Goal-setting is an activity that requires time-tested techniques and an understanding of human psychology. If you formulate your goals skillfully, they will help to provide you with the motivation to achieve them. Once you have achieved them, you can use the confidence and self-knowledge you have gained to formulate even more ambitious goals.
Imagery
Before formulating specific goals, create a mental picture of your ideal outcome. You might see yourself 50 pounds lighter, for example. Spend time imagining your desired outcome as clearly and vividly as you can on a regular basis, advises the Cal Poly Student Academic Services. This will allow your ideal outcome to sink into your unconscious mind, where it can wield tremendous motivational power.
Precision
State your goals with precision, advises the Turner Leadership Academy. Whenever possible, use numerical benchmarks and attach time deadlines. Break your goals into step-by-step plans that are just as specific, and attach deadlines to each step. Record all of your goals and steps in a journal and mark off each step as you achieve it.
Priorities
Everyone has the same amount of time available to them: 24 hours a day. However, in everyone's life, unexpected obstacles arise. These and other factors often ensure that people cannot achieve all that they have planned. For this reason it is important to set priorities, spend most of your time working on the goals that matter most, and abandon goals that prove to be unrealistic. Do your best to prioritize your goals in terms of their personal importance to you, not to the demands of someone else.
Challenge
Adjust the challenge level of your goals so that they are difficult but not impossible to achieve. Goals that are too easy will fail to excite you. Goals that are too difficult will fail to motivate you because you will not believe that you can ever achieve them. If you attempt an unrealistic goal and fail, the experience might dishearten you enough to prevent you from developing the self-confidence to set future goals that are well within your capabilities.
Feedback
You may need to adjust your goals upward or downward in response to your performance, says the Mayo Clinic. Keep close track of how you are doing by reviewing your progress at least once a week. If you find that you are consistently outperforming your benchmarks, you should consider adjusting them upward. If you are under-performing, consider adjusting them downward. Always consider a downward adjustment before abandoning a goal altogether.
Member Comments