Are you setting yourself up for failure with goal setting?

We are halfway through January!! Can you believe it?! The first month of 2022 is coming to a close. Is time flying by for anyone other than me?

Well, this is a great time to look back at your New Year’s Resolution or Goals that you’ve made.

Goal Setting. This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, mostly because it is a new year and because I have been thinking about my future and making decisions about what I want for my family.

There are many different ways to set goals, but I have found one very effective way; making your goals measurable and having a plan! I’d like to share with you guys my method of setting achievable goals.

First: Create a realistic goal

Second: Make a plan

Third: Be accountable to somebody other than yourself

Step 1: Create a Realistic Goal:

Any of us can set a goal and not reach it. Have you ever found yourself feeling discouraged because your goal seems so far out of reach? That is not the purpose of goals; the purpose is to better yourself and make progress.

Your goal should not leave you feeling discouraged, they should leave you feeling MOTIVATED!

Example from my perspective:

I can set a goal of selling 300 copies of my book this year. That would be 25 a month.I look back at last year. I thought my book would easily be out by August 2021. It is now January 2022 and my book is STILL NOT OUT!! Unfortunately the publishing company I am working with has been less than helpful. This is something that I can not change now. This part is out of my control. So setting that goal might be unrealistic depending on when my book actually gets out.

Also, I have no idea how hard it is going to be to sell. I have never done this before, so I should set a goal that I know sounds realistic. Selling 12 books this year (one a month) sounds attainable for me.

Now, how do I know what’s realistic?

1- Know yourself

You need to know what you are capable of. Is this your full-time job or is this just a hobby? How much time can you actually devote to your goal per day?

2- Look at your past experiences.

If you have made similar goals in the past, were you able to reach it? What stopped you from getting there or what helped you achieve it? Is your current goal too far away from the goal you were able to achieve in the past? How much more can you handle this time around? For my example above, this is a completely new goal so I am starting small.

Starting with smaller achievable goals can be very helpful in reaching your long-term goals.

Considering all of this information, decide what your realistic goal is and write it down:

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Step 2: Make a plan

This is the step I think most people skip when creating a goal. Not having a plan leads to failure. If I have my goal of selling 12 books, but no way to get there, how am I supposed to achieve it? My book isn’t going to go out and sell itself to stores or people.

Let’s say I am on a road trip and I’d like to drive all the way from California to New York in 7 days but I didn’t do any research on roads and routes, how successful will I be in getting there? I would most likely get lost in a different state somewhere along the way.

The best way to make a plan is to break it down. How much time are you giving yourself to achieve this goal? Break the time frame down into sections. If it’s a full year goal, months are a great way to break it down and you can break it down even further from there into weeks and days.

If my goal is to sell 12 books this year, that means 1 book a month. I need to go out and talk to some stores, do social media marketing, and share it with people who I think would enjoy it. I need to see how long it takes me to make a sale. How many people do I need to share it with and how many social media posts does it take to sale 1 book.

Since this is my hobby (my full-time job is being a mom and helping my husband with real estate and construction business) I cannot dedicate time daily to this goal. I need to decide an amount of time I can dedicate to this goal weekly. I think 2 hours a week is a good start.

So I decided my plan to reach the goal of 12 books this year is to do 3 social media posts weekly, call 1 store weekly, and share it with 2 friends weekly.

Breaking down your goals can take some time and math, but if you’re serious about reaching them I believe it is a necessary step.

Write down your plan:

Time frame: ______________________________________________________________________________

Monthly:

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Weekly:

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Daily:

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Step 3: Be accountable to someone other than yourself

Being accountable to somebody else always makes me feel more motivated to be successful. If your goal is about your job or work, a great person to be accountable to would be somebody that you work with and you can check in with weekly. If you have a good relationship with your boss and you feel comfortable talking to them about your goals they might be the perfect person for you to be accountable to. If your goal has to do with your family your spouse or a parent might be a good accountability partner. Another good idea in this accountability partnership is for them to be accountable to you for something as well so that you guys feel the obligation to check in with each other and you can share progress and failures openly and get some constructive advice.

Whoever you choose, make sure that you are willing to open up about your goal and your shortcomings. You need somebody who will help motivate you to do better next week.

Once you have decided on a person and spoken with them about it, make a plan on how often you will be checking in with them. I have found that weekly is usually a pretty good timeframe.

Write down your accountability partner and how often you will check in with them:

Who:

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How often will we check-in:

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Other tips for achieving your goals:

1. Think about your goal DAILY

2. Have some sort of PHYSICAL REMINDER of your goal. Whether it is a poster tracking your progress or your goal written down on a piece of paper.

3. Do more RESEARCH on your goal. Look up what helps others achieve similar goals.

4. Find something that MOTIVATES you that you can use when you feel discouraged. Is it a small reward system? A candy bar when you do your daily plan for a week straight? A specific music playlist that pumps you up? Watching the Biggest Loser? Looking up dream body types? Looking up the vacation that you want to be able to go on? Use this tactic when you start to feel discouraged and unmotivated.

5. REVIEW your goal regularly and adjust as needed. If you’re halfway through your time frame and you see that your goal is becoming very unrealistic, adjust it. Make it still stretch and challenge you, but keep it possible so you don’t get discouraged.