The Importance of Setting Goals and How to Stick to Them

Even the best intentions with enthusiasm and motivation don’t ensure that you’ll definitely reach your ideal goal. In order to succeed you need to know how to set your goals in a way you’ll stick to them and achieve the best you can. Read on to find out more.

Why Set Goals?

Setting goals provides a focus in your life. It guides your actions and efforts in an efficient and positive manner towards where you want to be, giving you something to aim for.

Clearly defined goals will have a stage by stage milestone where you can monitor your progress and assess if adjustment is needed. These are very important when planning out a change in your life or working towards a goal as it’s easy in everyday life for all of us to get lost, side tracked and distracted so these keep you much more focused.

Goal setting is beneficial as it’s an opportunity to think about your life, what your real priorities are and where your time and energies are taken up. It gives you a chance to put any negativities and past troubles, failures and unhappiness behind you and turn over a new leaf.

How to Set Goals Correctly

The first part of the process is sitting yourself down and actually clarifying what exactly it is you want to achieve. Here you need to be very specific as without clearly defined goals it is easy to lose focus therefore having less chance of being successful.

Having now some clearly defined goals written down permanently you are already on the way to achieving them. These give you a feeling of control over your life, empowerment and higher self esteem.

SMART goal setting is a fantastic way of thinking about the goals you want to achieve. Here SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

Now you need to make a plan. Another good technique when goal setting is the ‘backward planning’ technique. Here the focus is on the end result and then you can work back through the stages toward the start on what you need to do to achieve this.

Now you have a step by step plan, write down what you need to do and achieve day by day, week by week, month by month. Having a log of your progress in these little baby steps towards your bigger goal gives you a constant sense of achievement every time you write down your progress.

Staying on Track

To make sure you don’t get side tracked you need to make sure you are taking regular and consistent actions. There is no way you are going to achieve running that marathon if you don’t run all week and then try to catch up all the miles at the weekend! Long term goals take determination, effort to make sure you move forward progressively

Tips for Keeping Motivation High

1. WHY am I doing this? Know the reason for your efforts is a great motivator as you know through all the pain there will be an end result.

2. Use POSITIVE LANGUAGE- repeating a mantra to yourself every time the going gets tough is a sure fire way to keep your morale up. Say something like ‘ I’m doing this for me’ ‘ I can do this, I am strong’ ‘ I won’t give up’.

3. Let others know it is important- having a support network around you will reinforce a positive environment for success. Additionally, people are less likely to interfere in your efforts when they know how important it really is.

4. Find an alternative way to reward yourself when you achieve a small stage towards your goal (such as an item of clothing, a film or music). Oppositely, give yourself a small punishment for any laziness when you give up on a small target (such as hoovering the house, washing the car or not going out)

5. Talk to others who are doing a similar goal to you- the camaraderie and extra support with boost your desire to get to your target.

6. Never let negative thoughts get in- it’s easy when times are tough to give up and believe it will never work. Shut these voices out and only listen to the positive.

Anyone can achieve pretty much anything they set their minds to with enough careful planning, determination and drive and a properly set out goal. So go for it! Have a good think about what you are unsatisfied with in your life and what you want to achieve.

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase- just take the first step!” – Martin Luther King.

Author Gemma Carter is a qualified life and fitness coach. She offers online coaching for a diverse range of needs. Visit her website www.cartercoaching.co.uk or email her at gemma@cartercoaching.co.uk

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