4 Steps For Simple Yet Effective Goal Setting

Setting goals is important for helping you stay focused, determined and on track for success. But do you get stuck on actually turning those big dreams into realistic goals on paper? These four steps are simple yet effective ways to help you turn a brain full of scattered ideas into achievable goals.

GET CLEAR ON YOUR VISION 

Before you start writing anything down you need to start getting clear on your vision. No wishy-washy goals around here – envision your goal in as much detail as possible. Get super specific about exactly what this goal is and what it looks like for you. I’d recommend sitting in a quiet space, closing your eyes and calling up this goal in your mind. Spend a few minutes like this bringing your idea to life.

GOALS WITH MEANING AND PURPOSE

Make sure that your goal has deep meaning and purpose behind it. Your goal needs a why. As you’re getting clear on what your goal is, place an emotion behind it. When you reach your goal, how will it benefit you? What will it feel like once you’ve obtained that goal? Will it transform your life? What will it bring you? Your goal needs to feel meaningful for you – it needs to be important. If it doesn’t, you won’t be able to keep the motivation needed to achieve it. Whatever meaning and purpose you place behind your goal, be able to feel it deep in your bones.

WORK YOUR GOAL BACKWARDS

I’m about to shake up your brain a bit. No longer are we going to think about going from A to B and then C to reach our goal. Instead, we’re starting with C and working backwards to A. What does this mean? It looks a bit like this:

Step 1 – Start with your ultimate goal: the place you intend to reach, the desired end result that you’re aiming for. Got it written down? Great!

Step 2 – Now, ask yourself which milestone you will need to achieve just before that in order to reach your ultimate goal – write that down.

Step 3 – Work backwards again to figure out what smaller goal you need to achieve in order to get to that second-last goal.

Step 4 – Repeat this process until you identify the very first milestone that you need to achieve.

Why work backwards? Well, it forces us to think of things from a new perspective rather than in our regular forward moving train of thought. By doing this, you might come up with more creative ways to reach your goal and you might identify some key milestones that you otherwise could have skipped over.

COMMIT YOUR GOAL TO SOMEONE

Did you know that you are 65% more likely to achieve your goal if you share your goal? Committing your goal to someone else makes it that much more real – not to mention you feel more determined and held accountable to succeed if you’ve been sharing your goal with others! 

Want an even higher success rate? You are 95% more likely to reach your goal if you schedule an “accountability appointment” with another person (like a coach!). Take going for a workout – you’re definitely more likely not to skip out on the gym if you have a plan to meet a friend there. The same goes with having someone there to hold you accountable to your goals. 

Now that you know the steps to simple yet effective goal setting, what goals will you be crushing next? Share them in the comments! 

If you’re ready to take your goals seriously and have the support of your very own certified life coach to hold you accountable and speed up your road to success, then click here for a complimentary discovery call with Michelle where we’ll figure out where you want to be in the next 3 months and just how to get you there.