current versus desired state. Furthermore, it reveals the level of commitment, effort, discipline and sacrifice it will require for you to succeed. Avoid ambiguity and vagueness as this will undermine your progress and fuel excuses as well as the desire to just settle. Visualize your goals and be clear in what you want to achieve. The clearer your vision the more likely you will be to achieve it.
Leverage the use of the SMART technique (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). As stressed before, make sure your goals are very specific. In addition to this, it is equally as important to ensure your efforts and progress is measurable. This is because if something can be quantifiably measured, it can then be managed. This includes resource requirements, time, and capital. Furthermore, your progress can also be measured through self-evaluation and comparing personal progress against desired milestones.
Be realistic with your goals. Failure to establish realistic goals can set you up to establish false expectations and pursue unachievable targets. This can be incredibly demoralizing and negative towards self-confidence, focus and motivation. It is important for your goals to be challenging, but not impossible. Position yourself so that you feel and experience high degrees of satisfaction when you achieve your set objectives. This is often a consequence of reflecting and realizing the tremendous work, effort and sacrifice that was invested in order to accomplish a goal. However, if unrealistic and unachievable goals are pursued, not only are you setting yourself up to fail, but you may find yourself in a situation where a tremendous amount of time and energy is invested towards achieving your objectives, with very little to show for it. This is a self-inflicted wound you must avoid.
Setting relevant goals is also of equal importance. Your tasks need to complement the desired outcome you wish to experience or achieve. If you wish to improve your ability to speak and comprehend another language, then setting goals that are associated with your physical health may not be relevant or applicable. On the other hand, if your goal is to acquire a promotion within your organization and excel your career, then enhancing your skills and value proposition, which in turn may mean you are able to communicate in another language, is a goal associated with improving your linguistic skills and may be complementary.
Finally, it is of paramount importance that your goals, tasks and general strategy have a time-bound component attached to them. Time is a finite and limited resource. Everyone gets 24 hours in a day and 7 days a week. In order to be effective and efficient, it is important to not only draw the line in the sand and establish when you wish to achieve a specific goal, but also strategize how much time you will commit towards complementary tasks and when these action steps will be performed. This exercise will allow you to work backwards and determine key milestones that must occur along the way. Not only does this provide an indication that you are on the right track, but it will also help in keeping you focused and motivated by highlighting your progress. Be realistic with your timelines and anticipate that there will be setbacks and unforeseen situations that will arise.
2. Be Realistic With Your Desired Objectives:
It is strongly encouraged that everyone performs an internal assessment of themselves prior to setting any goals. Not only is it important to know where you wish to progress to, but also where you are starting from. Only then can a gap analysis be established and a strategy towards achieving one’s goals be developed. Be honest with yourself and seek input from those you trust to provide genuine, authentic, and transparent feedback. Identify your strengths, flaws, shortcomings, and opportunities for improvement. This will not only draw attention on what skills and attributes you should leverage and depend on, but also where your focus needs to be in terms of continuous improvement and progression.
Look to machine down large complex objectives into smaller comprehensible tasks. Not only does this diminish the perspective of a goal being overly daunting, it will keep you engaged and motivated towards progressively working towards your objectives. As mentioned before, ensure your goals are challenging, but achievable. Ultimately, you want there to be a level of difficulty associated with achieving your goals…as this will evoke a sense of satisfaction when you accomplish the desired outcome. After all, if there is no struggle…there is no progress.
3. Determine The Rationale As To Why you Wish To Achieve Your Goals:
What drives you to want to change? What motivates you to want to progress, improve and enhance your position or current situation? This may seem to be trivial questions, but they are important ones to ask yourself. In order to justify the time, energy and resources invested on specific tasks associated with achieving goals, you must reflect on why they are important to you. Recognize and respect what motivates you to achieve these goals, document them, emotionally commit to them and continually remind yourself of what’s important and why! Leverage these reasons to inspire your mentality and justify your actions going forward so that you remain disciplined, engaged, and motivated.
4. Develop A Comprehensive Action Plan:
An action plan serves as a roadmap on how to achieve your goals. It should provide detailed tasks categorized in terms of sequence and degrees of importance. Effective action plans are foundational towards building a strategic framework for achieving your goals and should take into consideration timelines, resources, and chronology in terms of which tasks should be completed before others.
Furthermore, effective action plans should break down goals into manageable and measurable tasks, which highlight specific steps required to progress towards your ambitions. As mentioned before, you should always anticipate challenges, setbacks, and unforeseen situations, and therefore the action plans, in order to be resilient, should consider these risks and afford the flexibility needed so that plans are adaptive during changing circumstances. Discipline and accountability are keys to success. Hence, routine monitoring of ones progress and an assessment on the effectiveness of the action plans is of paramount importance. Essentially, a comprehensive and effective action plan is a dynamic document that not only guides you through the execution of specific tasks that are complementary towards achieving your goals, but also allows for refinement and continuous improvement as you progress towards success.
When building your action plans be sure to include:
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- A clear statement defining and describing the goal, leveraging the use of the ‘SMART’ technique.
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- An itemized list of specific tasks that are necessary to achieve the objective.
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- Timelines related to progress assessments for the action plan as well as deadlines for each task and overall objective.
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- A determination of the resources that will be required to complete each task.
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- An assignment of responsibilities, if not exclusively yours, highlight who you will collaborate or depend on to complete your tasks.
5. Prioritize Your Tasks & Goals:
Don’t try to boil the ocean! It is important to not spread yourself thin. If you do, you will find yourself investing a lot of effort towards completing your tasks and not realizing any meaningful progress. The key is to focus on progress, not perfection; and concentrate on the strategy and action plan by addressing important tasks first. Set your objectives up based on level of importance, degree of difficulty or level of positive influence and impact towards achieving your goals. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach and therefore it is encouraged that adequate time is invested in the development of the action plan and the strategy on how to action it.
Be mindful of your progress and remember to revalidate your reasoning as you assess yourself. Adjust the plan if needed but never abandon it!
6. Remain Flexible:
If you aim for the stars, you might land on the moon. By being specific in your goal setting exercise, it will provide you clarity on what you wish to accomplish. However, this does not guarantee that you will achieve your objectives, regardless of how much work and effort you invest in accomplishing your tasks. That’s just how life works. As mentioned earlier, unforeseen situations and circumstances will occur. Do not let these events derail you and your progress. Your strategy must allow you to be flexible and nimble.
Learn from setbacks and failures. There are no such things as losses, there are only lessons. When contending with adversity, these situations and experiences provide opportunities for you to build resilience. Every instance offers a unique opportunity to reflect and reassess your action plan while gaining insight on what worked and where there are areas for improvement. Identifying root causes is incredibly important as it allows one to refine tasks, enhance priorities while cultivating a mindset conditioned to embrace continuous improvement. Furthermore, by being flexible and adaptive it will allow you to pivot, innovate and develop contingency plans which will safeguard your interests. Being adaptive and learning from your setbacks also enhances emotional intelligence by developing greater capacities to manage stress, failure, and disappointment. Do not view setbacks as roadblocks; instead view them as steppingstones on your journey towards achieving your goals. Setbacks are the cornerstones of wisdom and fortitude, which will aid you in navigating future and more complex challenges with resilience, confidence, and tenacity. Avoid perfection paralysis as it’s the enemy of progress!
7. Track your Progress:
As highlighted before, If it can’t be measured it can’t be managed. Ensure you invest the time to assess your progress, identify areas of improvement and apply learnings to enhance your strategy. Be sure to celebrate your successes while being critical of failures and authentic in self-assessment process. Be open to adjust strategy and align yourself with changing situations. Life is dynamic you need to be as well.
Be sure that progress assessments are structured, thorough, unbiased, and scheduled. If required, leverage help from someone who is not directly attached to the tasks listed on your action plan. This can be a friend, coach or mentor who is entrusted to be authentic and provided candid feedback.
8. Stay Disciplined:
Discipline and accountability are the behavioural attributes that have the capacity to transform aspirations into achievements and results. When striving to complete tasks, discipline serves as a guide which allows one to persevere despite having to deal with setbacks, resistance, and challenges.
In this context, discipline is synonymous with sacrifice in that it encourages one to make consistent choices that are aligned with making progress and achieving set goals, as opposed to being distracted by other interests, enticements or temptations. Stop chasing shiny objects! Avoid distractions at all costs and continually remind yourself on you ambitions and motivations.
Discipline is arguably the most important factor in achieving goals. It is foundational for cultivating good habits that will propel you towards achieving your desired objectives and ensure that incremental steps are taken on a consistent basis, towards the set outcome. Be accountable to yourself as it will allow you to stay committed to your purpose regardless of the challenges and setbacks.
Ultimately, the importance of staying disciplined lies in its ability to instill a sense of focus, determination, resilience and self-control which are essential. If you find it challenging to stay disciplined, leverage the use of a coach or mentor who can help you along your journey.
Final Thoughts:
In summary, the foundational factors highlighted above will allow you to establish clear and definitive goals as well as aid you towards achieving them. The importance of clarity cannot be overstated and the use of action plans that are comprehensive backed by structured progress assessments will allow you to not only develop a roadmap, but objectively gauge your progress. Be flexible and dynamic by adjusting your approach and priorities when justified. Do not underestimate the influence of discipline and accountability as it will emerge as the driving force that will guide you through your action plan and towards achieving your goals. As emphasized in the article, one cannot discount the importance of being emotionally committed when established goals and visualizing the desired outcome as it will reinforce motivation. Fundamentally it is the interplay of all these factors that creates a framework for goal setting and the path towards achieving them.
Are there other factors you feel that are important in goal setting? Do you use any of the strategies highlighted above to establish your gaols and maintain discipline and accountability?
If so, please feel free to share your comments below.