"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things," Einstein once said. To achieve your goals and transform them from dreams into reality, follow some tips to help you succeed. Learning to set, track and follow through on your goals can help you accomplish your heart's desires and feel more fulfilled and happy.
Meaningful Goals
Decide what's important to you in life. Set goals that are in accordance with your values and beliefs. Choose goals you are passionate about, and you are more likely to feel fulfilled and motivated as you set out to achieve them. Avoid setting goals that are not important to you or that are influenced by what everyone else is doing or advising you to do. Ultimately, you will be the one to hold yourself accountable, and it is your energy and life that are going into the goals. So make sure your time is spent on something worthwhile.
Measuring Goals
Set realistic goals that you can measure to determine your progress and when your goal is completed. Instead of saying "lose weight," for instance, specify how many pounds you want to lose and by what date. You can break the long-term goal into short-term steps, such as losing one pound per week. If you have a large goal, such as earning your master's degree, break the goal into smaller segments, setting goals for each semester, for instance.
Recording Goals
Writing down your goals can help you turn them from wishes into reality. Tracking your progress will help you stay motivated by allowing you to see your small successes as you reach milestones along the way. Goal tracking also helps you see where you may need to adjust your plan. Set up a system where you regularly check in on your progress by sitting down once a day to record and review your results. When you reach a milestone, reward yourself for a job well done -- then set out to achieve the next step.
Goal Flexibility
Be flexible with your goal plan. It can be hard to find a balance between relentless pursuit of your goals and frequently changing or dropping goals, but you can find a middle ground. If you set goals that are meaningful to you, you will most likely want to keep your overall goals, but may need to change your methods of achieving them sometimes. If you want to lose weight and are following a fitness plan of 30 minutes of walking, five times a week, you may hit a plateau where you can't seem to lose any more weight. Adjust your workout plan to increase the intensity or duration of your workouts to burn more calories. Your main weight loss goal stays the same, but some of your methods change.
Member Comments