The Best Ways To Set Achievable Goals

The concept of goal setting is prevalent in modern society, and learning how to set achievable goals is integral.

People set goals for their personal and professional lives, and achieving them helps them stay motivated. Remember, motivated people help organizations succeed. 

In addition, setting goals helps people stay on track with their lives.

In this article, you will learn the concept of setting achievable goals, why you should set goals, essentials of goal setting and the best ways to set achievable goals, Ready? Let’s get started!

Why You Should Set Goals.

1. It puts you in control of the future  

Sitting down and planning your goals already signifies that you are the author of your life. Knowing what you want to be or do sure allows you to do great things now.

2. It is a source of motivation

Having goals and planning them motivates you and others who admire your work. You can be someone’s motivation to set a goal and achieve it.

3. It gives you direction

Often, you may get lost in what your worth is in life. You might forget the assignment you have to deliver, but if you set a goal, you will always come back on track.

4. It helps to see a bigger picture

Setting achievable goals help you have a greater perspective of what can be done and achieved both as an individual and as a team.

The Concept of Achievable Goal Setting

What are Achievable Goals?

Well, I’ll define achievable goals as a future intention realistic enough to be attained. You can have goals, but are they realistic, and can you achieve them? 

It’s just like a 7-year-old clothed and fed by his parents, and yet, he hopes to buy a house or be a millionaire that year.

Although miracles and unrealistic things happen, it’s only mere good luck that a 7-year-old becomes a millionaire in a year all by himself. 

The same applies to everyone. We know what goals we can achieve. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have faith in what you desire. You can achieve very positive things if you set realistic timing.

For instance, as a newbie freelancer in Nigeria, you can’t expect to buy a house after 2 – 3 months of just learning the craft. Your goal should be to; learn, practice, look for jobs, get one, secure clients, get paid, save, and then depending on how well you’re paid and how you have saved, you can buy a house in a year or two. That’s how to set realistic/attainable goals.

However, always remember that a goal is not: 

A resolution: A goal is different from a resolution in many ways. A resolution is a decision to do something or not, while a goal is something you want to achieve. While the latter is often short-term, the former is long-term.

Example of a resolution: from this month, I’ll stop eating fatty foods. Example of a goal: in the next four years, I want to receive my first award as a writer. 

A Mission: Missions are activities already planned and directed for you to follow. While embarking on a mission, you are just an agent. But for the goal, it’s a case of teamwork. Everyone is a contributor, and everyone gets their hands on deck to achieve that goal.

An Objective: “I want to become a certified writer” is a goal. But how do I become a certified writer? “By reading and writing daily” is now an objective. Hence, goal and objective work hand in hand but do not mean the same thing.

A goal is what you want to achieve, while an objective is how you want to achieve a goal.

Essentials of Goal Setting

To set an achievable goal, you must have an understanding of how to set goals and achieve them. Here are some tips to guide you in defining your goals.

1. Understand what goal setting is

From the previous paragraph, I’m sure you have an idea of setting goals. Setting goals is when a person plans what they want to achieve in their life. It can be as big as a career or as simple as losing weight. Additionally, it can be related to personal life, such as family or relationships.

When people set goals, they are telling themselves what they want to do with their life.

Next, it’s important to decide on the goals that you want to accomplish in your life. It’s easy to get away with our imagination when thinking about achieving a goal.

However, it’s important not to overthink this when deciding on your goals. It’s best to keep them as simple as possible, so you’re more likely to achieve them. This way, you’ll have fewer mental barriers standing in your way of success.

Read also: How to stop procrastinating and achieve your goals daily. 

2. Create a timeline 

After that, it’s important to create a timeline for yourself, so you know how long you’ll need to work towards your goals. This way, you know how much time you have to work and stay motivated. Plus, having a timeline helps you stay organized and timely with your work.

In addition, you can create an alarm or timer, so you always know how much time remains until your next goal. This way, you can quickly take breaks whenever necessary and keep yourself from burning out.

3. Set rules and follow them

It is important to set rules for yourself when working towards your goals. For example – if you want to lose weight – choose an amount of food for each meal and don’t overindulge that amount the day before a weigh-in. 

Or if you want more time in your schedule – choose a task, so you don’t over-schedule yourself. Whatever the case, make sure that whatever rules you choose benefit you and don’t negatively affect others.

4. Your goals must not be unambiguous

Vague or general goals don’t help because they don’t provide enough direction. Remember, you need goals to guide you along the way. Make it as precise as possible to achieve a specific goal.

5. Increase your self-confidence 

By setting clear, well-defined goals, you can measure and take pride in achieving those goals, and you’ll see progress in what previously seemed a long and pointless struggle. Your self-confidence will increase, and you’ll recognize your abilities to set and achieve goals.

6. Define your goals yourself

 Make sure you set goals you want to achieve, not goals that your parents, family, or employer might want you to have. (If you have a partner, you may want to think about what they want – but make sure you’re honest with yourself too!)

7. Know that goal setting requires time and efforts 

 To achieve your goals, it has to have a start and end date. You can’t desire to achieve a goal and expect it to happen.

Goal setting is a process that starts with carefully thinking about what you want to achieve and culminating in achieving it with a lot of hard work.

There are some very clear steps in between that go beyond the specifics of each goal. Knowing these steps will help you develop achievable goals.

8. Goal setting is for everyone

Setting achievable goals is essential for anyone looking to improve themselves or an organization’s success. It helps people stay motivated and motivates others to work hard.

Additionally, setting realistic goals helps with planning and staying organized. Find personal rules to keep yourself accountable!

Insight.ng can help to sponsor your business to reach a wider audience, reach out to us now.

10 Tips To Set Achievable Goals

Here are the best ways to set achievable goals:

1. Have Smart Goals

Your goals have to be smart if you want to achieve them.  George .T. Doran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham develop the acronym SMART for:

• Specific: your goals must be specific if you want an achievable goal. You can’t set goals without knowing exactly what you want. If you do, it means you’re unsure what you want to build or achieve. 

• Measurable: Your goals must be measurable. While setting goals, you must be able to measure how you started, where you are going, and the pace at which your plan is going, either successfully or not. Sketching your progress on a board and comparing each day’s success to the last is a brilliant way.

• Attainable: You must be able to attain a smart goal. A feature that shows something is smart is the result, isn’t it? So with goals. To prove to your organization, teams, or yourself that the goal you’re setting is a smart one, you must have a good result to show forth.

• Relevant:  If your company or team plans to achieve a goal, the goal is only relevant to the company’s field. If you have a goal, its relevance determines your seriousness in achieving it. A manager ensures to prompt workers on how their hard work and dedication are relevant to the team. A young man would always remind himself how his dream is relevant to him and his family. Your goals must be relevant; they must possess great importance.

• Time-bound: Set a proper time-bound for your goal. As I have written a few paragraphs above, your goals would be unrealistic without proper timing. You can’t set a short time to achieve a bulky assignment and a long time for a small task. If things are done that way, you would be playful when a lot of time is given for a little task and overstressed when a short time is given for a bulky project. Same with goal setting; you must give a reasonable timing for each goal you want to achieve.

Read also: Tips to build self-discipline as a Nigerian.

2. Write them down

Putting your goals on paper brings life to them rather than just being up in your head. Writing down your goals gives it more authenticity and reason to plan for them. 

3. Acquire a plan

After writing down the goal you want to achieve, you need a plan to get started. Create a step-by-step plot on how to achieve your goals, mark every step you achieve, and cross the steps you are yet to achieve.

Observe your challenges and plan on doing better.

4. Make visible goals

As an organization, craft your goal, the challenges you might encounter, its analysis, the plan, and the final target.

Place it on a large bulletin board in the office or workspace for everyone to see the company’s goals. 

For personal goals, write them on sticky notes, and place them where you can always find them, like in your bathroom mirror or in your wardrobe or wall where you can see them every day.

 Read also: 10 Effective time management tips for Nigerian students

5. Break your plans into sectors

Goals are often long-term. So you would need to break down your plans into segments to make plans for each sector. In that way, your goal does not seem impossible and abstract to achieve.

6. Be in perspective

You can always have a wider picture of your goal, even while taking a break or doing other things. You have to always have your goal in mind wherever you are.

7. Be accountable 

You have to stay accountable in whatever case, difficulty or success. This should be done if you are consistent and committed to achieving your goals.

8. Identify obstacles

Obstacles will come here and there while planning to set your goals and achieve them. Identify them, and try as much as possible to avoid them.

Read also: How to avoid distractions.

9. Take action

The most important part of setting achievable goals is taking action. You can daydream, plan, write, invest, and specify your obstacles, but if you don’t take action by starting, it’s all a waste. 

10. Analyze and Adjust

There is always an opportunity for amendments. Analyze your goals. You might find out that your plans are not going as planned.

Analyze again and adjust what needs to be adjusted. Your timing might be wrong, or your goal might be unspecific. You can always adjust it.  

Conclusion

To set achievable goals, you need dedication and a positive mindset so that when challenges shroud you, you can get back on your feet and chase your dreams.

With the ways to set achievable goals provided above, you are well on your way to achieving all your goals.

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About Author

Maryann Opatola

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