Ten Ways to Make Achievable Goals

Have you written some goals for this year? How are you doing with them? What are the accomplishments you most want? To insure that you get exactly what you want here is a list of tips for writing good goals.

1. Connect your goals to your vision. Check each goal to be sure that if you accomplish it successfully it will move you toward your vision.

2. Write down each goal and read it every day. Some people think that having the goal in their head is good enough. Writing it down makes it a commitment. Reading it every day will be a constant reminder of what is most important to you. Make working on those goals a priority.

3. Limit the number of goals that you are working on at one time to between 3 and 5. It is hard to focus on too many goals at once. As you complete one goal you can add another.

4. Make your goals attainable. Be realistic when writing your goal. Ask yourself if it is doable. (You never ask that about a vision! A vision can be big and seem unattainable. Goals are the steps toward the vision.)

5. Goals focus on actions to take. Write goals about what you will do (Example: Take 3 Marketing actions a week) and not the results you want. (Example: "Get 5 new customers a month" is a result). If the goal doesn't give you the result you want, then it is time to review the goal and your actions to reach it to determine how to make a correction.

6. Carefully consider new opportunities. During the year there will be distractions in the form of new opportunities. Ask yourself if this new opportunity will help you achieve your goals before deciding to accept or reject the opportunity.

7. Goals are always time bound. When you set up the goal give yourself a deadline to achieve the goal and work toward meeting the deadline.

8. Re-evaluate the usefulness of your goals on a regular basis, quarterly or semi-annually. Sometimes we believe that a particular goal will solve a problem. By re-evaluating regularly it is possible to determine if our belief was justified or not. Once we are sure we have set the wrong goal, we can change it to something we believe will work to solve the problem.

9. Use your vision to motivate you. Start with a clear vision from a vision board or a vision statement. Understand exactly how each goal moves you closer to the vision. Use the energy from your passion for your vision to move you to achieving your goals.

10. Tell someone else about your goals. Writing your goals down is one step in committing to them. A deeper commitment is made when you tell a friend, a colleague, a boss or a coach what you plan. To really cement the commitment even more plan a review session with the person in a month to keep you on track.