3 Simple Steps to Successful Goal Setting

It happens every year; people set goals and New Year’s resolutions. It is driven by an innate desire to be something bigger, better, maybe a little different than what you are today. Life can be a wondrous journey if you are brave enough to look in the mirror, do a self-assessment, and step out with a new plan to create a better you.

It takes a lot of courage to do an honest and critical view of the person that you are today. In fact, for many people, it is either too painful a task or they’ve gotten lazy and just given up. Sadly, everyone wants a better life but not everyone wants to do what is necessary to get it.

A recent study by The University of Scranton shows that 84% of the population had no specific goals at all, 13% had goals but were not committed to paper, and 3% had clear written goals and plans to accomplish them. Which percentage do you fall into? If it’s 84%, don’t worry. You can change that! And, NOW is the best time to do it. In fact, there is nothing magical about January 1. Anytime is the perfect time to set goals. So, if you’re reading this in July…don’t wait six months to set new goals for yourself. Do it now!

The one thing that almost every personal growth expert agrees on is that focusing on “making a better you” can have a huge impact on your success in life. So, whatever it is that you want to achieve or to become; richer, healthier, a better athlete, a better parent, or a better spouse; if you don’t set goals and plans to achieve those goals, the probability is high that you will fall short of realizing your desires in life.

Goals are "an observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed timeframe." They can be big goals like the kind you set on New Years Day, quarterly goals, weekly goals, or daily goals. The size and duration don't matter except in how you execute the tactical portion of achieving the goal. A goal is a goal and the process for identification is the same regardless complexity.

If you are ready for a change in your life, all you need to do is take three simple steps. These steps are so simple that you might think they couldn’t work. Surely the formula for successfully accomplishing goals is a complicated one, right? Wrong!

In fact, one of the top reasons that so many people fail in realizing their goals is that their expectations are either unrealistic for the time frame they set, or the strategy that they devise for goal attainment is too complicated to achieve. Again, all you need to do to move towards a better life is to take three simple steps. 

Step 1: Make a List
Making a list is pretty simple, right? The reason you want to make a list is that research shows that people who write down their goals have a much higher likelihood of accomplishing them. Even a daily task list is nothing more than short term goals.

In fact, the statistics go something like this. If you make a goal and don’t write it down, you have a 21% chance of successfully accomplishing it. If you write it down, that statistic rises to 72%. If you write it down and you tell someone, the probability of success goes up to a whopping 86%!

It doesn’t matter how you make your list. You can use your mobile phone, you can use an app or time management software, or you can simply use a notebook and pen to create your goal list. In fact, the latter is a very good method because research shows that the kinetic action of putting pen to paper when writing your goals (as opposed to typing it), increases memorability as well as the probability of successful goal attainment. Once you have your list of goals for the year it’s time to go to step #2.

Step 2: Order Your List

Hopefully you’ve got a pretty good list of goals you want to achieve. Now comes the important part. You will need to order your list from most important to least important. Order of importance can be based on whatever ranking you wish to use but I recommend that you look at the things that are going to have the biggest positive impact on your life and those should be the items that are at the top of your list.

Really spend some time on this and analyze what it will take to accomplish these things. Determine how long it will take, what resources you will need, and what potential challenges you will face during the quest to obtain your goals.

It is important that your goals be measurable and that you have a timeline for accomplishing them. A goal without a deadline is nothing more than a wish. Once you have gone through all of your goals and you have analyzed, ranked, and put some detail to each goal you are ready to move to step #3.

Step 3: Employ The Law of Limitations

Finally, here’s the secret sauce to accomplishing everything on your list. You are going to slap your forehead and say “gee whiz” when you read this.

“You purposely limit your list.”

I call this the Law of Limitations. You probably can’t do everything you have on your list and if you try to, you’re likely to fail. Don’t set yourself up for a situation that can be demoralizing. Hopefully, you were able to determine the effort you needed to put forward to achieve your goals in step #2. The biggest impediment to accomplishing what you want is the same one that everyone has…time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day but how you use that time makes all the difference in the world.

Try to be realistic about the effort and time you will need to put forth to achieve your goals. This is the biggest trap that many people fall into. They get excited and overly optimistic about what they want to do. It’s good to dream big, but you have to also be realistic about the time frames needed to accomplish your goals.

This doesn’t mean that you scale back on your goals. It just means that you think about the fact that it might take a little longer to achieve some of them. You’ll also want to build in a little “cushion” to account for the unexpected challenges you might face along the way.

One of the greatest benefits to achieving your goals comes from The Law of Momentum that says that once you start moving, it gets easier and easier to keep moving forward. When you can finish what you started, and reap huge benefits from attaining your goal, you will be excited and energized about tackling the next challenge. The converse is also true and is also a big reason that many people fail to achieve their annual goals. They are not realistic about the time factor and get demoralized. Then they give up. Don’t be that person!

What happens if you achieve all the goals on your list before you planned to? That’s wonderful! Reap the rewards and get ready to add some new goals. Everything extra you achieve after that is a bonus.

If you use these three simple steps, I’m positive that you’ll have much greater success in attaining the things that you want in life. Benefit from The Law of Limitations by applying it to your annual goals, your quarterly goals, or your daily task list. Make your goal list a manageable one and you’ll enjoy the fruits of your labors. 

Rich
"Finishers Are Winners!"
Dr. Richard B. Greene, DBA, SSBB, CMPE
Speaker, Author, Peak Performance Business Coach

© Copyright 2020 Rich Greene
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Dr. Richard B. Greene is an International Speaker, Best-Selling Author, and Executive Business Coach who helps business executives get to the next level in business, their careers, and their personal lives. Through his IronCode (www.IronMindSuccess.com) acceleration program, he offers one-on-one coaching, group coaching, live seminars, and do-it-yourself development products to significantly increase levels of personal and business success. He’s been featured on radio shows and various news sites including KVCG Radio, The Miami-Herald, The Denver Post, Wall Street Select, Financial News Today, Fox, and ABC.