How To Set Goals To Win

How To Set Goals To Win

Whether you’re reading this January 1 of a new year or you’ve stumbled across it in February or April or September, the bottom line is there are things in your life you want to change.

When I look back at my previous year, there’s things I don’t want to repeat and things I want to ensure I DO do again.

There’s areas of my life I want to continue to grow and improve upon.

There’s things I want to accomplish that didn’t get checked off last year for whatever reason.

The idea of new years resolutions is to improve one year over the last.

It’s changing things that you don’t like.

It’s making sure you the things that are important to you get done.

It’s changing things to give you a more fulfilled, happy, healthy, time freedom life.

So, is there a right and wrong way to set goals?  Well, yeah, there is.

You want to detail very specifically each goal.  You want to make sure they’re attainable and put timelines on them for achievement.

We call this setting SMART goals.   Below is breakdown of how to do this.

Use SMART Goals Formula

SMART stands for …

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Recordable or Realistic
• Timely

SPECIFIC

The goal set should be very specific, not broad. Start by writing down all the things you want to do and pick the most important one.  Run your goal through the SMART goal formula.  Then, repeat this for every goal you want to accomplish.

Right and Wrong Example of Specific:

Not Specific: I want to quit my job and be a full time parent.
Specific: I want to quit my job and be a full time parent by November 1, 2015.

Not Specific:  I want to make $100,000
Specific:  I want to make $100,000 by February 23, 2016

 

MEASURABLE

You should be able to track and measure how you’re doing on your goal.

Right and Wrong Example of Measurable:

Not measurable: I want to make a lot of free throw shots
Measurable: At the next basketball game, I want to make at least 8 out of 10 free throw shots.

Not measurable:  I want to make a lot of money
Measurable:  I want to make $100,000

 

ACHIEVABLE

You have to take action steps to achieve your goals. So what action steps would be appropriate to take in order to achieve them?

Right and Wrong Example of Achievable:

Wrong Planning: In order to make $100,000 I need to make a lot of sales.

Right Planning: In order to make $100,000 I will need to a make 1 sale a week of $2,083 or 2 sales a week of 1,041, and show up in my business everyday in the following ways:

(Here’s where YOU decide which marketing strategies you will.)  If it were mine, it would look something like this:

1)  blog daily
2)  syndicate my blog through social media
3)  run ads on Bing, Yahoo
4)  follow up through email
5)  Rewrite blog and post on IBOToolbox
6)  Read, listen to audio on the topic of personal development, success, mindset, inspiration

 

REALISTIC

Goals should be realistic.

Right and Wrong Example of Realistic

Unrealistic: I want make 200 free throw shots in one game
Realistic: I want to make 8 out of 10 of the free throw shots that I attempt

Unrealistic:  I want to make $100,000 a month in 3 months
Realistic:  I want to make $100,000 this year which is $8,333 a month which is $2,083 a week which is 1 sale a week.  I will increase my marketing activities and help my team do the same so that I can be making $100,000 a month by end of year 2

 

TIMELY

Each goal needs to have a completion date. If the date ends up not being achieved, keep the goal but move the timeline.

In the meantime, set a realistic time to achieve the goal.

Right and Wrong Example of of setting timelines

No timeline: I want to learn to play the guitar
Timeline: I want to learn to play “Hey Jude” by February 10th

No timeline:  I want to make $100,000
Timeline:  I want to make $100,000 by February 23, 2016

 

Setting SMART Goals Work

This is how I set goals.  They work.

SMART goals plus your WHY.

Along with your goals, you must know WHY you want to accomplish them.  Your WHY is the reason you’re willing to set goals and go through whatever you need to to do accomplish them.  Your WHY has to have emotion and purpose and a deep drive behind them.

I hope understanding how to set SMART goals gives you a direction now to start getting results.

Live Your Life on Purpose!

PS:  If your goals are income and job changing related, watch this video and see what I’m to.  It’s allowed me to live my life by design and achieve many goals.  Life is short my friends.  If you have fears and and hangups about achieving your goals, take steps to get over them.

The biggest reason people don’t start a home based business is because they have a list of fears and excuses.  You may want to check them out there so you can start to put one foot in front of the other and just do it!