How Setting Smarter Goals Can Lead to a Successful Personal and Professional Life?

Many people feel as if they’re off-track in the world. Despite working so hard they don’t get expected returns. The basic reason why they feel this way is that they haven’t invested ample time evaluating what they actually want from their life. That is where personal goal setting come to your rescue. Simply put, goal setting is a compelling process for envisioning your perfect future and set certain goals and motivate yourself to achieve those goals in specified timeframe.

Importance of Personal Goal Setting

Aristotle said, “Well begun is half-done”. Successful sportspersons, money-making businessmen and high achievers in almost every possible field set personal goals to become successful. Setting goals provide you with a long-term vision and helps you organize your time and resources to get the most out of your life. Setting realistic goals give you focus and help you track your progress so that you can excel and keep your life moving in the right direction.

So, we can clearly see that setting personal goals is extremely important and ensure long-term success and growth. But, how you can actually set goals to make your life fulfilling and ahead of the game? Here are five golden rules that can lead to a successful personal and professional life.

Components Needed for Goal Development

1. Set SMART Goals

SMART goals basically stands for:

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable

R - Relevant

T – Time Bound

Specific: In order to succeed, you must set well-defined and clear goals. Goals that are not specific are purposeless as they don’t show you the right path and make it even more difficult to prepare a result-driven action plan.

Measurable: It’s extremely important to set goals that are measurable. Include accurate days and dates wherever possible so you can evaluate your success and check the viability of your action plan.

Attainable: Don’t demoralize yourself and shatter your confidence by setting unattainable, elusive goals. Here you have to understand the difference between ‘difficult’ and ‘impossible’. Resist the urge to set simple goals. Remember, you have to raise a bar to enjoy greatest level of personal satisfaction and that’s obviously not possible without setting realistic yet challenging goals.

Relevant: In order to keep your interest alive and move into a right direction, you have to set goals that are relevant and somehow linked to your life and career.

Time Bound: A realistic deadline is a MUST. Make sure you know the date when you can celebrate your success.

2. Write Down

One of the ways you can make your goals real and tangible is by jotting them down. Replace the words ‘might’ or ‘would like to’ with ‘you can and you will’. By developing a powerful goal statement, you can keep your spirit alive and have no chance for forgetting about it. Make a to-do list and paste it on your desk, walls or your bedside as a constant reminder.

3. Develop an Action Plan

Unfortunately, this is the most neglected step in the whole process. Many times we become too busy thinking about the outcome that we forget to outline all the needed steps crucial for the success of our plan. Skim through all the resources (physical/financial/human) in hand and plan how you can combine them to make a feasible action plan.

4. Stick with It

Once you have a personalized action plan in hand, now is the time you must adhere to it and follow it properly to achieve your desired results. Goal setting is a continuous process and you should work really hard to keep the relevancy and value high till the end.

5. Track Progress

Congratulations! You have finally reached to the step where you can reap the rewards of your backbreaking work and efforts. Make sure you track your progress from time to time and make relevant adjustments to your action plan to enjoy continued growth and success.

There you have it. These simple tips will help you set smart and practical goals that will definitely add more worth and fortune to your personal as well as professional life.

Still looking for help? Go through ‘The Goal Crusher Workbook’ to know more about how you can set result-oriented personal goals that will ensure long-term success and achievements.

Question & feedback

What action plan do you have in hand to make your goals a living success? Feel free to share your feedback below as we would love to hear back.