All successful people know how to set goals and achieve results. Read about the basic rules for setting goals and achieving results that will help you make your dream come true.
Making a dream come true consists of 2 stages: correct goal setting and an effective process for achieving results. First of all, we will analyze: how to set a goal correctly.
Why you need to be able to set goals correctly
- make your dreams come true;
- correctly distribute time and energy;
- motivate yourself on the way to the result;
When you have set a clear goal for yourself, your actions become as effective as possible, because subordinate to a completely concrete idea. A correctly set goal will not only show you the simplest and most effective way to achieve a result, but also give you the necessary motivation when the desire to work will leave you.
The ability to set goals correctly is habit
Some successful people have devoted their lives to researching effective goal achievement. Brian Tracy, the author of more than 70 books on self-development, paid a lot of attention to the study of this art. Of the Russian writers, Gleb Arkhangelsky stands out in particular – the author of the book “Time Drive”. Each of them came to the conclusion that the ability to set goals correctly and achieve them is a habit that can and should be developed. We will touch on some of the thoughts of these authors in this article, but to a large extent the article will be based on my personal experience in achieving the goals. Writing this article is also a small goal, a step towards achieving a more global goal – creating a useful Internet site for self-development. And the fact that you are now reading this article suggests that the result has been achieved quite well. Well, let’s go?
How to set a goal: 5 rules
In total, I have identified 5 basic rules that affect the quality of the goal. If you follow each of them, you will be able to formulate a correct and motivating goal for yourself, with which you will undoubtedly be able to achieve results. Let’s start.
The goal must be written
thought. Only written down on paper, the specific wording is a real commitment to yourself. Writing a goal requires some convenient tool to capture it. There are 2 convenient tools for setting goals:
- Diary
The most efficient and convenient tool. People who use a diary are much more efficient at doing business than those who neglect it. The planner is convenient in that the goals can be formulated for a year, month, week and day, and you can always have it at hand. In this case, short-term goals (for example, a plan for the day) should always proceed from long-term (goals for a year).
- Visualization board
This is a small drawing and erasing board that hangs in a prominent place at home or at work. It is not suitable for daily task planning, but for the formulation of global tasks, for example, for the coming year, it is ideal.
For myself, I chose a diary.
The correct goal should be as specific as possible
One of the reasons why many people do not achieve goals is insufficient specificity. Because of this, it is not clear whether you are getting closer to the goal, and how far you have come. Let’s consider an example of weight loss.
Bad wording: lose weight
Good wording: lose 10 kg in 10 months, dropping 1 kg monthly, by November 1, 2018;
The more specific the goal is, the brighter in your head you will be able to imagine the end result, which means you will be able to effectively motivate yourself.
The goal should be measurable
The measurable goal should be as detailed as possible. It must indicate the period during which you plan to achieve this goal. If the deadline for achieving the goal is not set, then you give your brain the installation: there is nowhere to rush, which means that it is not necessary to make every effort to achieve the goal.
The deadline does not need to be set exactly the first time. Perhaps it will undergo adjustment, become shorter or longer. Just assessing your strengths right away is not an easy task, but in the process of work it will be clearer for you.
The goal should be broken down into the maximum number of subtasks
This is especially true for global goals, which may take more than one year to achieve. A very good association on this issue was voiced by Gleb Arkhangelsky. He compared a big goal to an elephant, and the process of achieving a result is like eating an elephant. Eating an entire elephant seems like an overwhelming task, but if you divide the elephant into small pieces – “steaks”, and gradually eat them, then soon you will see that your overwhelming task is completed with many small steps.
The goal must be achievable
You should not set yourself impossible tasks – they greatly weaken the motivation on the way to the result. You must constantly see progress and be aware that you are getting closer to your intended goal. Therefore, first of all, you need to evaluate your strengths and decide what result is really achievable for you.
The goal should inspire
Even just the very wording that you draw up should make you want to make efforts to achieve a result. Closing your eyes, and seeing yourself have achieved the goal, you should literally be filled with strength and inspiration. And remembering about it early in the morning, when you don’t want to get up – fly out of bed.
In order for the goal to inspire you as much as possible, do a simple exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down the 10 most desirable changes that achieving a goal can bring to your life.
An example of a well-set goal
Take for example a goal: buying a car.
If this is your cherished dream, then you should choose which car model can inspire you to feats. For example, Chevrolet Lanos.
I buy a black Chevrolet Lanos car on June 30 2020 at a price of 180,000 rubles.
For this, I need to put aside 5 thousand rubles a month for the next 3 years, which I will put into a special bank account, with interest.
When I buy a car, and I realize my dream of car travel, I can comfortably commute to work, get rid of the need to travel by public transport, listen to my favorite music loudly, I can ride through an empty night city late at night, go onto an endless track and drive, drive, drive …
This is an example of a basic goal statement. Next, you will need to paint everything step by step, for example, determine the amounts that need to be saved daily, set the task to find sources of additional earnings.
Proceed to the next stage.
How to achieve the result : 5 rules
Even the most correct and inspiring goal will not be achieved if it is not supported by action. After the goal is correctly formulated, it is necessary to move on to the most crucial stage – the process of achieving the result.
The first thing you will encounter is a lot of fears in your head, most often invented. Let’s take a look at the 3 most popular fears and how to deal with them:
Deal with fears
one. “I won’t succeed”
A very common thought, and extremely harmful. Take a look around. See what incredible results others are achieving: they create a million-dollar business, become screen stars, popular performers. Imagine that one day one of them would say to himself – I will not succeed. It would have stopped him and he wouldn’t even try. Who would he be now? You do not want to deprive yourself of future victories, success and achievements, simply because you are afraid of defeat?
In fact, you should not be afraid of defeat … In any case, it will be experience, practice, effort. But what you really need to be afraid of is not even trying. Drive this fear out of your head, and constantly repeat to yourself – “I will succeed!”. Soon you yourself will believe in it and achieve the results you only dreamed of before.
2. “The goal is unattainable”
We need to figure out why you think so. If no one before you has reached such a goal, then become the first. Many people once were the first in something, and this did not stop them.
And if someone has already achieved a similar result (especially if many), then you have every chance. You are no worse. Probably even better. Now you are working on yourself, reading useful material. And this speaks of your dedication. You simply cannot fail. I believe in you!
3. It’s too late
A dangerous and very destructive thought. I myself liked to say that to myself. When I was a student, this very thought stopped me from achieving an important goal. And after many years, I nevertheless returned to my goal, and began to work on achieving it. And I have already achieved good results. It turned out that even after many, many years it was not at all late, and in many more years it would not be too late. But then, when I studied at the university, it was the perfect time. It is a pity that I did not understand this then.
If you now refuse to achieve the goal, because It seems to you that it is “late”, then in many years you will be very sorry and realize that it was “the right time”. Believe it.
To achieve the result – act
The key to successful achievement of the result is a constant movement forward. Have you broken down your goal into many subtasks? It is necessary to take a step towards the goal every day, even if it is small. But you must do it. If you do not have the strength, or you want to postpone the matter until tomorrow, remember that tomorrow the same will happen again.
Think about this.
If you write only 1 page per day – then in a year you will write a book.
If you save 100 rubles every day, by the end of the year you will have 36,500 rubles.
If do 100 push-ups every day, then in a year you will do 36,500 push-ups. , and what great results can be achieved thanks to small but regular actions.
Monitor the achieved result
Your constant companion in achieving results is tracking progress. If you decide to use the diary, it will be right to report to yourself every day on what results you have achieved.
Such reports help you not only see progress, but also feel responsibility to by yourself, if you “cheated”. Are you really ready to put up with what you have today and give up your dream? I’m sure not. Report to yourself every night, analyze your mistakes and think about what can be done better.
Be inspired by success stories
Here is a very important point – for sure there will be people who have already achieved the result you are striving for. Find their success stories – books, personal blogs, forum posts. The stories of people who have conquered the peak you are striving for will not only inspire you, give you the opportunity to gain experience and valuable knowledge; learn about the mistakes they made and not make them yourself.
That’s all, friends! Believe in yourself and you will succeed!
