How To Set Inspiring Goals And Achieve Them

I am going to explain here how I set goals and achieve them. The setting goals part is important but not that difficult to be honest. Just setting goals will not get you anywhere. You need to take consistent action to achieve them and that is the hard part.

What is the point of setting goals? Well we all want a better life and desire certain things that will make our lives better. To set inspiring goals you need to identify what you want and why you want these things. All of your goals need to motivate you to take the action required even when you are not in the mood to do this.

What Do You Really Want?

This is the first step to setting inspirational goals. If you need help with this then set aside some quiet time where you will not be interrupted and then ask yourself the question “what do I need or want to show up in my life?”

Focus on this question and write down what comes into your head. Don’t worry about how you will achieve goals at this point. Just get everything down on paper. You can break this down into specific areas of your life such as:

  • Business goals
  • Financial goals
  • Health goals
  • Relationship goals

Having the right reason for a goal is critical for inspiration. So ask yourself “how will I feel when I have achieved this goal?” This will make everything a lot clearer for you. In your gut it will feel right. Once you know what your inspirational goals are be sure to write them down.

Some people will say at this point “why not record your goals on your computer?” Well you can if you want to but there is something very powerful about writing your goals down using a traditional pen and paper. Writing your goals down will open up your emotions and provide a strong connection.

It is this emotional connection that could mean the difference between achieving your goals and not. This emotional connection will drive you to take the actions that you need to achieve a goal.

Make Your Goals Challenging

It is pointless to set goals that you know you can achieve easily. These are just tasks or a series of tasks that you can include in your daily and weekly plans. Something easy to achieve will not inspire you to go the extra mile.

The other side of the coin is to set goals that are too ambitious or almost impossible to achieve. If you set too ambitious goals and fall short then this will de-motivate you. You have to find the right balance between too easy and too difficult.

Have A Desired End Result In Mind

You need to be able to measure any goals that you set. If you can’t do this then you can never truly say that you have achieved a goal. Creating and holding on to a desired end result helps you to stay on track and will confirm when you have achieved a goal.

Are there some goals that you cannot measure easily? Yes there are and in this situation you need to keep what the goal means to you in your mind. You will know when you have achieved this kind of goal because your feelings will change or you will have the ability to do something that you couldn’t before.

In all other cases you need a desired end result. When you fit all of these pieces together you end up with a set of goals that will drive you to get out of bed in the morning and take action. This is an unstoppable force and you will have a much greater chance of achieving your goals.

Use SMART Goals

There is a great way to set goals that I use all of the time and it is known as the SMART system. The SMART system is a criterion through which I judge my goals before embarking on them. In summary, my goals have to be:

•           Specific (significant, simple, sensible)

•           Measurable (motivating, meaningful)

•           Achievable (attainable, agreed)

•           Relevant (realistic, results-based, realistic and resourced)

•           Time bound (time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-based, time-sensitive)

I highly recommend that you use the SMART process too. It will definitely help you to make the distinction between goals that are too easy for you to achieve and those that are too difficult or nigh on impossible.

Practical Steps For Inspired Goal Setting

After years of setting goals and experimenting with the process I have come up with a number of practical steps that I use when I am setting goals. I urge you to follow these steps as they have proven to work for me time and time again.

Step One – List your Desires

Create a list of everything that you want to achieve, have, or desire from all aspects of your life. Make a list of at least 50 – 100 things, so for example, you might want to get married, lose some weight, buy a new property, own a Ferrari etc. Write down everything you can think of from your personal life, business life, family life, what you want to learn, who you want to help etc.

Step Two – Conduct a Realistic Time Assessment

Next to each item, write down if you can realistically achieve them within 1 year, 5 years or 10 years.

Step Three – Choose The Most Inspiring Items

Choose five to seven items that really inspire you, which you can realistically achieve in the next year. Choose from different categories, so don’t just have all monetary or business goals, it is best to have a mix.

Step Four – Write Your Goals Down

Complete my Goals Worksheet, which you can download here, so that have it clear in your mind and to make sure you write everything down.

Turning Your Goals Into Reality

Once you have created your inspiring goals you will fill really motivated by them and want to get started straight away. This is great but how do you keep this momentum going? Unfortunately a lot of people start out inspired by the goals they have set for a few days and after that their motivation diminishes.

I had this problem too. It was so busy for me in my business that my goals took a back seat and in the end just fizzled out and died. I didn’t want that to happen any more so I tried different techniques to keep myself motivated and created a process that really worked well. Here is the process that I use and you can too:

Step One – Set Appointments To Review Progress

Set weekly appointments in your diary to review your progress. At the meeting (this can be a meeting with yourself or someone that you know will help you) you will think about what you have achieved towards that goal, write it down and find a next step.

Use the Goals Worksheet, write down the date, and what you have achieved that week. Also, create a “Next Steps Area”, where you must write down at least one thing that must be achieved/done to get you closer to your end goal.  Also, cross off any “Next Steps” that were achieved last week.

Step Two – Add The Next Steps To Your To Do list Or Action system

Add your next step onto your to do list or project management program and make sure to allocate some time that week to working on what you want to achieve.

Step Three – Clearly Mark Completed Goals And Celebrate

When you achieve a goal, mark through the whole sheet using a highlighter pen, COMPLETED and file it away in a specific folder. Celebrate the success, by treating yourself to something. This process is very important as it gives you a massive dopamine hit, and will make you feel fantastic.

Step Four – Move On To The Next Goal

Now choose another one year goal, and start working towards that, with the same method.

These days I achieve all of the goals that I set myself using the process that I have outlined above. This is incredibly motivating and I am always eager to set new and more challenging goals for myself. I love to move the boundaries of my comfort zone as often as possible. I feel like I am truly growing when I do this.

So now you have everything that you need to set inspiring goals and to follow through and achieve them. It is useless to set goals and then store them away never to look at them again. Follow the steps in this post and set inspiring goals that will challenge you and you will get enormous satisfaction from achieving them.

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