Setting Better Goals
This will be a short and sweet one to close out 2021.
It’s that time of the year again where most people take time to reflect on their accomplishments and look ahead at what the next year might bring. While this period can be inspirational, it can also be hard to summarize not only how we feel about what has happened but what we’re hoping to achieve in the future. I’m big on goal setting. I like having targets to keep me motivated and focused. And over the years I’ve gotten better at making realistic, achievable, and purposeful goals. So I’m going to share with you three tips on how I do it.
1. Make them meaningful.
Make goals you actually want to achieve. It can be easy to get swept up in other people’s definition of success for both your personal and your professional life. You look to others, who you may idolize, and try to mimic their path or their traits. What’s important about goals, and your journey in general, is to make it true to yourself. Set goals for things you’re actually interested in. Not ones that you think make you look good or you should have. If you don't care about them, you're less likely to work towards them and less likely to feel satisfied when you achieve them. Your goals are exactly that, yours.
2. Make them realistic.
Your goals should be adjacent to your lifestyle now. If you work out once every 10 weeks, making a goal of working out 4 times a week is asking a lot of yourself. Remember overdelivering is a way better option than underperforming. This will also help you sustain habits past just the initial period you set out to do them. If you’d like do X more long term, introduce it into your life in a way you can maintain. Additionally, I think an overlooked part of making goals realistic is making sure they’re something you have control over. While there’s nothing wrong with setting your sights on a promotion, that decision is out of your hands. Consider scaling your goals back to things you can do to influence that decision.
3. Make it specific and have a plan.
This is the kicker. A goal without a plan is just a wish. This is where most people lose it. Some questions to ask yourself are: When do I want to achieve this goal? What does achieving this goal look like? What are the steps I need to take to do that? Asking these questions will help you narrow in on loosey goosey goals like “I want to get better at Tableau”. That’s great but what does that mean? Maybe a more targeted version might be “I want to get x certification by July and I’m going to work towards that through doing at least 2 community challenges a month”. Now your goal is getting some legs and you can clearly see the finish line and the path forward.
If you’re thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2022 or even just January, I hope this helps you get there. See you next year!
