How to correctly set a goal and achieve it: instructions with examples

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

To make a dream come true, you need to turn it into a goal. The life hacker tells and shows with examples how to do it correctly so as not to be disappointed with the result.

How to choose a goal and formulate it correctly

When you have realized what you want, do not stop, dig even deeper. Is this your goal? Is that what you want? Maybe your mom wants this, the environment or other other people's voices impose their own?

Are you sure you really want it. Choosing and setting the right goal is half the battle and the basis for a successful outcome. Let's analyze the criteria for correctness.

Concreteness

It is not enough to set the goal "apartment". It is necessary to describe the nuances in as much detail as possible, otherwise discrepancies are possible. The apartment seems to have appeared, there is where to live, but it is not yours, you cannot dispose of it as you please. This apartment is of the wrong size, in the wrong city, this is not an apartment, but a room in a communal apartment. Is the goal achieved? Yes. Is this what you wanted? No.

Wrong target: apartment.

Correct goal: three-room apartment without encumbrances in the center of Moscow in my property.

Measurability

Let's say your goal is to become a popular blogger. Thanks to social media, there is a simple and concrete sign of popularity - a large number of followers. If you find it difficult to determine this number for yourself, look at how many subscribers the person you think is popular has, take this number as a guide.

Wrong target: I want to be popular.

Correct goal: 5,000 Facebook subscribers.

Reachability

As one boss used to say, ask for the impossible, you get the most. Set yourself ambitious goals, want to jump over your head with your heart, believe in yourself, and then land and take into account the objective reality. There is no point in setting yourself the goal of growing a third hand.

Wrong target: I want people not to get cancer.

Correct goal: employment in an organization for the fight against cancer.

Significance

Ask yourself the question "Why?" Repeat until you come to an answer like "This will make me happy", "I will feel satisfaction", "I am realized as …". Ultimately, most human desires boil down to these simple things. Therefore, it is not recommended to aim for a certain amount of money. Money is not a goal, it is a means of achieving something that will bring joy, benefit, happiness.

Wrong target: I want a lot of money to buy a yacht.

Correct goal: yacht.

Timing

The term is a necessary parameter to achieve the goal. Without buoys, it seems that the sea of time is endless, but suddenly life passes. The approaching deadline will stimulate acceleration, increase productivity, and help correlate current progress and the remaining time.

Wrong target: I want to learn to draw.

Correct goal: by March 1 of the next year to receive a certificate of drawing courses.

Sign of goal achievement

On what basis will we understand that the goal of "getting married" has been achieved? An official document will appear confirming this - a marriage certificate. I will say a seditious thought, but in achieving the goal we go rather not to the goal itself, but to the sign of its achievement. Without a sign of achievement, the goal ceases to be specific. It is not enough to want your car. The car becomes mine the moment my name is entered in the vehicle's passport.

Wrong sign: car brand Dodge.

The correct sign is: Title for a Dodge car.

Goal achievement tools

Countdown

List the milestones in order from last to first. This will help the question "What do you need to..?" Establish a tentative timeline for each step so that you can refer back to the plan later.

Example

Purpose: October 2019 - housewarming in my own house, which I will build.

• What does it take to celebrate a housewarming party in a house I'm building? Interior decoration (September 2019).
• What is needed for interior decoration to appear? Bring communications (May 2018).
• What do you need to carry out communications? Cover the roof (Apr 2018).
• What does it take to cover the roof? Build up the walls (March 2018).
• Lay the foundation (September 2017).
• Select a construction contractor (June 2017).
• Order a project (April 2017).
• Find an architect (tomorrow).

So we come to the first step: tomorrow write a post on the social network and ask to recommend an architect.

Action every day

Take at least one action every day to achieve your goal. Even if there is only enough strength for one micro-task, let it be done: decide on the color of the curtains, call the architect and discuss the date of the meeting.

Environment creation

Complete the ether. Subscribe to thematic resources, meet and communicate with experts and experienced people, read, watch. This contributes to the accumulation of knowledge, helps not to forget about the goal.

It is ideal if close people support, encourage, help. Experts and experienced people can also provide moral support, not limited to expertise.

Self-tuning

A way for those who do not deny that thought is material. Place yourself in the desired image. This can be a visualization of the goal: someone draws a goal, someone makes collages from their photographs and photographs of the goal. Someone practices the principle “Live as if you have achieved”, models and cultivates the feeling that they have what they want.

What to do if the goal is achieved or not achieved

Regardless of the result, analyze it. What prevented you from achieving the goal, what helped? What inspired, what provoked procrastination? What needs to be considered or improved next time?

Analysis and adjustment:

• The goal was not achieved in the desired period. Review the terms, adjust them in accordance with the input data.
• The goal is irrelevant. Perhaps, interests, values, life situation have changed. Adjust the goal or abandon it.
• The goal is relevant, but priorities have changed. Life has made adjustments to plans, other issues require attention. Reconsider your goal and timeline.

Do not regret, do not criticize yourself, analyze, look for cause-and-effect relationships, draw conclusions. Accept a situation that cannot be changed. It will be easier if you give all your best along the way and enjoy the process. Even if something didn't work out, you had at least a great time. What's next on the list?