We all have things we want to do with our lives. Some are personal goals, such as finding the love of your life on an internet dating site or being a more positive person. Others are professional goals, such as changing your career or reaching success with your own business. But no matter what your goals are, there are steps you need to take to get there. Everybody has dreams. But unless you sit down and plan how you'll achieve those dreams, chances are you'll never get there.
You don't always get what you want. But if you try some of the 7 steps below, you've got a heck of a lot of a better chance at it.
1. Prioritize your goals
If you're like me, you can think of approximately six thousand things you want off the top of your head. But not everything that you want in life is worth your time to seek out. A lot of work goes into bringing your goals about; so be sure that the things you're working for are really worth it. Focus on the most important of your goals first. Worthy goals are the ones that inspire you, that are achievable, and that are important enough that you're willing to sacrifice other things to achieve them.
2. Be specific with your goals
Dreams are one thing; goals are another. A dream is something that you would simply like to happen. Oftentimes, you have no control over whether or not that event takes place. A goal, however, is something that you can take concrete steps to achieve. Be sure to choose goals that are measurable by a standard reached, or by an event, or by a behavior. Setting goals with identifiable steps and standards gives you a better idea of when those goals are reached.
When setting a goal, you need to work towards something you can actually reach-- something you can create yourself. "I want to be popular," is a lot harder to reach than "I'd like to make four new friends this year."
3. Set up a timeframe for your goals
When you have all the time in the world to reach your goal, you probably won't feel particularly motivated to work towards it. But when you have a deadline to meet or a timeline to follow, it will help you to work harder to make your goals happen. A timeline adds extra accountability to working towards your goals, and will help you stay on the path. Plus, it will get you to your destination that much faster!
4. Think over your goals often
It's important not to just set a goal and let it sit there gathering dust. The more time you spend thinking about your goals, the more committed you'll be to making them happen. And you'll also come up with better ideas for achieving those goals. If your goal is to get married in two years, don't just sign up for an internet dating site and dabble a bit. Sign up for that site, think about ways to use internet dating efficiently, and spend plenty of time musing over what you want. If you don't spend time thinking about your goal, its sense of urgency --and your commitment to it-- will slowly fade away.
5. Create a strategy and stick to it
When you have a concrete, reachable goal it's important to look at it in as practical and realistic a way as possible. Ask yourself what obstacles there are towards making this happen. Ask yourself what resources you have at your disposal. And use your answers to set up a real plan that you can follow. This doesn't mean you should just say "I'm going to do this" and consider it done. Instead, you should compose a real plan, complete with specific steps, a schedule, and a method of accountability. Schedule tasks that need to be completed to achieve your goal and stick to those tasks until they're done. Plan your steps and get there one step at a time.
6. Be accountable
It's so easy to excuse failure when nothing or nobody is holding you accountable for success. For example, if you're trying to change your diet it's much easer to indulge in a whole box of chocolate chip cookies when you're alone in a room with no accountability --and just a vague idea that you "want to lose weight"-- than when you are accountable for eating certain things, or losing a certain amount of weight by a certain time.
7. Get people involved
Letting people know what your goals are and making them part of your process is one of the best ways to keep you on track. Not only do the people around you provide you with encouragement and support, they also help to give you an extra layer of accountability. When the people in your life know what your goals are (and when they expect periodic reports on the progress of those goals), you'll be motivated by not letting them down as well as by not letting yourself down.
