New Year, New You, right?
We always have high hopes that the new year will be a game changer. We're going to become more wealthy, get more in shape, cultivate more relationships, and just generally be better. We expect our quality of life to skyrocket as we begin thriving. After all, it's a new year! A blank slate where anything is possible.
Having these hopes and goals for the new year are valuable. We should all be pushing to be the best version of ourselves. Settling into a victims mentality will only ever keep us down on our luck. We truly do have the power to change our situation, and each day is a new opportunity to do so.
The problem people run into is that they have big, vague goals that never get accomplished because they were designed to fail from the start. If you want to set solid goals that will get you results, you need to make sure your goal has five distinct components. Let's use the popular new years resolution or goal of becoming more successful at work as our example.
1). Your Goal Needs A Timeframe: Be as specific as possible. What progress do you want to see by the end of January? What about at the end of June? What about at the end of 2020? A timeline works similar to a deadline: it's a reminder to not delay, because you have work to accomplish.
2). Your Goal Needs to be Specific: Like with the first point, be specific! What exactly does being more successful at work look like to you? Is there a job title you want to acquire? A promotion in salary? Is it changing careers altogether? Come up with a number of steps, so that you have mini goals that all work towards the big one. Be specific.
3). Your Goal Needs to be Measurable: Being more successful at work could be measured by a number of things; write down those things specifically. Perhaps it is salary: if you make $30,000 currently, at the peak of your workplace success you would be making $100,000, and during this year you get promoted and start making $50,000, you are well on your way! Make your goal measurable so that you have something to evaluate your success.
4). Your Goal Needs to be Obtainable: It is a beautiful thing to dream big, but carefully consider how realistic your dream is. With the previous example, getting a $70,000 promotion in just one year would be a wild accomplishment, but maybe not realistic. Maybe that's a three year goal, but for this year you just want to hit that $50,000 mark. If you make your goal unobtainable, it could cause discouragement when you shouldn't be, and it may even cause you to abandon the goal altogether.
5). Your Goal Needs Accountability: Hold yourself accountable! Set up a reward system for when you make progress, create a dream board to put on the kitchen fridge, tell trusted friends and family about your goals so they can encourage you and check in on you. Like we said earlier, YOU have the power to make change, as long as YOU follow through on your heart's desires.
Best wishes!
(Photo Via Canva)
Posted by Ken Richter on
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