How to Make Goals-Setting Work: 5 Actionable Tips
Setting monthly goals is crucial to achieving your primary goal. Many people don’t have monthly goals, and that’s the reason why they lose track and eventually give up. If you want to know how to set monthly goals, you have come to the correct place. Read more to find out.
How to Set Your Goals
In a 2023 Gallup survey 7 in 10 people try to set goals, but only 30% actually achieve them. Why so? There are many reasons, but mostly when a person can see results from setting goals, it makes sense for them to continue. This is why learning how to set up SMART GOALS will create consistency and increased manifestation of the goals.
What are SMART GOALS?
SMART GOALS are well-defined, reasonable, trackable, and lead to greater success.
Here is the framework for SMART GOALS:
- Specific: If you set an ambiguous goal, you won’t work towards achieving it effectively. By specifying your objectives, you will clearly know what to do next.
- Measurable: You should set quantifiable goals to know whether you have actually achieved them. If you did not meet your goal, you should take corrective action.
- Achievable: You should set realistic goals. It’s good to aim big, but your target shouldn’t be unrealistic. It’s impossible to become a millionaire overnight from scratch.
- Relevant: Be honest with yourself and set a goal that you actually want to achieve. Your goal should be something that makes you happy when you achieve it.
- Time-bound: A goal is incomplete unless you set a time limit to achieve it. When you make your goals time-bound, you will work more effectively. Give yourself a realistic time limit to achieve your goal.
For example, if your current net worth is $50,000 and you want to grow it to a million dollars within three years, it’s a SMART goal.
Why Set Monthly Goals?
The main reason for setting monthly goals is to break down your primary goal and make it more actionable. When you don’t break down your primary goal into smaller ones, you will most likely postpone tasks without having a clear idea of what to do next, which, as a result, will make it difficult for you to achieve your primary goal.
Say you have set a goal to achieve a million dollars within three years. In this case, you should break down your goal and aim to make $26,400 every month (approximately).
When you achieve your monthly goal, you will get the satisfaction that will motivate you to achieve your primary goal.
Tips to Set SMART GOALS
1. Assess Your Current Situation and Set Goals Accordingly
When setting your monthly goal, you should assess your current state and set goals accordingly. During the initial months, don’t set too high goals. Initially, you can give yourself some more time, and as you become familiar with your work, you can set higher goals.
Let’s consider the same example mentioned above. During the first three months, you can set a goal to make $1,000. After that, you can gradually increase your target. Always remember that you should set realistic goals.
Climbing the first step is the most difficult part. Subsequent steps are easier to climb.
2. Write Down the Goals
Setting goals in your mind is useless. You should write down your goals and stick them to a place you see often. By doing so, the goals will prevent you from procrastinating and will motivate you whenever you feel lazy.
3. Share Your Goals With Your Family Members
We are humans, and it’s natural for us to get the urge to procrastinate. It’s also natural for us to feel like giving up on our goals at times.
When you share your goals with your family members, they will motivate you whenever you feel like giving up. They will also give you suggestions.
Besides family members, you can share your goals with your close friend or someone you trust who genuinely wants you to succeed.
4. Track Your Progress
At the end of each month, you should track your progress and assess how far you have progressed toward achieving your primary goal. If you did something wrong during the month, learn from it and avoid repeating it in the future.
I personally suggest you track your progress every week. When you do this, you will have a better idea of how you are progressing towards your goal.
5. Celebrate
Each time you achieve your monthly goal, give yourself a gift. That gift should be something you like. When you gift yourself, you will psychologically get motivated toward achieving your primary goal.
Conclusion
Many people neglect the importance of setting monthly goals, and, as a result, they fail to succeed. When you set monthly goals, you will know what to do next. Also, each time you achieve your monthly goal, you will gain motivation to keep going.
Struggling with your life? Need a helping hand? Book a coaching session with Ken D Foster, who has over 35 years of experience as a life and business coach.
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