Everyone at some point finds themselves making plans. You can think of it as goal setting. And when you finally achieve a milestone, nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment. But I’m afraid goal setting is a more complicated process than just sitting down and listing a few to-dos on a plain paper.
For many who set goals, they often find themselves quitting after a few failures. This here is what separates top achievers from the average. Setting goals is the first, the easy step. Achieving them is where you roll up your sleeves and get going.
Goal setting thus needs to be effective. Let’s take a look at a few simple but highly effective steps for making goals and achieving them.
1. The Process of Goal Setting
When you come up with things that you want to achieve, you will often find that moments later you are doubting as to whether you will actually be able to accomplish them. To prevent this, have a timer with you and set an alarm for a period of three minutes.
Within this time, list down your goals quickly without hesitation. Of course, there are a million things you are going to have to consider, but this is not important. For now, what you want is to put what is in your head on paper.
You are not only going to list the goals that you want to achieve this year but next year as well. Once this step is complete, start off with the one goal that is the most achievable and the one that will cause a ripple effect to going after all the rest.
2. Working on the First Main Goal
This is the goal that is going to help you achieve all the other goals. It’s now time to focus your attention on this main goal. Next list down at least 20 activities that you will need to do to be able to achieve this goal.
Many people miss this part. They do not spend time on what they need to do to achieve the goals. And this is why they fail. By doing this, you enter into the group of the small percentage top performers.
Now we get cooking. After you have made a list of the things that you need to do in order to achieve the goal, dedicate two days for each task. Be relentless and don’t stop until each task is complete.
It’s a good idea to add a check mark such as a tick next to each goal that you have successfully completed. It’s those little things that have a huge psychological impact. When things start to seem tough or impossible, you will be able to look back at your list and see how far you’ve come and this will motivate you to give it one more go.
People who are highly successful didn’t get there by chance. They do not have a special gift that makes them accomplish everything they want. Instead, they have a strategy to help put things into perspective and follow through. With our goal setting process, you can as well.