How to achieve your goals

By Ali Nawaz Rahimoo
Setting goals is just the beginning. After taking the time to identify what your goals are, achieving them is a whole other ball game. Working to achieve your goals can feel overwhelming at times. Here are some effective goal-setting tips on how to achieve life goals to the best of your ability.

1. Have SMART goals:

You’re not going to achieve your goals if they aren’t SMART. If you haven’t heard of SMART goals already, they are goals that are:

Specific. There’s no point in setting vague goals that don’t achieve anything specific.

Research by the creators of goal setting theory, Locke & Latham, found that in 90% of studies conducted, specific and challenging goals lead to higher performance than when people were set either easy goals, “do your best” goals, or no goals at all. It’s important for both you and your employees to have clear and established aims, to avoid potentially setting goals so broad that they are overwhelming and therefore too difficult to set into action.  Measurable. Once you have a specific goal pinned down, it’s important to be able to measure the success or completion of the goal. This doesn’t have to be in the traditional sense, like on a numeric scale or a statistic, it just has to be measurable in some sense, so that it is clear when you have reached or are close to reaching your goal.  Attainable. A SMART goal must be within reach. Lean on data, analytics, and research to help set attainable goals. 

Relevant. It is essential that any goals set for teams or individuals are relevant to company-wide aims.Of course, goal completion is important, and having goals met or worked towards is the overall idea when setting them, but this is only really beneficial when the goals are productive in the workplace environment and will contribute to company success in some way.

As a manager, it is particularly important that you help your employees link their goals back to the wider team and company-wide goals. One of the best ways to motivate your employees is to make sure they know how their work is contributing to the bigger picture. Time-bound. Goals must be time-related. It’s not productive to set a deadline too far in the future for a simple task, or an unrealistically short deadline for something complex and time-consuming.  This common pitfall can be incredibly demotivating for staff. They’re either left with an abundance of time in which they are not pushing themselves, or left feeling stressed and demotivated when they fail to complete goals in the time frame provided. By setting goals that have these characteristics, you’re setting yourself up for greater success.

SMART goals examples  Now, let's walk through some SMART goal examples.

Example 1: 

S. Provide more growth and learning opportunities to each member of my team

M. Give feedback to each member at least 2 times per month

A. Feedback should come from the manager

R. Improves team communication and feedback culture

T. Provided before the end of the next quarter

Example 2: 

S. Have customers complete satisfaction rating surveys at the beginning of their contract and again after two quarters

M. Increase customer satisfaction by 15% over the next two quarters

A. Customer success team to analyze and report improvements every two weeks

R. Become well-known as a company for our focus on customer satisfaction

T. The following 2 quarters

Example 3: 

S. Begin new social media campaign

M. Generate 75 new content downloads

A. Marketing team responsible for running campaign and measuring performance

R. Promote our new feature

T. In the next two months

2. Write them down

Don’t just daydream about your goals — put pen to paper and write them down. This makes your goals more tangible and makes them seem more real.

3. Make your goals visible

To keep your eyes on the prize, put your written goals somewhere you’ll see them. It should be a place you visit regularly so that you’re constantly reminded of where you want to be. If it’s your personal goals, put them on your bathroom mirror or fridge as a nudge every morning of what you want to achieve. For teams, your group goals should be somewhere all your team members can see them. This could be a bulletin board or incorporated online into your group management software.

4. Break it down

Because goals are often long-term and abstract by nature, make them more digestible by breaking them down. Use a “goal ladder” by writing your main goal at the top rung of the ladder. Work your way through the rest of the ladder steps, writing down the smaller goals you need to achieve in order to achieve your main goal.

5. Develop a plan

Now that you know what you’re working toward, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to get there.Write down the individual steps you need to take to achieve goals. Creating an action plan will keep you on track. As you work your way through each step of your plan, cross it off so you can see how much further you have to go and feel optimistic about your progress.

6. Take action

Goals aren’t going to achieve themselves. Once you’ve got a clear plan of how you want to achieve your goals, it’s time to get proactive. Put your plan into action. Even the smallest act makes you one step closer to your goal. 

7. Keep perspective

It can be easy to become obsessed with achieving your goals. You might reach a point where you feel you would do anything you have to in order to get closer to achieving your goal. But this can lead to burnout and even abandonment of your goal. Avoid burnout by living a balanced life. Take breaks from your plan and look at the bigger picture. Practice kindness toward yourself and give yourself time.

8. Identify potential obstacles

Be realistic in that you’re going to face challenges along the way. Recognize what these problems might be and make a note of them. Being aware of your potential obstacles will make them less intimidating if you are faced with them along your journey toward success.

9. Be accountable

Trying to accomplish a goal entirely by yourself can be lonely and overwhelming. Accountability helps you make consistent, steady progress and keeps you striving toward your goals. Keep yourself accountable by sharing your goals with a friend. If it’s a group goal, have your team share their goals with another team.

10. Reflect and adjust

Maybe you haven’t achieved your goals in the time frame you wanted to. Maybe your goals were a bit too unrealistic. And that’s ok. Rather than feeling defeated, take time to review your goals and see what you can change. You might need to adjust your goals or maybe just tweak your plan to achieve them.