How to be a Goal-Setting Guru!

Goal Setting

A question for you: When do most people set goals? That’s right, at the beginning of the year - and by the end of the same month that they set it, the goal is already gathering dust and forgotten about.

It’s a fact that a high percentage of goals set at the beginning of the year are not even looked at again until the following year. The question I ask myself is "why?". Why would someone write down a goal, talk about it with friends and family, and then not follow through with it?

The answer is simple; it’s because more fun is had when writing down a goal than actually working out how to do it. That is why you have to find out what you want from a goal at the beginning of the goal-setting process.

To figure out what you want from a goal, you need to ask yourself "why" you want to do the goal in the first place. Answering the “why” to the goal writing process will give you the feelings and emotions you are looking for in order to achieve the goal.

Example of a Normal Goal
Goal: To give up smoking.

Is that it? It's not very motivating is it? I am guessing you won't get very far in completing this goal if that's all you wrote down, but this is what a lot of people do when they think of goals. Now let's look at the same goal using the "Why" question;

Goal: To give up smoking
Why?
• Because it will make me feel healthy
• Because I will live longer to see my kids grow up
• Because I don’t want to die of cancer
• Because it will save me money that I can use to go on holiday
• Because I value my life better than this

Now, how motivating is that in comparison? Just by asking yourself repeatedly why you want to do something you will get to the real emotion and desire as to why you want to do it, and it is this that will really spur you on to completing the goal. 

The rest of the steps to completing a goal are below. Go through these steps by asking yourself the questions, and you will be well on the way to completing the goal.

Step 1 – What do you want?
Step 2 – Why do you want it?
Step 3 – How are you going to achieve it?
Step 4 – When do you want to achieve it?
Step 5 – Action time

It will then be up to you to take action, and this is where a Life Coach can really help to support you.