How to Set Goals That Will Help You Achieve Your Life Vision?
Having a vision for what you want is not enough…Vision without execution is hallucination.
Thomas Edison
Goal setting comes from the human desire to do more and become better. Maybe you want to achieve financial freedom, get promoted at work, lose extra weight, or improve your relationship with your partner. Your goals can look different depending on your lifestyle, your life vision, and your priorities. They are meant to help you get from your current state to your desired future destination and reach your life vision. Your vision might seem insurmountable and scary. But when you break it down into milestones, small and achievable goals, it becomes less overwhelming and more realistic to achieve.
When setting goals avoid common pitfalls and build strategies that will help you to stick to your goals in the face of boredom, procrastination, or lack of motivation. Also, be mindful of the work you need to put in and the amount of discomfort you need to go through before you can enjoy your reward.
Why is it important to set goals?
Help determine what you really want
It is common to see your friends or celebrities you follow on social media doing certain things that you feel the urge of wanting to do the same. Or maybe your parents project their childhood dreams onto you and expect you to follow a specific career path. Sometimes, without giving too much thought to it, we tend to internalize the ‘wants’ that other people have for us. Taking the time to get to know yourself and what is it that your really want can save you time and energy while minimizing regrets you might have for chasing a wrong goal.
Keep you focused
Goals keep you motivated, focused, and busy with achieving your vision. They will help you navigate through the complex and ever-changing world, which is full of temptations to procrastinate. Without goals, you will be at the mercy of the external world and feel obligated to react to everything that comes your way.
Prioritize your resources
There are usually more things you want to accomplish in life than it is humanely possible. You have limited time and energy to chase the things you want. Goals can help you to prioritize all your wants and must-haves into manageable action steps and prevent spreading yourself thin by chasing countless dreams. Instead, you can focus on a few goals that bring you the utmost joy and fulfillment.
Take consistent action
Sometimes, we say we want certain things but don’t really take the necessary steps toward them. Goals can motivate you to take consistent action and help you achieve all the amazing things you want within your lifetime. Think about it, how great is that to want something and actually get it? By setting goals and breaking them down into small but consistent actions you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
Challenge yourself
If you set ambitious yet achievable goals, they can challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and do things differently. They can motivate you to pick yourself up after a failure and push yourself to do better and try harder next time. The process of pursuing goals can help you grow and learn by getting to know yourself better and what you are capable of.
Keep you motivated
Goals can add meaning and purpose to your life. You will feel the urge to pursue the things you want. Your every achievement will motivate you to set greater and bolder goals.
How to set achievable goals?
When setting goals, I like planning them backward – moving from my future vision, identifying the last step, and working my way back to the first step I need to take. So, if you have created a vision for the next 5 -10 years, imagine yourself at the end of your journey and then backtrack. What had to happen over that 5-10 years to achieve your vision? What did you have to accomplish every year and every month to make this vision a reality? Breaking down your vision into smaller, achievable, and tactical day-to-day goals is the key to accomplishing your life vision.
One of the most widespread strategies for goal setting is – the SMART or SMARTER goal-setting framework. I personally like the extended version, because it allows you to review your goals and reward your accomplishments.
SMARTER goals
Specific — What exactly is it that you want to achieve? Be as specific as you can because it will help you measure and track your results along the way. For instance, if your goal is to lose weight, then decide how much weight you want to lose, or how much you want to weigh at the end of your journey. Research by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham concluded that people who set goals that were specific and challenging achieved higher performance 90% of the time compared to those who set easy goals.
E.g. I will weigh 60 kg.
Measurable — How will you measure your progress? Not every goal can be easily measured, so do your best to come up with some kind of metrics that will help you evaluate your progress. In our above example, it is already pretty specific. So here you can state the exact kilograms you want to lose.
E.g. I will lose 20 kg.
Action Oriented — What actions will you take to achieve this goal? Unless you can act upon your goals, you will not be able to achieve them. So, think of specific actions you can take on a daily basis. Also, try to use actionable verbs to describe your goal. Instead of saying ‘I want to lose 20 kg’ say ‘I will lose 20 kg.’
E.g. I will eat 3 meals a day, and exercise for 2 hours per week.
Realistic / Relevant — Is it possible to achieve your goal? Is your goal relevant to your life? You need to set ambitious goals but within a reason. You don’t want to stretch yourself trying to achieve an impossible goal. Also, it should not be generic or nice to have a goal, it has to have relevance to you and your life vision. For instance, if you are a mom of 2 and work full time, it is very difficult to work out every day for 1 hour. So be conscious of your current realities and set goals that are easy to achieve rather than doomed to fail.
E.g. Twice a week, instead of driving to work, I will walk.
Time-bound — By when do you want to achieve this goal? Unless you set a clear deadline by which you want to reach your goal, you might end up procrastinating and postponing your goal. A deadline keeps you focused and provides a sense of urgency. It forces you to take action within a given timeframe. If you simply say ‘I want to lose weight’ and don’t give yourself a timeframe within which you want to fulfill it, you might end up postponing it until you feel ready or motivated. And we all know how that goes.
E.g. I will lose 20 kg in the next 6 months or by September 31.
Evaluate – are you on the right track to achieving your goals? How far are you from achieving them? If you don’t take the time to remind yourself of your goals and evaluate your progress, you might even forget what your goals were or miss the opportunity to learn from the process. Evaluation is a great way to identify things you are doing well and the things you need to do differently. Maybe you need to revise or eliminate your goals since they are no longer relevant to your realities.
E.g. I am failing to follow my healthy diet on Sundays when I meet my family/friends and later beat myself up for that. From now, I will allow myself to have a cheat meal on those days and compensate by walking/biking home after dinner.
Reward – how will you reward yourself once you have accomplished your goals? It is human nature, we love getting rewards for a job well done. This is a great way to celebrate your milestones and feel excited about what comes next. For rewards, think of things you wanted to have, do, or experience for a long time. This way you don’t have to feel guilty for pursuing them while ticking off items from your bucket list.
E.g. Follow the diet for a week and enjoy 1 cheat meal. Lose 20 kg by September 31 and treat yourself to a weeklong trip to Thailand.
To start with, pick the 3 most important categories you want to focus on right now. These should relate to your life vision. Then, set 1-3 goals per category using the SMART goal framework. Narrowing down your goals will help you stay focused and accomplish the most important goals and avoid burnout. As Seth Godin said, “You don’t need more time, you just need to decide.” So, force yourself to settle on fewer goals and follow through to accomplish them. It is better to accomplish a couple of things that you really want than fail at 20 different goals that weren’t that important anyway.
Here are some categories you might want to consider:
- Career
- Finances
- Relationships
- Love
- Family
- Health
- Personal Development
- Spirituality
- Fun
| SMART | Health Goal |
| Specific | I want to weigh 60 kg. |
| Measurable | I will lose 20 kg. |
| Action Oriented | I will eat 3 meals a day, and exercise for 2 hours per week. |
| Realistic/Relevant | Twice a week I will walk home from work. |
| Time-bound | I will reach my desired weight by September 31. |
Once you have identified your top priorities, write them down in your journal or put them up on your vision board so you get reminded about them every day. As research has shown, writing down your goals increases your likelihood of achieving them by 33 percent.
To take it a step further, record your goals in your calendar by putting a deadline by which you need to accomplish them. Also, set interim dates when you can check in with yourself and track your progress. If your deadline for losing 20kg is in 6 months, then schedule a monthly check-in time to make sure you are on track to losing those kilos. This allows you to adjust your approach ahead of time and increase your chances of reaching your objective. And make sure you build systems to ensure success.
This post is part of the 5-Step Guide to Personal Development blog series.
Do you set goals for your future? How do you ensure success in the long run? Any strategies or tips that were particularly beneficial for you?
