Social media gets a little interesting at this time of year. Most likely, your Facebook feed has looked a lot like mine lately. 1/2 your friends are posting stuff about a new year, a new start, first page of a new book, etc. The other half are busy reminding everyone that the change of year doesn’t magically change you and joking about empty gyms and broken promises to come.
Every year at this time, I sit down, review the last year and think about what I want the next year to look like. I MAKE GOALS, NOT RESOLUTIONS! Why do I do this at new years? Here is why:
- The key to success = Setting goals
- The key to setting goals that work = Making them measurable
- The key to making a goal measurable = A time frame
Without a frame of reference in which you plan to complete and/or review your goal, the goal is useless. Generally, this will be a time frame based on our modern calendar. It might be a goal for the day, the week, the month, the year, etc. For myself, weekly, monthly and yearly goals are the most important. Here’s how this looks for me at work (personally goals might not be reviewed as often or more often, depending on the situation):
- Once a year, at new year’s, I set my goals for the year
- Every month, usually the first work day of the month, I review my goals and success/progress from the previous much and set my goals for the next month.
- Generally I’ll start off each week by reviewing my monthly goal on Monday to remind myself what I need to accomplish this week. On Friday, I’ll review my progress to see how my week has gone.
Tips For Setting Goals that Work
- Break your goals into categories. I use Work, Family, Relationship/Marriage, Personal, Household/Organization and Financial
- Choose 1-3 things you’d like to accomplish in the next year for each category. Personal goals are just as important as work goals – you need balance in all areas of your life in order to be truly successful.
- MAKE THEM MEASURABLE: You need to know exactly what the end point is in order to call the goal complete. For example: if your goal is to “increase my income” is it considered finished when you’re income goes up by $10/month? A measurable goal would be “Increase my income to ……/month”. That way – you will know exactly what you need to reach to finish this goal.
- MAKE THEM ACHIEVABLE: Setting high goals can be a good thing. One of my favourite quotes is “I’d rather aim to high and fall short than aim too low and succeed.” That being said – while a goal shouldn’t necessarily be easily achieved, it must be achievable within reason. For example: “I want to lose 50 lbs by the end of the month” – is a measurable goal but not an achievable one. If you did achieve it, it would be very dangerous to your health. Setting goals that are not achievable makes it easier to give up on your goal in the coming weeks because you already know there is no way to succeed. Do you have the time, health, skills, money, etc – necessary to achieve the goal or are you able to get them/learn them? Your goal should be something that you can accomplish with your resources and skills and/or ability to learn and acquire the necessary resources/skills.
- GIVE THEM A TIME FRAME: Again – be reasonable – but make sure you have an end date in sight. How much time do you need to get this done? When do you want to see it done by? Without an end date, you can set a goal and put off the first steps for years – never really failing but never reaching the goal either. A time frame opens up the possibility for failure: because eventually you run out of time. But without risk, there is no reward right?
- Break each goal into smaller steps or goals. What needs to be done to complete the goals, step by step? Give each action a deadline as well.
- Example 1: Your goal is to save 5,000 in an emergency fund in 2016. You get paid bi weekly so you divide that goal into a bi weekly savings goal of $195. That’s step 1. Step 2 – set up a bank account were you are going to save this money by the end of next week. Step 3 – ask your bank to set up automatic transfers of $195 from your regular account to the new savings account every two weeks. Etc.
- Example 2: Your goal is to take a one week family trip this summer. Step 1 might be to research and choose a location. Step 2 might be to set up a budget and savings plan for the trip. Step 3 might be to book time of work and/or reserve hotels/flights/etc. Again, each set has a deadline in order to keep you on track to completing the overall goal on time.
- WRITE IT DOWN: Write everything down. Make notes. Review and update regularly through-out the year. I even sign contracts with myself. Every month, I set out my work goals for the month and I write up a contract with myself, promising to reach that goal. As I reach each goal, I mark FINISHED across the contract and add it to a pile of FINISHED contracts on my office wall. Putting it in writing keeps you accountable but also gives you a chance to see your progress as you go.
Shimmer 