I am very big on setting personal goals for both my professional and personal life. I believe they are a way to help me stay focused on the job at hand. Slowly, day-by-day, I inch toward my goals. No matter how slowly they are being achieved, I know that each day I am moving one step closer to a celebration.

It’s easy to set goals but making them stick is quite another. Sure, you can write down five goals you want in your life right now and that would be good. That is the first step. However, we need to find a way to keep us engaged so that we follow through to achieve them.

Here are 5 Tips for Setting Goals that may help you set and achieve them.
1) Create goals in 3 areas of your life – Personal, School/Work, & Giving. Identify at least 3 goals for each one of these. For personal goals, write down goals that would make you FEEL great. For School/Work goals, write down 3 goals that focus on helping you grow in knowledge. For the Giving goals, identify 3 goals that you could attain for helping others. This one is key because I believe it guides the other two.
2) Rank Your Goals – From the list of the goals, rank them 1-9 making sure that there is at least one goal from each of the 3 categories in the top 5.
3) Identify tasks for your top 3 goals – Rather than try to figure out each task for each goal, write down 3 action tasks for the top 3 goals. This helps you focus on the 3 goals at a time.
4) Schedule your tasks – Now that you have the top 3 goals and tasks for each one, on your calendar, schedule 3 tasks to be started on this week.  Then, each week, schedule the next 3 tasks for that week. As you start on your goals to accomplish them, you will notice new things come up all the time. All you have to do is keep adding tasks as you think of them. Continue reflecting on these goals and the actions needed to accomplish them until you succeed in completing them.
5) Celebrate the Achievement – Once you have accomplished your first goal, schedule a celebration. I don’t mean just throw your hand in the air type celebration. Find several people to go out and have a formal celebration. You will find that when you do this, others will be so excited for you that they may even help you with the next goal.

Each time you achieve a goal, be sure to find the next one on the list and start the process over again with #3-5 above. It is important to have 3 goals on your list that you are actively working on. Also, be sure to replenish the goals after you achieve them. Always keep 3 goals in each of the 3 categories. So for example, when you accomplish a personal goal, repeat #1 above by identifying one more goal in that area. You will then go to #2 to re-rank them and then keep repeating.

It doesn’t have to be hard to create goals that stick and make you want to accomplish them. You have to start somewhere but organizing them into 3 categories, picking the top 3, identifying 3 tasks for each one and scheduling smaller chunks will be just the ticket you need to succeed. This builds momentum and as you build more and more momentum, you are certain to achieve success you never thought was even possible.

If you have any questions about setting goals, please comment or send me a message through the website or social media.

With peace and much gratitude,
Bill