It is almost time to wave goodbye to 2023 and prepare for the adventures of 2024. This is the perfect time to look back and note our accomplishments, our positive outcomes, our disappointments, and our wishes for the New Year. In essence, this is a great time to set new goals for ourselves.
Setting goals is vitally important to our well-being since it brings purpose and direction to our lives. Without clear and definable goals, we can tend to drift aimlessly and without any focus. Lacking goals would be like wandering the grocery store without a clue as to what you need, what you already have in the refrigerator at home, or what you even want to cook or eat. Aisle after aisle, you would be just moseying along.
But knowing how to set goals is just as important. For many, this can be the tricky part. Here is my technique to make sure your goals motivate and encourage you to succeed. CREATE your goals by using that very word as your acronym!
Clear: Clarity is everything when goal setting. The more concise and precise the goal, the better your focus is to achieve it. Don’t be vague. For example, if your goal is to expand your business—by how much? Will you be adding employees? How many? Will you increase the income? By how much? You get the idea…
Relevant : Make certain that your goals are relevant to you—that they represent your wishes not those of others in your life. Sometimes we are so eager to please those around us that we take on their wishes as ours. Do your parents or spouse feel that you should be setting certain goals? Do those goals truly resonate with you? Do they feel specifically right for you?
Excite : It’s a must that your goals excite you! You need to feel passionate about the goals you set. The goals should be so important to you that they are no longer just a “want”…they become a NECESSITY! Otherwise, they will simply not motivate you to accomplish them. Sometimes this means that the goal might feel like a stretch, like it is tough to attain. This is not a reason to shy away from it. For me, some of the most challenging goals I have set for myself became my biggest victories!
Align: Goals need to align with the overall life design you are seeking to build. Goals are the stepping stones to lead you to the life vision you desire. Let’s say that you want to change jobs and even the field that you are currently working in. The goal might be to research and attain the skill set you will need to make that shift. Once you have a strong understanding of your desires and vision, you can lay out the steps you will actively take to make it all happen.
Target: In order to transform a vision into a reality, the goals need to have specific target dates for completion. This anchors the goal and sets a realistic timeline for its completion. Otherwise, our goals can simply remain as wishes that we still desire but never realize. Evaluate: Goals need to be evaluated for their effectiveness and their level of completion. When setting goals, be sure that you can measure their success. For example, if you are embarking on that career change I mentioned earlier, perhaps getting a certificate or degree is the measure of completion for this goal. Others might choose to find a mentor to guide them through their learning process for this new
career path. In that case, researching who might offer you an internship, approaching them, and solidifying a schedule to work with them would be the way to measure the completion of this goal.
Easy acronym and it works! With these helpful criteria in mind, you will find that goal setting becomes easier and much more effective. So, put some deep thought into your 2024 …pick the goals that light you up…and begin your adventure!
Here’s to you killin’ it in 2024!