Introduction
Everywhere in our world setting goals is important. Many people set goals for their careers, health, and life in general. Modern society always seems to encourage us to think about what’s to come. Yet what we don’t think enough about is the scientific strategy of how to achieve goals whether you’re setting personal or career goals This guide will explain everything you need to know.
Define goal setting
Experts have defined goal setting as the act of choosing a goal that you want to achieve. This definition makes sense, but we think there is a more useful way to think about goal setting.
If we are serious about achieving our goals, we should start with a different question. Instead of thinking about what kind of success we want, we should ask what kind of pain we want to avoid. There is no one who doesn’t have any goals to achieve such as writing a book that sells, losing weight, making more money, etc.
The real challenge is not deciding on a goal you to achieve, but are you willing to accept the sacrifices required for achieving your goal? It is easy to sit down and think about what you would like to do and what you wouldn’t. But are you ready to pay for the costs instead of just waiting for the rewards and benefits? So setting a goal is not limited only to choosing the rewards you want to enjoy, but the expenses you have to bear as well.
Goal setting strategies
There are many basic strategies to consider when setting goals to achieve. They are:
Setting meaningful goals
It is preferable to define goals of value and meaning before starting to try to achieve them because working for a meaningless, will reduce the ability to achieve it. This, of course, has a link with the individual’s own belief of whether he considers a particular goal meaningful or not. To know if a goal is of value or not one has to state the reasons for which he has chosen that specific goal before starting to work to achieve it.
Setting time-related goals
The goals that a person aspires to achieve should be set according to a timetable, by setting short-term, medium-term, or long-term goals. For example, you should set a goal for next month, a goal for next year, and a goal for the next five years to come. In addition, you have to see how these goals correlate to each other and to the general goal in your life and change them whenever it is necessary.
Achieving the requirements of the goals
It is preferable to specify a list of the requirements necessary to achieve the goals. That is, by specifying the tools that you will need such as training, communication, money, skills, etc. So it is necessary to take into account the sacrifices and the steps to follow before embarking on the process of realizing the goal.
Prioritizing goals
This method says that one of the major things to consider in achieving your goals is the other goals that you have. In other words, your newly-set goals always compete with your old ones. They compete for your time and interest.
As you set a new goal you must compare it to the old one and see which one to prioritize and give most of your time, money, energy, etc. That will depend, of course, on rewards and costs. The goal that we should give priority to is the one that rewards you more but costs you less.
Execution intent method
Research has shown that you are 2 to 3 times more likely to stick to your goals if you make a plan for time, place, and implementation. For example in one study scientists asked people to complete a sentence by writing: next week I will engage in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise.
The researchers found that people who completed the sentence were 2 to 3 times more likely to exercise than those who did not. This shows that the realization of any objective requires making plans. Psychologists call these specific plans execution intentions.
Minimum goals
Whenever we set goals we always have to focus on the minimum of these goals to be achieved. We must think about the minimum of things we can reach. If you can achieve more than the minimum that would be good.
How to achieve goals
Effective goal setting requires looking at the system that surrounds you. Sometimes, the right goals have been set within the wrong system. And if you are fighting your system every day to achieve your goals, it will be really difficult to make consistent progress.
There are all kinds of hidden forces that make our goals easier or more difficult to achieve. So you need to align your ambitions with your environment if you want to make long-term progress.
Steps to follow to achieve the goal
Desire
The desire to realize a dream is the first and most important step in achieving the goal. Since the starting point of any achievement in life is the desire to reach this achievement, this desire must be strong enough. The equation is: the strong a desire is, the good the results are, and the weak a desire is, the poor the results are. Therefore, the type of results we get depends on how strong our desires are.
Self-motivation
A person must work hard to motivate himself so as to be able to reach his goals. He must convince himself that he will achieve his goals and that he has the abilities and competencies to do so. This golden principle is a great incentive for him to work hard for achieving his objectives.
No matter what the obstacles and challenges are, he should always believe in success. If you believe in success, you will succeed, and if you believe in failure, you will fail. You get what you believe in.
Setting achievable goals
One of the most important steps to achieving goals is defining them accurately and clearly. In addition, it is necessary for these goals to be achievable. That is, there is a possibility to achieve them in reality, as goals set based on imagination instead of realistic things are unlikely to be achieved.
Seeking advice and guidance
The person who wants to realize his dreams must seek advice from others who have more experience than he has. This will help him benefit from them and avoid drastic mistakes that may cost him a lot and may even lead to failure.
Developing a plan
Determining a goal is not enough to reach it. Rather, we must set up a plan to identify the ways and strategies that lead to success. It is necessary to think about all the details related to it, and the barriers that may be encountered on the way. The plan must be in the form of small, workable, and sequential steps. It is important to set the period of time needed for the completion of each step.
Execution
After defining the goals and setting plans and strategies for them, you must start work and action. Goals can only be achieved by believing in success, making good plans, and good, realistic implementation of what you have planned.
Conclusion
In the above article, we have tried to give you everything you need so as to be able to achieve your goals. Yet, if you have any questions or you see that we have missed something, you are strongly requested to write them in the comment box below. We will do our best to answer them as soon as possible.
