3 Foolproof Steps to Set & Achieve Your Goals

by | Jan 9, 2017 | Business, Inspiration, Lifestyle

If you’re feeling inspired and ready to tackle a list of goals you have, then this post is for you. I’ve got 3 foolproof steps to set and achieve your goals, and yep, they really are foolproof if you follow them!

It’s January, and that means it’s a brand new year! It also means it’s the month of my birthday (hooray!)

I love setting goals – especially for the new year – but all throughout the year, too. Anytime is the perfect time to get started on working toward what we’d like to achieve for ourselves, what we’d like to see for ourselves, and what we’d like to create for our lives. For a deeper discussion on creating your life, read my post here or watch my video here.

I’m a big goal-setter and an enormous fan of trying my best to stay organized.

 

3 FOOLPROOF STEPS TO SET & ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

 

Step 1: Set your Goals

Set aside a few minutes and grab a pen and paper. Think about all of the various goals you’d like to achieve that have been on your mind for a while, or that really stick out for you. When I do this, I like to keep in mind any goals I have within these 5 categories that create balance in our lives:

Personal: spirituality, hobbies, habits, personal growth, self-development, etc.
Relationships: friends, family, significant other, coworkers, people around us, etc.
Health: fitness, nutrition, eating habits; self-love, self-care, etc.
Career: life purpose, finding or nurturing passions; finances, business goals, etc.
Environment: home, car, bedroom, workplace, workspace, etc.

With these categories in mind, write down any and all goals you’ve ever wanted to achieve. It’s very important when setting goals to:

  • Be very specific
  • Set a date, timeline, or deadline on the goal

Being specific and setting deadlines on our goals helps to make them concrete – it gives our brain something solid to focus on. For example, if one of your goals is to open up a shop, be clear on when you’d like to have it open, what kind of shop, the location, etc.

 

Step 2: Narrow Down your Goals

Once you’ve written down your list of goals, narrow them down to just two or three. Narrowing down our goals helps us to feel much less overwhelmed, but don’t worry – hang on to your list, you can always revisit it and work on your other goals in the future. To help you narrow them down, focus on which ones you’d consider to be the most important to you and what achieving these goals will do for you. Take a few minutes to think about:

  • What achieving each goal will bring to your life
  • What your life will look like
  • How it will benefit you or others in your life
  • How you will feel

Determining our reasons and motives for wanting to achieve a goal really helps us to understand what we want a little better, and helps us to hone in on what will bring satisfaction and fulfillment to our lives.

 

Step 3: Make It Happen

This is the fun part! Now that we’ve set our goals and determined our priorities, we can finally begin to create the necessary steps to get stuff done.

It’s very easy for us to get overwhelmed with all of the tasks we’d need to do to reach our goals.

For me personally, this is the area where I feel discouraged and lose motivation – simply because my brain is too overwhelmed with all of the various tasks that need to be done. If you can relate, don’t worry – I have a remedy. It’s called The Brain Dump, and it feels f***ing fantastic.

On a piece of paper, write down each and every single task that you’d need to do to reach your goal. Big or small, and whether or not it can be done today, tomorrow, or next month, write it all down. I love doing this because it takes major pressure off of me, and helps to organize my brain. Tasks to write down could be anything depending on your goal, and might include:

  • phone calls
  • setting up an appointment
  • closing or opening an account
  • going to the store
  • typing up a document
  • buying a new pair of running shoes
  • signing up for a course
  • contacting someone, etc.

 

The To-Do List

Once you’ve written down your (possibly enormous) list of tasks, we can now organize, refine, and focus on just one or two small steps that we can accomplish. This is done by creating a to-do list everyday, and tacking on just a couple of things that we can do. I like to make my to-do list at night before I go to bed.

Focusing on one or two tasks is important because they are much more attainable, and as a result, we feel like we’re making progress when we complete them.

It’s also helpful to write out an overview of the tasks you’d like to work on not only today or tomorrow, but this week, this month, the next 3 months, and so on. I highly recommend some kind of organizational planner: a calendar, agenda, daily planner, your phone, a notebook, etc.

Achievements are made up of millions of tasks: long afternoons, many phone calls, 100 green smoothies, and a ton of waiting, working, and persistence. That’s what life, and working toward our goals, is all about. The fun of it is waking up everyday knowing that you’re working toward something that means something to you; you’re living with purpose.

We can only get done so much in a day, so be realistic, take things easy, don’t feel discouraged if you didn’t get everything done in one day, and have fun!

 


 

What are your goals for this year?

Leave me a comment below, and check out the video below:


 

by Meghan Livingstone

Note: this post may contain affiliate links. Learn more here.

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Meghan Livingstone, CNP

Hi, I’m Meghan. I’m a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, blogger, and YouTuber with a passion for healthy, simple living. I’m here to inspire you to listen to your body, eat wholesomely, and create a fulfilling life.