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This is your year. It’s time to take those big dreams and turn them into results. Setting and achieving goals is a lot like winning a bike race. With a little preparation, you will cross that finish line. Knowing what to prepare and having a roadmap will greatly increase your chances of staying on track and help you avoid common pitfalls. Rockstar Workforce takes the guesswork out of the planning process with an easy-to-follow Goal Achievement Track resource.
Your first task is to get clear on your vision for change. Many practice setting New Year’s resolutions and often find themselves dusting off the same goal they have set year after year without much real progress. To avoid disillusionment, try starting with some self-reflection on your overall life satisfaction. Which aspects of your life are currently your biggest pain points? Are finances holding you back? Perhaps you have some strained family relationships. Or maybe your health has taken a nosedive in recent years. Asking yourself these questions can help you pinpoint where making change is most likely to have a positive impact on your overall satisfaction. Once you have clarity on the direction you want to head in your goal setting journey, you are ready to complete Step One of the Goal Achievement Track: Craft a specific goal to achieve and decide on a deadline of when you plan to cross the finish line.
Meaningful goals are often challenging. Step Two of the goal setting process is designed to decrease the overwhelm by putting your goal into perspective. Oftentimes, big goals require some pre-planning action items that need to be completed before you are ready to begin. It helps to identify those steps early and plot them out in your goal-setting track. For example, a health and fitness goal may require finding a gym membership within your monthly budget, researching effective nutrition plans or purchasing some gear. Financial goals could include interviewing financial planners. Improving relationships might involve creating some healthy boundaries. By identifying the preliminary steps to an informed goal setting process first and attaching some deadlines to them, you will set yourself up to form a strategic approach to achieving your goals and strengthen your commitment to following through with your plan.
Step three to your planning process is crucial. Decide how you are going to measure your progress. If possible, attach numbers to your goals and make them as specific as possible. Compare the goal of becoming more financially solvent with a commitment to paying off 10k in credit card debt. The moment you attach a number to your goal, the more intentional you will be at pursuing it. The second version allows you to begin analyzing your monthly income and figuring out a target of how much you will put toward debt payoff while the first version is more hazy and leaves you open to giving into frivolous purchases that could derail your success.
Now that you’ve done your homework, you’re ready for Step 4. It’s time to get intentional about the daily habits you are going to commit to that will carry you across the finish line! A clear vision falls apart if you aren’t consistent. You know what you want to achieve and when you aim to achieve it. Persistence will pay off if you drill down specific daily, weekly, or monthly habits that you will complete on a regular basis. Inevitably, you will encounter moments of low motivation. Focusing on the daily, relevant actions tied to your goals will keep you on track. Better yet, build in some micro-wins to help you keep going. Having small rewards built into your progress can help you stay focused when the end goal is still far off in the distance.
Step 5 goes hand-in-hand with step 4. You know how you are going to measure progress and the repetitive actions you’ll take to achieve it. Add icing on the cake by setting mini goal posts along the way. As you reach those smaller milestones, it will recharge your batteries and keep you focused on the prize.
The last step to setting your goals is to plan a meaningful way to celebrate your success. If you’ve gone to the hard work of fulfilling a stretch goal, take the time to honor your achievement. Decide now how you’ll celebrate and set aside the funds or time you’ll need to do it. You’ll not only gain momentum for your next big goal, but you’ll have something to look back on to mark your milestone and remind yourself that you are capable of accomplishing big things!
Developing delegation skills will free up more time to focus on accomplishing your goals. Use this assessment to find out where your skillset stands right now:
