Goals are a healthy way to achieve success. However, failing to meet your goals can lower your self-esteem, your confidence and your ability to set and achieve future goals. Because unmet goals can have a negative effect on your outlook, it is important to set your goals in a smart and realistic way that allows gradual self-improvement without the undue strain and stress associated with very tough or unmet goals.
Consider Desired Outcome
An article by Nicki Anderson, writing for GrandTimes.com, suggests that you first know what you want to gain. Once you know what you want, you can structure your goals to achieve your desired outcomes. For example, if you want to lose a certain amount of weight, you can calculate your caloric intake and determine the amount you should reduce it in accordance with your fitness level to achieve healthy weight loss over time. If you have a monthly sales quota to reach, you can set your daily goals so as to work your way toward that goal. Once you know what you want, you can begin setting goals to achieve it.
Be Realistic With Goals
Do not set impossible goals. In the weight loss example, there are many realistic expectations you can have about your desired outcomes. However, if you set too short a time period or too drastic a weight loss goal, your unrealistic expectations will only set you up for failure. If you have a sales quota of 30 units per month, for instance, it may be very reasonable to expect to sell one unit every day to meet your goal. It may be completely unrealistic to expect to relax for 29 days and then sell all 30 of your required units on the last day of the month.
Structure Goals Incrementally
Patience is a vital virtue in setting and meeting your goals. What may be an impossible short-term goal can become much easier to achieve over a long enough time. Measuring your weight loss in smaller increments on a weekly basis is one example of incremental goal setting. Another is learning a new activity, such as a sport or playing an instrument. You may not be able to pick up a guitar and play like a master on the first day, but if you learn a few new scales and chords every week, you will eventually build up the experience and knowledge necessary to play the instrument quite well.
Set Relevant Goals
If you set goals that are too hard, or that you simply don't want to work toward, you will not reach them. An online article for Ali Magazine emphasizes the importance of setting current goals that are relevant. You may have personal aspirations that you want to achieve, but these may have little or nothing to do with your actual needs or your long term success. For example, increasing your typing speed is a relevant goal if you are a professional writer, but not if you are a personal trainer. If you find that your goal-setting revolves around goals that will not be relevant, you may become less willing to work toward those goals. If that happens, reconsider your goals and establish new ones that are more appropriate.
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