Each new year, we’re left reflecting on the previous year, the goals we achieved, the ones we didn’t, the good and the bad.
When you're setting goals, there are some strategies you can implement to ensure you achieve what you want.
Set goals with actionable steps
You need to break your goals into small, achievable steps; whether they’re fitness goals, lifestyle goals, or mental health ones. You need to set a goal, and then plan out baby steps that lead to you that end goal.
“You’ve got to have actionable steps that are going to lead you towards that sort of next goal. You just need to be a little bit more specific with your goals whether be financial, physical, like you want to read books or whatever. Those goals have to be broken down into small actionable steps,” says Sean.
You also need to learn to eliminate obstructing factors that may cause hindrance to your goals. This may be avoiding social events to prevent yourself from overeating while you’re on your way to a fitter lifestyle, or it may be not allowing yourself screen-time because you’d like to work on fixing your sleep schedule and quality. To be able to restrict yourself from indulging, it’s important, to be honest with yourself and set goals accordingly.
Be honest with yourself
The number one way to set goals that are achievable is to first ensure they are realistic. You can’t be someone who has never worked out a day in your life and suddenly decide on becoming a pro within a week. Being honest with yourself and setting goals that align with a realistic timeline makes all the difference.
“I don't think any goal should be too big necessarily, but you have to be completely honest with yourself when you are planning. It's should scare you a little bit, I reckon. There should be a little bit of a, ‘Can I do this?’ and then you have to be able to do it too,” says James.
“You have to be in there, and then you break it down, and you can go further into your days. For example, you need to look at it this way: What are the three points of today that I need to do? There may be seven things on my page, but as long as I’ve done three, then the day has been successful, and I am okay with it because I’ve done what I needed to do to get me to the next step in the next stage. But it’s all part of the process, you need to go through a process, to get to where you want to be. Otherwise, you won’t get happiness with it anyway. There is no happiness without discomfort. The discomfort is the daily thing that will eventually get you there,” he says.
Sean agrees: “You just need to get that little one percent better every day, if you’re ticking off a daily task each day that’s leading you toward your goal, you are ticking off more wins than losses, you’re going to get better. Like it's guaranteed.”
No goal is out of your reach
You need to be able to believe in yourself, to make the process of achieving your goals easier. If you don’t have faith in yourself, no matter how easy the goal may be, you simply will just not be able to put in the effort.
Sean believes that no goal is out of your reach. “I know that sounds sort of cliche. Everything can be broken down, it’s just whether or not you want to put in the work to create the daily actions that lead towards the result,” he says.
It’s also important to note that as humans, we just are indecisive sometimes, and other times, our goals and plans in life change. If you do happen to note down a goal you’d like to achieve and three months down the line don’t feel as passionately about it anymore, you are allowed to let go of it. You aren’t expected to carry on just because it’s been written and was thought through.
January is the best time to think of your yearly goals and how you can get into achieving them, James says. “Think about what you want to achieve in 2022 because January is the best time to go and do that," he says.
"Think about where you want to get to, and then start breaking that down into actionable steps and things that are going to allow you to get there. Then you break it down further into the daily tasks that you need to tick off that allows you to get to where you need to be 90 days, then 90 days times three will get you to your final goal.”
Environment matters
Often overlooked when setting goals, many don’t realise how much our environment affects day-to-day functioning. “If your goal is to start a business or lose 50 kilos, and someone tells you, ‘You don’t need to,’ or, ‘You know you’re not going to do that,’ well it's time to start moving away from that circle a little bit," says James. "I mean you’ve got to be able to go fly and do it, because then if people put you down and away from your goals, you’re never going to be consistent with it, and then you are never going to build a habit that will allow you to be that person you want to be. Because the habit is built through consistency.”
“Choosing the right environment or creating the right environment to suit your goal is crucial too,” adds Sean.
