You can greatly increase your chances of achieving your goals by creating a good plan in advance; a list of New Year's resolutions scribbled on a dinner table napkin simply isn't enough. Apply your intelligence to setting select goals that are stated in a way that maximizes their motivational power. In addition, you should track your goal execution and modify your approach when necessary.
Conceptualization
Choose goals that excite you, because exciting goals have the greatest potential to motivate you. Make them tangible enough that you can clearly visualize achieving them, and identify what the initial steps should be, according to the University of Kentucky. Your goals must be accomplishments that you actually believe you can achieve so that you will not grow disheartened. Try to visualize achieving your goals as vividly and often as you can.
Personalization
The Mayo Clinic advises personalizing your goals to make them more realistic. Take into account two factors: your personal limitations and your environmental limitations. If you are 60 years old, for example, it's probably unrealistic to set a goal of running a four-minute mile. Likewise, if you are a single mother of five, it may be unrealistic to expect to excel in full-time legal studies unless you can afford a babysitter to give you some uninterrupted study time.
Priorities
It is critical that you prioritize your goals. If you don't, you will set too many goals and end up feeling overwhelmed, says the Turner Leadership Academy. Use your prioritization skills to reduce your goals to a manageable number. Don't try to accomplish two competing goals at the same time; since most people gain weight when they quit smoking, for example, don't try to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time.
Goal Statements
Write your goals in a goal journal. State your general goals with precision; for example, write down exactly how many pounds you want to lose instead of writing the generic statement "lose weight." Try to state each goal as a positive example; instead of writing "don't make this stupid mistake," decide what positive actions you want to take to overcome the mistake, and make these actions your goals. Next, create a strategic plan that includes every step you will have to take to achieve your goals, along with a deadline for each step. Make room in your goal journal for your general goal statements and strategic plans, as well as a habit-tracking section, and a section for comments.
Habit Tracking
Since many of your goals will likely be habits that you want to break or start, create habit pages in your tracking section. Habit pages describe specific habits, with notations for each habit that include the name of the habit, the start date, the goal completion date, and the date of achievement. Since it takes about 21 days to break or start a habit, create 21 slots where you can mark off each day completed. Leave plenty of extra space because if you miss a day, you will have to start all over again.
Feedback and Revision
Review your goals frequently, along with your performance. Compare your actual performance to your goals, and note where you fell short in your comment section. Try to identify why you fell short, and comment on these shortcomings. Next, think of better ways to accomplish your goal in the future, and write this in your comment section too. Finally, revise or add to your goals as necessary to effectuate your purposes.
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