Tuesday 2 January 2018

3 things I never understood about goal setting until now

Inside - the 3 goal setting tips no one ever explained to me, and why they're so important

The clock has ticked over into a new year.

But I haven't chosen my goals to focus on yet.

I'm taking some time to reflect on all the lessons that GROWTH taught me over the last twelve months, and to figure out how they fit into my changing household over the coming months.


As I journeyed through GROWTH in 2017, I had two main areas of focus - working on my mindset, and understanding how to set goals. They felt like the two areas that needed the most work, and I have learnt so much in the process.

have a reason why for every goal


The first thing I learnt is that you need a reason why for every goal. It's not enough to set SMART goals if you haven't figured out why the goal is important to you.

It's also important to get to the emotion behind the goal, to help place it amongst your core values. Asking why 3 times (I've also seen some people suggest asking why 5 times) can help.

For example, if my goal was to lose 10kg by March 30th, then I've set a SMART goal that is realistic, measurable, time bound, but why is it important?

I'd like to lose weight because I'm fed up with feeling short of breath.
I'd like to get control of my breathing so I can ride bikes with the kids.
I'd like to spend time having fun with the kids.

the most effective goals are those you can control the results of


There are two types of goals you can set - action and outcome (I've also heard them called process and performance goals) 

Action goals are those that are based on your own actions eg I will blog 3 times a week. 

Outcome goals are usually numbers based eg I will get 10,000 page views this month.

Outcome goals can and do work, but it can be hard work to get to the goal. It is far more effective to set a goal that you can control the results of with your actions.

working on goals fits into the space available when everything else is done


I have always struggled to figure out how I could balance everything, but this tip recently smacked me over the head. My time management wasn't working because I was trying to fit a 3 hour task into a 1 hour space. This is why breaking goals down into action steps and tasks and being aware of how long you take to do things is important, so you can figure out which task fits into the available space each day.

With these things in mind, I'm dedicating some quiet time this week to working out my goals for this year.
SHARE:

No comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment!

Blogger Template Created by pipdig