6 ACTIONABLE TIPS FOR HOW TO SET GOALS AND ACHIEVE THEM

This post is all about how to set goals and achieve them. Setting goals is a process. If you aren’t mindful about how you set them, it is harder to achieve them. Read on to find my 6 tips for how to set goals and achieve them.

How to set goals and achieve them using your values

If you have read some of my other posts, you know how important knowing your values is. Knowing your values is especially important for setting goals. This is because you want to set goals that align with your values and vision for your life. If the goals that you set are aligned with your values, they are more inclined to make you satisfied and happy. You are also more likely to be excited by them. 

Short and long term goals

Short term goals are meant to be achievable within a couple of weeks to a couple of months. They act as the building blocks to your larger long term goals. Long term goals usually take a year to a few years to achieve. They can act as a compass for your life vision. 

For example, a long-term goal might be to buy a house. The short-term goal may be to learn how to invest or save $1,000.

Can you set goals and achieve them using SMART goals?

I have never like SMART goals. They have never really worked for me and whenever I see SMART goals I feel unmotivated. There is a time and place for SMART goals principles. These are: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. Though they can be useful, I don’t think it’s where you should start.  

I used to think that if this process was followed any goal could be achieved. Even if it wasn’t something that you actually wanted or something that worked in your life. For example, I have set goals to meditate every day. However, no matter what measures I put in place for this goal, I was never going to achieve it. This is because I don’t actually care about meditating, it was just something I thought I should be doing. I also meditated in the way I thought I had to do it. By sitting with my eyes closed and trying to have no thoughts. Instead, I could have just been more mindful throughout my day. Traditional meditation would never work for me because I have ADHD. I was trying to work against my brain and not with it. 

Before trying to set any of the SMART goal measures, make sure the goal is something that YOU actually want. Is it something that excites you? Is it something that works for you and your situation?

Once you have done this, if you want to go through the SMART goal measures you can. But I always prefer to just break the goal down into small actionable tasks and keep it simple. 

Creating an Action Plan

Think of your action plan like a roadmap for your goal. The roadmap sets out each step so you know what to do next. Each step in this action plan must be small and actionable. This makes it easier to move closer to achievement of your goal. 

Mapping out each step that is needed for your goal will give you greater clarity. You will understand what is needed, and what kind of obstacles there might be along the way. If you feel stuck, ask Chat GPT!

Staying Motivated

Motivation is temporary, no matter how excited you are for a goal, sometimes you just won’t be motivated. And that’s ok! 

Some people think that you need either motivation or discipline and if you don’t have either you can’t be successful. This isn’t true. 

The worst thing I can do if I don’t feel like doing something, is forcing myself to do it. This makes me feel burnt out, tired, irritable, angry and super unmotivated to continue working on the goal. In other words I want to rebel against it. 

I find that flexibility is the key. Some days you will have high motivation and some days you will only be able to do the bare minimum.

Creating a ‘menu’ of options is a really fun way to keep goals flexible. The menu would have high energy options, normal everyday options and low energy options. For example, you might have a goal to exercise 3 times a week. On the high energy days option you could have run 5km’s or do a full body gym workout. On the normal everyday option you could have walk around the block, or attend a yoga class. On the low energy option you could have 10 pushups or walk to the end of the street. The idea is to make this as flexible as possible so that you have choices. This will make your goal more fun and keep you on track. Even if you choose the low energy option, at least you are doing something!

I have also made a ‘menu’ like this for food/cooking options and hobbies/activities. 

Learning from Setbacks

It is important that you treat yourself with kindness and compassion when setting and achieving goals. Especially when you face setbacks. 

Please remember that we will always face challenges, and this is a natural part of goal setting. 

When facing challenges, it may be useful to consider your goal setting an experiment. When you do this and a challenge arises, ask what worked and what didn’t work. What could you do differently? Could you design your environment to make it easier to achieve your goal? Keep experimenting and seeing what works best for you.