Do you have problems meeting your goals? Do you set goals, only to drift away from them after just a few weeks, or worse, after a few days? Do your resolutions fade as quickly as the new year celebrations? Have you by now, thoroughly convinced yourself that you're a useless goal-setter, that you'll never keep your resolutions, never be able to achieve your goals? If you answered Yes to any of these questions, don't despair, you are not alone, and the problem may not be with you - it may be with your goals!
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What makes a Good Goal?
Consider how you are setting your goals. Many of us think we are setting goals when really we are just making abstract expressions of a wish or a desire. If you set abstract goals, goals without a clear purpose or plan of action, then you are making it that much harder for yourself to achieve them. We need goal setting that works.
A good goal is a concrete goal. It is clearly defined, and you know the steps it will take to achieve it. It also has time limits, where appropriate, so that you know how close you are to reaching it.
As a simple example, a poor goal would be "I’d like to have a nest-egg for my retirement." The problem with this goal is that it's vague, it’s wishy-washy, and there are no clearly defined steps to achieve it. A much better goal would be "I will save €50,000 for retirement in the next 10 years." You now have a concrete goal (€50,000), a time frame (10 years), and it is action oriented there are definable action, you will reach this goal by saving.
Setting "Mini Goals"
Sometimes our goals seem just too big, at first glance, having €50,000 of a nest-egg might not seem achievable, and because the overall goal seems too big, we almost pardon ourselves at the outset if we don’t achieve the goal. But in truth, even the really big goals are attainable if you plan your steps carefully and establish a realistic timeframe in which you can undertake those steps. So don’t stop at this point.
The best goals are be broken down into "mini-goals" that you can reach within shorter periods of time. This gives you a chance to see how close you are to meeting your overall goal. You'll be so encouraged if you're on track, and if you're off track you'll know much sooner and you can quickly take action to get back on course.
Looking at our €50,000 goal above, we might break that down into mini-goals of €5,000 put towards retirement per year. Keep close track of how much you save or invest for retirement on a year-by-year basis, so you'll know how close you are to meeting your yearly goals. Meet your yearly goals, and you'll be sure to meet your long-term goal.
But why stop there when you can go one step further. €5,000 a year is about €100 per week, allowing for a break in saving during the average two weeks holiday per year. You’ll have frequent reminders of your successes, and be in a position to act quickly to get back on track so that you never stray too far off your path. When mini-goals are consistently achieved, the bigger goals that might previously have seemed unreachable, seem to shrink in size and become more and more achievable. It’s not because the goal is any smaller, but you are growing and rising to meet the challenge as you build success upon success, weekly, monthly and yearly.
How important is achieving the goal?
Now you need to ask yourself if this goal is really important to you. Are you both willing and able to work towards this goal and what are you willing to do to achieve it. If a goal is really important to you, you’ll develop the skills and attitudes to reach them, and you’ll see opportunities that you might previously have overlooked. €100 a week, can you do that? Where could that extra money come from?
Could you dine out with your partner once a month instead of twice, could you opt for a cheaper car with lower monthly payments, or change your premium brand grocery shopping habits. Stop smoking – apart from benefiting your health, you’ll save a fortune! Forgo the daily lunch time lattes, wraps, baps or bagles and organize a packed lunch. Do you really need that new dress, shoes or designer handag? The possibilities are nearly limitless. And your goal is suddenly within reach, because you've broken it into small, concrete steps. Not buying that snazzy new computer is a concrete step; the money can go directly into savings towards retirement, instead.
It’s up to you, you know you're capable of goal setting that works.
Clearly defined goals broken into small steps that are challenging but not impossible (such as, saving €100 a week for retirement) are much easier to meet than broad, abstract goals with no steps, no way of measuring progress, and no way to tell if you're on track or not. So be as specific as possible when setting your goals. You'll thank yourself for it later.