How to set smart targets in your life is absolutely critical to your success in life. I believe that you have heard about goal formulation and have probably set some goals in life. And perhaps, you have also heard about SMART goal generator. It is true that the principle of SMART goal generator helps a lot in making sure that we are able to achieve what we want, but still, many people fail to achieve their goals. The reason is that setting SMART goals is just the first step, and most people miss out other important steps. And this is what we are going to talk about in this article.
Studies have discovered that people with written goals are 3 times more successful than those without a written goal. But the problem is that reaching our goals may not be an easy task. And if you are finding it difficult to achieve your goals or fail to reach them before, here is the 5-step process you can follow. These 5 steps are based on the concept of SMART goals.
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Follow the Fundamentals of SMART
When it comes to goal formulation, the easiest way to do it is to follow the acronym of SMART, which stands for:
Specific – Your goals must be absolutely specific that your mind understands what you want. If your goals are vague or overly complicated, it is difficult for your mind to come up with a good plan to achieve them. Don’t set a goal such as you want to be rich because this is too vague. You should make it more specific, such as how much you want to earn or save.
Measurable – Your goals must be measurable. You must be able to quantify your goals so that you can tell if you are making progress each day. Without measurement, how can you tell when you have reached your goals? Thus, include a way of measurement to your goals, make them quantifiable.
Attainable – Your goals must be attainable, which means that they must be something possible to achieve. If you are 65-year-old and you set a goal as to become an NBA player, it is unrealistic and unattainable. When your goals are unattainable and impossible to achieve, you will never believe in them. And when you don’t believe that you can do it, you will never take action.
Relevant – Your goals must be relevant to you. Some people set goals that are not relevant to them; they set a goal that their parents want. The most common example is students who set goals based on their parents’ opinion. And they end up studying a subject not what they truly want that eventually make them miserable and stress.
Time-Bound – Your goals must have a deadline. A goal without a deadline is not a goal, it is a mere wish. If your timely goal is to lose 10 pounds, great, make sure you include a deadline, so that you can tell when you are going to reach the goal. A deadline is a great motivator and it gives you a sense of urgency to act on your goals.
Now that you understand the fundamentals of setting SMART goals, every time when you want to set a timely goal, make sure you follow this principle.
Setting SMART goals is just the first step, what is even more important are the following steps. Continue to read on…
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Review Your Goals Daily
One of the most common reasons people fail to achieve their goals is that they never review their goals on a regular basis.
When it comes to year end, people will set New Year resolutions. They set goals for a brand new year. However, after just a couple of days or weeks into the new year, most people would have given up on their goals.
The reason is that they lose their motivation. At the beginning of the year, they are filled with hope and their motivation is high. However, as the days went by, they will be distracted by their busy lives and eventually, they lose steam and quickly forget about their goals. Eventually, they choose to quit and give up on their goals.
Therefore, never let this happen to you. Choose to review your goals daily. Visualize yourself achieving your goals each day. See yourself making progress and track your progress.
Whatever that is out of your sight will be out of your mind. When people forget about their goals, they will lose their drive and interest as well. This is why most people find it difficult to get motivated to take action as the days went by.
The key to maintaining a high spirit is to review your goals daily. Highly successful people are always motivated because they keep their goal in their mind, all the time. They think about it, they dream about it, they talk about it, and they even sleep with their goal.
And you must do the same. Review your goals daily. Keep them in your mind all the time until they become part of your life.
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Take Action Every Day
Another key reason people fail to reach their goals is that they are not doing anything about their goals. They are not making progress at all.
You must take action every day. Without action, you will never produce the result you want. Goal setting is not just about writing down what you want on paper, it is about striving and taking real action to produce the right results that you want.
Carl Jung has a famous quote, he said, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” And Jung was right. Don’t just say or set goals but are not doing anything about them. You must do. You must take action to bring your thoughts to life.
And when it comes to taking action, adopt the principle of Big 3, which means, each day, you make sure you are taking 3 action steps to reach your goals. For example, if your goal is to build a successful blog and earn passive income from it, you must make sure you do 3 tasks each day to make sure that you are making progress.
You can write a post and publish on your blog, propose to contribute a guest article to other bloggers, and update and promote your blog post on social media. The more specific the action tasks the better.
And remember, it is about consistency. You don’t have to take massive action in a day and then do nothing the next day. Robert Collier said it best, “Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.”
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Get an Accountability Partner
In your journey to achieving your goals, there will be days where you feel no motivation at all and you just don’t feel like want to do anything at all. This is very normal because motivation is a feeling. And feeling comes and goes.
Hence, we cannot rely solely on our feelings to get things done. When we are not in the mood, we don’t feel like we want to do anything productive at all. We just want to lie on the couch and watch TV or play games like คลิกที่นี่เพื่อค้นพบ UFA เว็บไซต์เดิมพันแห่งใหม่ที่คุณชื่นชอบ.
Instead, we should rely on our accountability partner. An accountability partner is someone like a coach or mentor who supports us to achieve our goals.
Have you ever wonder why all successful athletes have coaches and all successful businessmen have mentors? This is because an accountability partner reminds them of their goals, encourage them to take action, and guide them along the way.
So get yourself an accountability partner. Just like if you want to commit to workout in the gym, the best way to do so is to get yourself a trainer. If you think that a workout partner works just fine, you can go ahead with that too.
When someone is watching and working together with you, you will find yourself more likely to take action and less likely to procrastinate.
Most people are not fully committed to their goals. And when someone is watching them, they become more accountable and are more committed to taking action.
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Celebrate Your Progress
Finally, you must celebrate your progress. Regardless of how big or how small, even if you are not producing the results you want, as long as you are making the effort, you must celebrate your hard work.
This is extremely important because it builds confidence and keeps your momentum going. The majority finds that they lose their motivation because they don’t celebrate their progress. When they don’t see the result they desire after taking action, they feel dejected and lose confidence.
Give a pat on your back, reward yourself, give yourself a treat, and celebrate. Oprah Winfrey once said, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
Like attracts like, and when you celebrate wins and victories, you are attracting more of them. This is why it is important to celebrate your progress.
You want to condition your mind to think that taking action is great. And if you don’t celebrate, your mind will eventually believe that taking action equals pain. So, make the process of working towards your goals a fun journey.
When you associate taking action as fun and exciting, you will continue to take more action. This is how successful people achieve their goals, and you can do the same.
