A Simple Guide to Setting Goals and Sticking to Them
Goals are a very important part of improving yourself in healthy ways, as they allow you to have something to look forward to. With some goals in mind, you know which direction to go, instead of blindly looking for ways to be happier and more fulfilled in life. This simple guide lets you set your goals and stick to them.
Choose Your Goals Carefully
Sometimes, the difficulty with setting goals isn’t in following through, but choosing the wrong goals to begin with. These need to be attainable goals that will help you in your pursuit of happiness or fulfillment, but not so big that they would never be something you can achieve. If you tell yourself you will only be happy if you reach a certain weight, you might not ever achieve that weight, which makes you feel like a failure and causes you to stop trying. However, if you have a goal of becoming healthier, eating right, and exercising more, those are goals you can accomplish. They make you feel good about yourself, which in turn gives you motivation to continue.
Set a Specific Time Frame
This is a tricky one because you don’t want to rush and feel like you failed, but you still want to have something to look toward. When looking at your list of goals, choose some that would be better off with a specific time frame. While you can’t control some things, others do well with a time frame. For example, if you have a goal of organizing your office, you can start a to-do list of the different elements for that project, then set a time frame in which you want to complete each step of the list.
Focus on S.M.A.R.T.
A popular method for setting goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T. method. This is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive. It can help you when you are trying to figure out how best to set your goals in order to make them easier to achieve. You want to be specific with your goals, instead of being vague. You need to know what goals to achieve. They should be measurable, where you know when you achieve them. The goals need to be attainable and realistic as well, not completely out of reach. Finally, setting the time limit is important as previously mentioned.
Remain Accountable
A good way to stick to your goals is by becoming accountable. Don’t just keep them to yourself, but let others know about it. Tell your friends and family, post about it on social media, track your progress with a blog. These actions make you feel like you need to follow through because others are going to ask about it. It can be great motivation to continue working hard.
