Quick Tips for Goal-Setting Success

Success rarely shows up without a goal behind it. Picture the one scenario where it might: someone hands you a million dollars while you're walking to a coffee shop for no reason at all. Even that involved a goal, though, because you decided to get from your front door to the counter. Goals and results are tied together that tightly. And setting them well is closer to a method than a wish. You want targets that are reasonable, that connect to your work, and that actually make you more productive instead of just busy. The real aim is to climb in your field and build on whatever you've already pulled off.

A goal needs focus, since focus is what gives you a structure to follow. When you're drafting one, run it against five checks. The goal should be specific. It should be measurable. There has to be some way to hold yourself accountable to it. It needs to be realistic. And it requires a timeframe. Hit all five and you've basically written yourself a blueprint, something achievable with a moderate amount of effort rather than a miracle.

Specific comes first. "Lose weight" tells you nothing you can act on. "Lose five pounds in two weeks" does, because now you know what to change. The same logic carries into work. Rather than deciding to be more productive, decide to have your Friday reports finished before lunch instead of dragging them to the end of the day.

Measurable means you can tell the moment you've arrived. Five pounds in two weeks is measurable because both the amount and the deadline are named, and that lets you track where you stand along the way. At the one-week mark you'd expect to be down 2.5 pounds if you're on pace for the full five.

Procrastination is what quietly kills most goals. You pick a start date, and then you have to actually start on that date. Putting it off until the final stretch guarantees you miss the target. Losing five pounds in two weeks means cutting calories and moving more across the whole fourteen days, not cramming it into the last few. A food journal or an exercise log gives you something to answer to.

Realistic is the part that matters most, and it's the one people ignore. Five pounds in two weeks, fine. Ten pounds in two weeks, not happening for almost anyone. A goal has to fit the life you're living and be something a regular person with the right tools can pull off. Nearly a pound of loss per day isn't that, so you already know to throw it out.

Leaving a goal open-ended is a mistake, because then you have no idea how to pace the work. Set a start date and an end date and you've got a window to operate in. Five pounds in two weeks tells you there are fourteen days of changes to line up, with the payoff landing on day fourteen.

Be a little strategic about the whole thing. Name the big goal, then build a chain of smaller ones that break the path down into pieces you can manage. How many of those smaller goals you use is your call, but keep each one to something you can finish inside a month. Short cycles keep you moving and keep the momentum pointed at whatever you're really after.

Rosemary Kitchen. Reference: Halford, S. (2010). 7 Tips for Setting and Achieving Your Goals. Retrieved February 24, 2015, from Business Insider.