Can you relate to the feeling of enthusiasm for a new goal? Many of us get excited when it comes to making a positive change in life. It is not uncommon to set grandiose goals that could be life-changing – but then a couple of weeks or months later we quit or stop making progress.
Goal setting keeps you accountable, focused, and motivated. One aspect that contributes to people not succeeding in their goals is that the goals they set are not realistic. This can be too much investment required in money or time. Maybe the skillset is not something developed in the time frame you have set for yourself. This does not mean you should give up on your dreams.
What is important here is setting realistic and small goals that you can achieve. After that, setting the next goal and the next. Before you know it, you will have reached a large and significant goal in your life.
Things To Consider:
- Are you willing to do the work required for this goal?
- What steps must you take to reach this goal?
- Do you have the time, money, discipline, or other qualities to reach this goal?
- Is this goal something you can achieve with hard work and planning?
These questions can help you gauge how realistic your goals may be. One way to increase your odds of staying committed and reaching your goals is to use S.M.A.R.T goals.
Get S.M.A.R.T
SMART is an acronym for goal setting that ensures goals are reachable and clear.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
These tips can help you focus on realistic and attainable goals. If your goals do not meet these criteria consider splitting a large goal into smaller goals that you can check off one at a time.
Also, If the goal is completely unrealistic, as hard as it is consider reframing what you want, making adjustments, and deciding on a new goal to work towards. For example – If you want to be an astronaut, consider passing all of your math classes in college as a ‘micro goal’ on the path to a big and significant goal.
The more you monitor and adjust your goals the more accountable that you are. Reassess and track your progress. This will help you stay motivated, keep you on track and help you see where you are at in a given time period.
Your goals should guide the decisions your make in your day to day life. For example, if you are working towards a weight loss, or a sports performance goal consider using these goals as a guidepost to your choices about diet, training, rest, etc. It is very easy to forget our goals at the moment and participate in behaviors that don’t contribute to success in those goals.
When setting goals, don’t forget the reward and celebration. Celebrating progress on your journey is just one important step in staying motivated, and also enjoying the results from all of your hard work. When reaching a goal instead of immediately pushing on to the next thing on your to-do list take a moment and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.
Learning to set realistic goals is one part of being successful in the pursuit of the things you want to accomplish in life. Set yourself up for success by learning to assess the goals that you set in life and take yourself to the next level.
