Goal Setting Strategies That Work

Are you ready to achieve your goals and launch into life? If you’ve tried tackling big goals before then you already know that setting goals is one thing…and achieving goals is something else entirely. That’s why I’ve developed a strategy for setting goals and making them happen.

Because I love to take every process in life step-by-step, I do the same thing when I’m setting goals. So here’s a sneak peek into my personal method.

Goal Setting Strategies That Work

Take a Look in the Rear View

Before you can press forward, it’s important to take a look at the goals you set for yourself over the past year and see what happened. Did you accomplish what you set out to do? If not, why? What did you learn from the experience? Take what you’ve learned from the past and apply it to your new goals.

Remember, you can learn as much or more from failures as you can from successes! Put your failures to work for you.

Set Specific Goals

Believe it or not, we DO have control over our goals. That’s not to say we have control over every outcome after that. For example, if your goal was to write and submit a novel—and you achieved that goal—it doesn’t necessarily mean publication. (Ask me how I know!)

But we can only be responsible for the things we have control over. As long as we’re doing our part, we can still feel that sense of accomplishment!

Goals provide the framework that gives vision a fighting chance. Goals must be:

• specific and measurable. You need to be able to keep track of progress.
• beyond what you already know you can do. How will you know what you’re capable of if you never push yourself to find out?

Look at where you are now vs. where you want to be. Two people with the same vision might have vastly different goals to get there.

Let’s say there are two moms who both have a vision to reach financial stability by having a six-figure online business. The mom who has this vision but doesn’t know how to use a computer will have vastly different goals than a mom blogger who makes a steady income but is still working toward the six-figure level.

Take Action!

Take your goals and break them into bite-sized chunks. These are items that will go on your to-do lists.

If Susie Homemaker’s vision is to live a long and healthy life and her goal is to lose 40 pounds in a year, her action steps might include walking 10,000 steps a day and keeping a food log. A writer whose vision is to hit the bestseller list and whose goal is to write one book a year might have action steps that include writing 1,000 words a day and finding a critique/accountability/writing partner.

Measure Progress

If you don’t measure your progress, you might think you’re moving forward when in reality you’re treading water. Don’t assume that just because you’re busy all the time that you’re actually making headway on your goals.

There are goal-tracking apps that can help you, or you can go the old-fashioned way like me, keeping a list and checking off boxes. For those of you who’ve never tried it, there’s a lot of satisfaction in checking a box!

Evaluate

There are times when no matter what you do, achieving a goal just isn’t going to happen, or it’s not going to happen in the time frame you specified for yourself. Susie Homemaker’s goal of losing 40 pounds might have to be reconsidered if she discovers she has a thyroid issue, for example.

There’s no shame in modifying your goals based on new information or a change in your life circumstances! Flexibility is a great life skill and will prove valuable as you make your way through your goals.

The more I think about/write about goals, the more I want to say, which is why I wrote a full e-course:

I’m super excited to share my secrets for taking hopes and dreams and turning them into actionable goals that actually get accomplished! I’ll share with you how this year I was able to finish a novel and submit 2 book proposals, start 2 blogs, and launch a freelance business, all while still homeschooling our middle-schoolers and running our home. (Notice I didn’t say anything about a clean home…just keeping it real!)

The focus will be on:

• Aligning your goals with your vision
• Analyzing past successes/failures
• Goal setting strategies
• Planning for success through implementation
• Much, much more!

Just say no to goals that never seem to happen. It’s time to stop talking about goals and start strategizing. Are you as excited as I am? I sure hope so!

We get one shot at life, so now is as good a time as any to make it happen!

Have you thought about goal setting strategies that can work for you?