It is that time of year where we all have a breather, and I like to use the time to review the year and look at what I desire for the new year!
I did not subscribe to setting goals, until recent years, and since implementing this a lot of my life has changed. The following goal setting questions will help you improve your goal setting process and quality of goals you set for yourself.
If you don’t know what you are aiming at how will you ever know if you hit your target or not?
However, there are effective and ineffective ways to go about your goal setting, and it’s important to establish the right mindset and focus when setting a new goal and determining what actions you need to take in order to achieve it.
To that end, here is a guide with questions to proper goal setting that helps you achieve success by defining your goals the right way.
10 Questions to help improve the quality of your goals in life!
#1 You Must Believe in your goal setting process
Setting a goal does you no good if you do not believe you can actually achieve your goal. Don’t start out with a “probably” or “maybe” or “I’ll try.” Decide what to do, and then do whatever it takes to get yourself there.
Failure of belief in your goals is one of the primary reasons so many people struggle to achieve the goals they set for themselves. If you are struggling with believing in your goal and your ability to achieve it, take a moment to look at the world around you. Everything you see, every building, automobile, smartphone, and stick of furniture all began as a simple thought in someone’s head that they willed into reality through hard work and dedication.
What made them successful was their belief that their thought could in fact become reality. Hold onto that belief and don’t let go.
#2 Picture Your World Post-Goal
What is achieving this goal going to do for you? If you are trying to be healthier by eating right and exercising regularly, what will your healthier world look like a year from now?
What will the healthier you look like in a year’s time?
Now think about the changes you will need to make in order to start working toward that goal. Think about the emotional, personal, financial, spiritual, and social choices you will need to make every day in order to reach that goal.
The more consideration you give to this post-goal world, the clearer your goal becomes to you. Once you clarify your goal in your mind, it becomes much easier to focus on that goal in order to bring it into being.
#3 Write Down Your Goals!
Once you have that crystal clear image of what your goal is and how you will go about achieving it, you need to record that impression in writing before you forget. Our attention is so easily diverted, and memory fades even with concentration and repetition.
Putting it all in writing fixes it in the clearest possible terms while everything is still fresh in your mind. Failing to write those goals down can mean that your motivation and focus quickly go by the wayside as well.
#4 What is Your Goal’s Purpose?
What’s in this for you? What skin have you got in the game? Being able to articulate why you want to achieve a specific goal gives you tremendous personal power over your own mind and your actions.
When you can remind yourself why you set out on this journey in the first place every time the going gets tough, it makes it far easier to push through to the other side of your struggles.
Exercising or eating right is much easier to choose for yourself when your purpose for doing so is give you more healthy years with the people you love.
#5 Fully Commit to Your Goal
There is no half measure solution for success. You either go all in, or you fold and walk away. You can’t make a tentative commitment to major change and progress: you can only commit fully or not at all. Do yourself a favor and write a page or two about why and how you are committing to each goal that you set for yourself.
You need to have a tangible piece of evidence that explains why it matters and why a successful outcome is so important. In this way, when your commitment is challenged (and it will be), you will have a concrete reason to give yourself for not giving up and not wavering in your resolve.
Do not give up!
#6 Do not give up… Stay on Target and focus on your future!
Being “goal-oriented” is not enough; you must stay focused on your goal at all times. “Eyes on the prize” are your watchwords. Keep your list of goals where you can easily see them, and make a repetition of these goals to yourself (silently or out loud) part of your daily routine at home and at work.
This reinforces any differences between your stated goal and your choices or mindset that particular day because you will be speaking those goals to yourself every time you look at that list.
This generate positive pressure to change and to be more than you are today. Disciplined daily practice of focus is integral to long-term success in achieving any goal.
#7 Stick to The Plan
Focus and commitment are great, but if you don’t have anything actionable to go on every day, you are going to start getting frustrated and burned out fast. If you have focus and commitment, you can easily write down the little steps to help you make daily progress towards each goal.
Sometimes you learn the steps as you go, but without your clarity of focus and strong commitment, you can’t recognize those steps when they come along. Failing to write a plan of action is like attempting to build a house without blueprints or a picture of the finished product.
There too many pieces that go together, it takes forever to figure everything out, and you don’t know what order to follow to put all the pieces together. A house built in such a manner is doomed to collapse under its own weight before the builders get very far.
#8 Your Future Starts Right Now
Think about what action you can take at this very moment to start working towards your goals. There is no act of commitment so powerful as one that is take immediately. The momentum alone can carry you far even if you meet obstacles along the way.
Realistically speaking, it’s also a good way to kick-start your efforts, too: after all, if you aren’t willing to start right now, what makes you think you can start tomorrow?
#9 Establish Accountability
Without accountability and consequences for failure, achievement is meaningless. You need to constantly recognize the cost of your failure to choose wisely and choose to be successful over choosing the easy way out and slacking off or failing to live up to your commitments.
An excellent way to ensuring that you are consistently choosing wisely is to bring in an outside observer who can provide feedback about your progress and speak candidly with you about your results to date. Sometimes that word of encouragement about something you’ve done very well during that week when you feel like all you’ve done is fall further behind can make all the difference between rallying and surrender.
#10 Take Time to Reflect on Your Progress
Daily reflection on your goals in order to plan the next day is an integral part of a successful person’s daily routine. Reflection keeps your goals vivid in your mind and your focus sharp.
It’s also an excellent way to start converting your big picture plan into individual steps you can take throughout the week to promote your own success.
Furthermore, reflection shows you when you are stuck or experiencing numerous setbacks on a particular goal, and it may be because you are reluctant to tackle that goal and so are overcompensating on a goal in an area of strength.
Goal Setting Questions Conclusion
Following these simple steps to goal setting and achieving your goals is a proper way to set goals for your life personally and professionally. You already possess everything you need to be successful at home and at work, you simply need to lay claim to that power within.
Determination, focus, and commitment are traits everyone already has or that can be developed through disciplined practice with the proper mindset.
Don’t wait around for success to come your way: go out and find it!
Consider your own ideas and desires. Stop asking “why me” and start asking “why NOT me” every time you start to doubt yourself. The only limitations placed on us in life are the ones we give ourselves. Thousands of people every day with cognitive and physical disabilities achieve miracles through consistent focus and effort.
They take every “you will never” and make it a personal challenge to be overcome. Start now and keep going until you get there, then take a short breather, evaluate your situation with these goal setting questions and start going even further. Don’t try, just do. If you set your mind to proper goals and follow them up with focus and commitment guided by a plan of productive action, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
Decide today to start your journey, and don’t look back.
