Pause your life for a few minutes…
Think about what you want to achieve in the next weeks, months, year? Don’t be general, be specific. Write down measurable goals, and make them timely – set deadlines to achieve every specific one. Where necessary set sub-deadlines.
There are NO unrealistic goals, just unrealistic deadlines. So, what do you do usually when you don’t achieve your goal? You postpone the deadline, right?
Decide what you want to achieve in your life, make those goals measurable, and set the deadlines to when you want to achieve them. The goals will help you stay on track and motivated to achieve the goal.
Are there any obstacles you already see on the path of achieving your goals? Determine which obstacles you will need to overcome, and what type of additional skills, knowledge this will require.
Ask yourself – why are you not at the goal yet?
What is holding you back?? What is the obstacle that is stopping you? In most cases, the real obstacle is inside you. Ask yourself what it is in me that is holding me back? Is it lack of discipline, management, knowledge,…?
Every skill is learnable. You can learn anything if you want to. Throw away excuses like: ”I can’t get this done – I don’t have skills.” That is true in the present tense, but if you look at it in the future, you have time to learn it and nail it at the end.
If you’d have one skill – a skill that would help you the most to achieve the goal, what skill would that be?
Why setting goals is so important?
To know and understand in which direction you want to turn the ship, where you want to land, and what you want to achieve on the journey. Written goals remind you every day of what you want to achieve, and encourage you further to reach them!
Goals gives you focus
What life would be like without any goals and targets in mind? All the work and the effort you are putting into the work/project might become pointless and might feel like a waste of time, as you don’t know where you are aiming at further.
But, if you start with the end goals with your mind, you’ll find the path to achieve the goal. This will also keep you focused on the work that needs to be done, to achieve it. By setting goals, you’ll also indirectly increase your productivity and value of the work done.
Goals are a great tool to measure your progress
Measurable goals help you to stay on track when working on the project, where you can always check the point at where you are currently at, and see if the goal is still reachable, or if you’d need to speed it up to complete on time.
Goals give you motivation
One of the best things to push you further in your entire life or on your career path are the goals. The process of setting goals gives you the foundation for your drive.
When goals are set, you have a mission to complete, a grand slam to win, and surely have something to focus on, and get excited about.
The energy and the whole effort you put into it will be rewarded when the goal is achieved. Goals motivate you and keep you on track. When you seem to be lost, check your goal list, and you’ll immediately be back in the game, back on the path motivated to achieve the goal.
Watch out the long-term goals!!
The long-term goals mostly promote procrastination.
It’s harder to stay on track with the 6 months deadlines for example. So, whenever you find a goal that is not specific enough, or is set to be achieved a few months in the future, always try to divide them into several short-term goals, so you can complete various parts of the long-term goal every week for example.
Now, as we went through various WHY’s…hopefully, you find out that goal setting is important. So, let’s go further on more practical examples now.
![[Setting goals] motivational quotes - habit keeps you going](https://i0.wp.com/gamex-studio.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/motivation-quote_jim.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1)
Your Goals have to be SMART!
Smart right? You probably think, that they’ll be smart, as you are the one setting them 🙂
But, here’s what SMART means…
S – Specific
M -Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant
T – Time-based
Specific Goals
Do not write down a general goal, as it won’t count as a goal at the end. Rather than that make it specific, so everyone will understand it, and there will be no misinterpretation of it.
Measurable Goals
You want to measure every goal you set. The progress of achieving the goals should be measurable during the whole path of achieving the goal. Don’t forget to review and revise when necessary!
Achievable Goals
You don’t want to set unrealistic goals. Those would only ruin the motivation of a person trying to achieve them. Instead of writing down any unrealistic goal, rather set an attainable one.
Relevant Goals
The goal you set should take into account your values, but also long-term objectives.
Time-based Goals
Your goal doesn’t have a start and end date? Then it’s certainly not a SMART goal. You want every goal to clearly define the start and completion dates.
SMART GOALS in practice/ Examples:
Initial Goal Example:
I want to start a game development studio.
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SMART Goal Example [Process]:
Specific Goal:
I will start a game development studio specializing in strategy games.
Measurable Goal:
I will work on my game development studio for 9 hours each day, with the goal to sell the first copy within 9 months.
Achievable Goal:
I’ve checked Tutorials and been prototyping games for a year now, and seen that I’m able to develop a full game.
Relevant Goal:
I want to work from home and be my own boss.
Time-based Goal:
I’ll begin this Wednesday and sell a first copy of the game within 9 months.
SMART Goal Example [Final Result/ Summary]:
I will start a game development studio (specializing in strategy games) this Wednesday. I will work on the business for 9 hours each day to sell the first copy within 9 months.
*The example is based on a long-term goal in this specific example. This should be divided into separate goals further on.
Download Free Templates: Setting SMART Goals (with examples)
Internalizing goals, reviewing, revising, and ranking goals
Every goal set should be in the belief that is reachable by a person attaining the goal.
It is important that the person behind achieving goals accept and internalize them. The easiest way to internalize the goals is when you write them on your own, but it’s harder to internalize them when someone else sets them for you.
Goals Require action!
You’ll see the change only if you’ll take action, not just by knowing the principles of setting goals. Use them in practice, on your specific cases, no matter what the purpose is behind that.
STEP 1:
Write down a SMART Goal
STEP 2:
Write down the main reason why it’s a must for you to achieve this goal. What is your main motivation for achieving this goal?
STEP 3:
Track your progress – this way you’ll check where you are currently at and where you want to be.
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Reviewing your goals every single day or a week will help you become more focused, motivated, and consistent. You will also know every morning what is the reason for putting so much effort into your goal to be achieved. Tracking progress should help you overcome procrastination, and you’ll have way bigger chances to reach more if you regularly review, and revise your goals.
Why do you need to revise the goals you set?
The situation changes and you may find yourself off track. In such cases, you might need to adjust your goals.
When your circumstances change due to various life or business events, you’ll need to review and revise the goals keeping new circumstances in mind.
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Here are a few questions to ask yourself in case of changed circumstances:
– “Is the goals still important for me now?”
– “Does the goal still supports my values?”
– “Is the goal still attainable?”
– “Could the changed circumstances help me reach the goal faster?”
Rank Goals in order of importance
In cases you have lots of goals on your list, you might face a question: “Are all the goals I’ve set evenly equal to me? Are there some that I want to keep at the top – the ones that are the most important to me?”
You can rank your goals by the importance of reaching them or by time (having the annual goal at the top, and a weekly/daily goal at the bottom).
Watch out for the number of goals you set!!
If the goals are set to keep you focused, motivated and on track, having too many (like 20 or so) feels frustrated. You might feel like you are not making a progress, which might be discouraging.
Going from the bigger picture to Daily Goals
Annual> Monthly> Weekly> Daily Goals
Defining the way to achieve the goals
While having annual goals is great, they are often separated into monthly goals.
But, in case you have various annual goals, you might want to break them down in different months, as you just can’t do everything at once. In that case, you will have a bigger chance of actually achieving the goals. And from monthly goals, you can break them down into weekly and sometimes further on into daily goals.
This is a method where you may find potential problems with your goals. In case you find issues, you should take action to review and revise the goals.
Conclusion
Setting goals is a continuous process that never really ends. Even though all of your goals have been achieved, it’s about time to set new goals.
Stay on track, take action, stay focused and motivated, and keep working to achieve your goals and dreams!