How to set personal goals and win

Setting and achieving personal goals is a journey filled with growth and celebration. It's about developing more and more of your immense potential.

Each person has a vast capacity for improvement, a unique ability to envision their best self and unique strengths to realize their vision. Embrace this process as you set sail towards your destination: your personal goals.

Many associate goal setting with dullness or monotony, perhaps due to poor quality past experiences at school or work where it was imposed upon them. Yet, setting personal goals, and learning how to set personal goals, can be a highly positive and transformative exercise.

Appreciating your capacity for growth

Before starting, I recommend reflecting on your potential. You are a dynamic being capable of learning new things, acquiring new talents, and improving on existing capabilities. You are changing all the time! 

Having personal goals is important for many reasons. Each one you set is an opportunity to extend your horizon, to reach for new heights, and to win over obstacles forging growth.

When you set goals, base them on yourself at your best, doing what you love and excelling at it. Make note of your current strengths and how they can help you reach the outcome. Keep in mind that no goal is out of reach if you believe in yourself, are willing to dream big, and give yourself enough time.

How to set personal goals

Let's discuss how to set personal goals. Setting goals involves a systematic process that involves choosing multiple long term goals, which are then broken them down into more manageable short-term goals. You set action or performance goals, as well as outcome goals. Goal Setting examples can be used to make it easier. What emerges is a goal-setting plan. 

An outcome is an end result you want to work towards, and performance is the behaviours that get you there. A professional athlete, or example, may have a long term outcome goal to win a gold medal - that outcome is but a moment - a magical one for sure! They also pursue shorter-term outcome and performance goals to drive them towards it. Take their training - one outcome might be to be able to lift a certain weight, and the performance might be to train 5 days a week. 

SMART goals

All these types of goals - outcome, performance, long-term and short-term can be made into smart goals. 

The SMART goal acronym – Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound – is an approach based on the goal-setting theory of motivation. This can be used to help you reflect on the various qualities of your goals. Are they relevant? Are they challenging but not unrealistic and potentially demotivating? To get to grips with analysing your own goals in this way you can use smart goal examples and a smart goal worksheet. 

When you set long-term goals, chunk them into short-term goals, set performance and outcome goals, reflect on your goals using tools such as SMART, you are creating your own personal goal setting plan. It's like you're becoming the CEO of your own life, just like a CEO you articulate your imagined future and ensure your goals are well-defined, quantifiable, realistic, resonate with your values and have specific timelines.

Develop Understanding of Your Why

If you want to feel continually motivated, it's crucial to understand why you're striving for these goals. It's highly integral to your journey towards becoming your best self. Solid connection to your amazing why means all those inevitable obstacles lose some of their power. Every time things get tough your why provides the grit needed to keep learning. 

One way to inject greater meaning to your goals is to try out setting some 5 years to live goals. 

Monitor your Progress (or lack of progress)

Choose a suitable accountability system. It could be a friend, a mentor, a journal, or an app. Monitoring your goal progress with regular reports and feedback keep you focused and honest. As you progress toward your goals allow yourself the flexibility to adjust, reassess, and redefine them as you develop.

Create a support network

When necessary, do not shy away from seeking help. Supporting others is a great way to pave the way to being able to ask for support. We are human beings - that need each other to accomplish great things. Getting support is not a cry of weakness, but an acknowledgment of our humanness, and the fact is that we are more motivated when suitably connected. We are stronger together, and this is never more true than when we have shared goals.

Persevere through fear

Even if the journey becomes rocky (it definitely will!) remind yourself of the importance of resilience. It is not the absence of failure that defines success but the ability to rise every time we fall. Let fear not deter you. Instead, adopt it as a sign of growth. Fear is often a reaction to the unknown. So, as you step into uncharted areas of your life, view the fear as proof of your courageous foray into personal growth.

Use the power of positivity to stay motivated

What is the fuel that keeps you going towards your personal goals?

One is positivity and optimism. You can create for yourself positive emotions and positive dynamics. You can tell yourself that you are capable and will never give in. You can say to yourself "things are going to truly wonderful. Good things are on the way. I know it!". Also, as it's ultimately you that will take this journey forward, you are therefore the most important resource you have. So, developing the desire and ability to praise yourself and your worth is a much needed source of motivation.

This is why I always read inspiring quotes from some of the world's most inspiring people. I take their words about my potential and worth and use the same words to praise and support myself. 

You can use the power of appreciation, recalling what you have, what you've already done, what you're already doing, and make it the foundation for your progress. This will include the people who support your growth. Expressing sincere gratitude make people even more supportive. Keep on celebrate your successes, however small, and use them to fuel future actions.

Leading by example by setting and achieving your goals not only motivates you but also inspires others and makes a difference in their lives. This gives you another quality of yours to praise, as you strive to be a beacon for others.

Finally 

In conclusion, setting and achieving personal goals is an act of growth and self-improvement. It is envisioning your best self, digging in to use your unique capabilities, and courageously taking control of your destiny.

Remember, nothing is impossible once you set your mind to it. You decide how your story unfolds. And as you turn each page, remember to celebrate every stride, for you are your greatest masterpiece.