If you want to know how to set your goals and how to reach them quickly, then keep reading…….
We are going to talk about SMART goals in this article.
SMART jumps out at you because it is in caps and everyone says that when you type in caps, you are shouting which is rude.
In this case, it is not rude. We type the word SMART in caps for two reasons.
Firstly, SMART goals are extremely important, so getting your attention is paramount. Secondly the word smart typed in caps, lets you know that each letter stands for something very important. Now it is time to break down each letter and how it applies to you and your goal setting.
S=Specific.
You are 100% clear on what your goal is.
M=Measurable.
You can measure your goal and track progress.
A=Achievable.
Your goal can be reached with your belief in yourself.
R=Relevant.
Your goal fits your beliefs and your desires.
T=Timebound.
You have a specific timeline to achieve this goal.
Now that we are 100% clear on what SMART goals are, we need to discuss how to set your goals and how to use them in a 90-day frame.
First, decide what your core 3 goals are.
Let’s say that you run your own home-based business and you currently have 3 virtual assistants based in Asia. In order to reach your goals, you would do the following:
First, you would explain your 3 goals and find out if your team is capable of following your directions to complete these goals. Then discuss the 90-day time frame and find out if they have any roadblocks to completing the tasks in 90 days.
Secondly, ask your team to break the tasks down into daily, weekly, and finally month by month steps. Have them give you the actions they will take. Look at the answers they provide and then decide if you need them to work together on the 3 goals or would it be better to assign one goal per team member.
Third, once you have decided how the goals are to be assigned, decide how to reward your team for staying on track and then have them leap into action.
You want the best people and the best results. Sometimes it pays to have a little guide or what is sometimes referred to as a cheat sheet. This guide will keep the most important tasks and goals at the front of your mind and allow you to mark off your successes.
Let’s look at an example of a niche marketer who already has one or two niche sites up but wants to expand and avoid going in circles. This guide can be adapted for personal, business or health matters.
Monitoring Progress And Avoiding Pitfalls
Keeping on track is a habit you need to form. When you have completed setting up your 90 plan, you have to implement it each and every day to be successful. This is key in how to set your goals.
That means monthly, weekly, and daily reviews PLUS corrections and tweaks… This is very important to stay on track.
A quick review of your top goals before bedtime will set your subconscious mind to work in the background while you sleep, it will review all items and notice what is working and what is not.
When you awaken fresh in the morning, before you start your workday, pull out your plan and do a review of the day before. You should be able to quickly spot where you went off track. Make notes and then review your goals for the present day, so that you can tweak the area where you did not have success the day before.
At the end of the work week, it is time to sit down and review how you have progressed. This is where you make any necessary changes and decide if you should reward yourself for the week’s accomplishments.
Ask yourself the right questions. “What did I excel on this week?”
“Where did I go off track and what course correction do I need to do?”
When you do your first monthly review, you can ask yourself those same questions, however, this is the time where you want to be very reflective and honest about your progress.
Take note of how you are feeling in your regards to your goals. Is your self- esteem and your self-confidence on the rise? The answer should be yes.
By using a 90-day action plan, you are dropping the idea of doing things by sheer willpower alone. Willpower only goes so far. Plus, if your self-esteem is low, then it is likely that your willpower is almost out of gas.
The discipline of writing a 90 plan and reviewing it with the intention of course correction and reward, is directly tied to your self-esteem. Imagine how you will feel as you work your way through the plan and you are totally centered on becoming the best you you can possibly be.
At the end of the 90 days, you will realize that your stress levels have dropped. The reason for this is planning and following 90-day system keeps you on your toes and alert to where you are headed.
It’s like going on a road trip. If you went on a road trip to a destination you had never been to before, would you consult a map or just go? Obviously, if you tried to just head out on the highway, you would get lost. Planning on a map, not only shows you the way to your destination but the items along the way that will make your trip an awesome event.
When your 90 days came to a close, you should have learned a lot. You can now look at your plan closely and see the areas that gave you problems. This will assist you in planning out your next 90 days and avoiding some of the issues you had.
The Mindset:
Making It Your 90-Day Challenge
Your mindset is so important. We already talked about how this is going to impact your self-esteem and self-confidence.
While getting the support of family, friends, and co-workers is important…this is really your 90-day challenge. Let’s dig deeper into how your mindset affects your ability on how to set your goals and meet them.
When a person develops a growth mindset, they are able to accomplish things they thought were once impossible. Having belief in your abilities is key to a growth mindset.
Scientists have shown that in brain plasticity, that pathways between neurons become stronger and indeed grow new pathways to outlying neurons when new habits like goal setting are put in place and followed every day.
Visualizing your brains growth and seeing these pathways as actually cables filled with powerful energy, will increase your brain power. Practice and asking yourself powerful questions about your daily goals and how to achieve them…powers up your brain and assists in growth.
As you start working on your mindset, ask yourself if you have any limiting beliefs about your ability to set and meet your 90 goals? If you find that you have some issues there, write them down on a piece of paper.
Make a list of limiting beliefs and then under each one, write out how you came to believe that. Was it something from your childhood, school or did something happen in your workplace?
For instance, if you have zero dollars in your saving account, you may have a limited belief in your ability to save money. Ask yourself how did that come about?
In many cases like that, people grow up in a family that struggled financially and there was always a lack of month at the end of the month.
When the person grows up and they find a good job, they may find it hard to save money, even though there could be excess. The brain kicks in and tells them, “there’s no sense in trying to save money, it will never happen. Go spend some money on entertainment and enjoy yourself while you can.”
When a person makes a concise effort to discover their limiting beliefs, it doesn’t take long to find out what internal dialogue is holding them back. It is then simply a case of writing out why those limiting beliefs are wrong and then implementing new habits which when repeated, become truth beliefs.
How To Keep Your Motivation Reved
You may wonder why you have to work on keeping yourself motivated. The truth is, making goals is the easy part. Working on them constantly and reaching them can be a daunting task for some.
Just ask anyone who makes New Year’s resolutions, each and every year and by the end of January, the goals they set for themselves are long forgotten. Remember that anything worthwhile does take work.
When you write out your goals, make sure they are yours and not someone else’s.
If you are writing goals that have some bearing on what others want and expect in your life, it is going to be difficult to motivate yourself. You should be able to look at your goals and right away feel a sense of energy and excitement in your body because the goals have true meaning for you.
While you want the goals to be a piece of you and not have external influences, it is perfectly okay to feed off the energy of others. At work, surround yourself with positive people. Or perhaps think of joining a meet-up or something like Toastmasters public speaking groups. Groups like that are high energy.
Our bodies are like batteries with energy coursing through them. A highly positive group of people with interesting ideas and passion will ignite a fire inside you. At first, you may feel a bit skeptical about this. But remember back to a time when you were in a room with a group of people who were unhappy. Perhaps it was a staff meeting and you were all waiting for the boss to come and give you a gloom and doom talk. Remember how tired you felt, how you slumped in your chair?
This is how your energy gets drained quickly. You definitely want the complete opposite, your 90-day goal plan is an awesome event in your life.
To stay motivated, don’t worry about what you cannot control. You have your goals. External things like news reports on crime in your area, are things that you need to let slide off your shoulders. Acknowledge what is happening and just let it go. Focus on what you can control.
While not allowing external issues to affect you, look for ways to fill your brain with positive images and stories.
In your downtime, if you really must hang out on Facebook, make sure you are in positive groups where there is no complaining and people are trying hard to help others. There are many Facebook pages, that are 100% positive stories, motivational quotes, and tips to improve your life. If you “need” to Like a page so that it flows through your news feed, then, by all means, hit the Like button on those pages. An example would be “Power of Positivity.” This Facebook page is perfect for releasing those happy hormones in your brain.
You won’t always be on top of your game. This is the time to get down on yourself. Instead, to keep your motivation high, be compassionate with yourself. You do this with others, like your spouse and your children, so why not treat yourself with compassion.
When you feel like you messed up, stop, and place your hand over your heart. Feel the steady beat and breath in and out evenly. Quietly tell yourself and your inner child, that is okay to make mistakes and that you forgive yourself. Offer up that you will do better the next time and then move on.
Forgiving yourself has a powerful effect on your nervous system. You must love and be compassionate with yourself, in order to really pass that along to others that you love.
When we talk about being compassionate with ourselves, it ties in with the next item we need to discuss. Managing our energies helps to motivate us and keep us moving forward at an even pace.
Our emotional energy needs to be kept positive and this is the compassionate part, along with happy thoughts and staying out of anger. Our physical energy helps with our emotional energy as we keep our body tuned up and it is well known that physical exercise is one of the best ways to beat the blues. As those two energies hum along, our mental energy is kept in peak condition. We can think with very positive outlook to stay on track and feel motivated.
Finally, our spiritual energy gives meaning to the purpose of how to set our goals. We look to improve the lives of ourselves and others, perhaps even large groups of people like children with cancer who are in the hospital. When we give of ourselves, we give to ourselves.
In personal development, new ideas come along frequently. Motivation is talked about all the time and how to get motivated is a very common search term on Google. Yet many people still find it hard to get motivated even when they have read the articles or watched motivational videos. Here is a theory on why this happens, and you may find it helpful in your quest on how to set your goals and how to achieve your goals.
In some camps, it is thought that we have difficulty motivating ourselves because when we want to do something, we hesitate. When we hesitate, our voice in the brain begins to question if there is a problem?
As normal humans, we will do anything to avoid pain, so if we are hesitating, does our internal alert system believe that our starting this goal mean pain? The only way to get around this issue is to come up with a way to spring into immediate action and not give our brain a chance to talk us out of it.
Do not give your brain anytime to put the brakes on. When you pick up your goal sheet, do not start thinking about how, when and why…. just start immediately and then tweak it as you move along on that goal. You can use an anchor to start. Anchoring comes from sending a signal to your brain to start into action. Here is how it works.
Imagine that running for 15 minutes, followed by brisk walking for 5 and then running again for 15 minutes is your exercise goal because the interval training is great for you.
How To Build An Anchor
Get that picture in your head. See yourself engaging in that action and at the moment when you feel the most pleasure from that image in your head…clap your hands loudly. Repeat this action over and over. You can then test to see if this anchor action is set.
Start your goal and if you are not totally motivated, clap your hands. This should send an emotional response and adrenaline running through your body and you spring into action.
If not, go back and work on building that anchor. Setting anchors work for everything in your life, from getting out of depression to springing into action. Just telling yourself that it is time to be motivated and work on achieving your 90-day goals, will most likely be the pathway to procrastination.
Reward Yourself For Small Wins:
Daily, Weekly, and Monthly……..
When you do well in a sport, you are often rewarded, and this motivates you to do better and be rewarded again.
Examples of this would be placement in track and field, where you get bronze, silver, or gold medals. In the martial arts, many systems award a stripe around the belt, to keep you motivated.
After attaining three stripes, you are allowed to test and hopefully earn the next belt level.
Rewarding yourself for taking action on and achieving your goals, takes a bit of thought.
Your reward would be great if it was directly aligned with how to set your goals but that isn’t always possible. When you plan your rewards but cannot think of something related to your goals, then move onto pleasure.
It is well known that we do anything we can to obtain pleasure and avoid pain. With that in mind, when you struggle with a reward, think about what gives you the most pleasure. If your goals are daily exercise but a reward eludes you, decide what is next in line…is it music, books, or movies?
Pick the best one for your circumstances. Is it music? Well if you reach a daily goal, you can reward with one song from your favorite artist. If you meet a weekly goal, you can download a new album. When you hit your 30-day goals, perhaps you could reward yourself by watching an entire Bruno Mars concert online. The point is to find the reward with the biggest pleasure and enjoy the benefits.
We will take a look at some different goals and what would be good rewards for reaching them.
Everyone is different, and these are merely examples that you can adapt according to your own wants and needs.
We will start with writers who set their 90 goals. Almost every writer, is also a reader and perhaps even a book collector. A writer could purchase a hardcover novel of their favorite authors newest book.
When the writer hits their goals for the day, they allow themselves to read ½ of a chapter, no more than that.
Hitting the 30-day goal, the writer could buy a box set of new fiction on Kindle by an author they have not tried yet.
When they reach their 60-day goal, they could search out and find a book that they have wanted for their collection.
Finally hitting the 90-day goal and having succeeded, the reward should be big. It could be buying Dragon Speaking Naturally software to enhance the speed of their writing for example.
The Importance Of Journaling Your Progress
Journaling is very popular at this point and you can choose to journal in just a notebook or purchase one that has visual cues. Even when working out how to set your goals, your journal will come in useful.
Journaling opens up your mind and your creativity. It is one of the best ways of how to set your goals as well as confirming your goals… your desire to have and to meet those goals.
Journaling works best when you have a quiet place away from distractions. Sit in a comfortable chair and if possible have some relaxing music playing in the background. Some people find a fish tank very relaxing and soothing as well. The mind reacts well to anything that soothes it.
In this case, you may be someone who benefits greatly from ten minutes of meditation. Or perhaps you need to connect with your Creator and offer your appreciation for what has occurred in your life. Daily meditation or prayer is wonderful for you and adding daily journaling to your life will give you clarity and gratitude.
As you begin your journal, it is always great to start out with a positive statement of what you want and expect to happen during your writing time. Here is an example:“I’m free to release the positive thoughts and intentions of my inner self. I give permission to my subconscious to join the journey and allow all my positive attributes to flow onto the paper.”
Now before you begin, put your conscious mind into neutral. Begin to listen to the bass in the background of the music you are listening to or watch one particular fish glide for a moment. Then begin to write down what comes to your mind.
Journaling is not formal writing. It is the flow of thought in regards to what you desire in your life and how to set your goals. You should have clarity and focus at this point.
We spoke about gratitude earlier. Starting your daily journal talking about who you are grateful for and the reasons why is a definite starting point. Write down what you appreciate in your life and why these things make your life blessed.
When you are done with this, it is time to confirm to yourself, where you have failed in achieving your goals and dreams. This is not a butt kicking session though and you don’t need to add a lot of color to it. Basically, point out to yourself where you have not prospered, why it happened and how you are going to fix it. As previously mentioned, you need to be compassionate with yourself and it should go without saying, that writing down, “I was so stupid today, I failed in this regard,” is not what you want. Simply state that you failed….”to eat a proper breakfast and drink the right amount of water and that will not happen tomorrow.”
Write about your 30-60-90 day goals and how you are doing. Make notes about what is going right and what you need to improve on. If new ideas crop up that are not already in your written goals, write them down and circle them. You can go back later and pull these golden nuggets out to use in your planning.
As you write in your journal, make very brief notes of what your big goals are. By repeating this process every day, it highlights your desires for what you want to achieve. It will deepen your sense of belief in yourself and your overall abilities.
Another great way idea when it comes down to how to set your goals is to get yourself an accountability partner. Read more about that by clicking here.
Final words on How To Set Your Goals
Having a 90-day planner to keep you on track on how to set your goals, hour by hour, day by day is essential if you want to make sure that you will reach your goals.
This way you will always know what you should focus on and what really matters. It will also help you keep your mind ‘set on autopilot’, all geared toward implementing the necessary tasks to achieve when it comes to how to set your goals.
All the elements you need to create and achieve your goals in 90-days have been discussed. However, the ability to take action and create your goals and dreams is completely up to you. The power is within you and perhaps it has been dominant for quite awhile. Everything you have read should awaken the dreams you’ve held for years, yet have not taken massive action on. So that’s it on how to set your goals.
Ready, set, 1, 2, 3, GO!
