3 Tips to Help You Achieve Your Goals

by John Hawkins

Who in life do you know without goals that they would like to achieve? 

Probably no one.

If you asked someone on the street, what are your goals? They would most likely be able to rattle off some of their goals. 

If you asked enough people you probably would get as many varied answers as the types of people you asked. If we took all the responses for goals, laid them out and classified them, we would probably come to one conclusion.

The conclusion would be that there is not one common definition for goals, some may be quantitative others qualitative, some high level & others more tactical.

Here are three tips for setting & achieving your goals.

Clearly Define Your Goals, Including Success Criteria: It's hard to accomplish something when there isn't a common understanding of what we are trying to do. If you think about what a goal means in sports, it is fairly straightforward, in a sporting event it's easy to know when a team has scored a goal. When you score a goal it's well defined, it's quantifiable. You can measure your success; you scored 1 goal or 2 goals. When defining personal goals there isn't a standard scoring mechanism. It his very important to know when you have achieved the goal.

Self-Assessment, Are Your Goals Realistic?: With a little practice anyone can become an expert in creating goals. It's easy to set goals. Goals that are unrealistic or not something you physically or mentally can achieve might set you back. While thinking about your goals, try setting ones that are realistic and aligned to your core competency and values, meaning you stand a good chance of accomplishing them.

Phased Approach to Goal Realization: When setting & working towards your goals, there might be a logical order to accomplish them. For the bigger goals, there will most likely be a number of shorter-term goals you will need to accomplish first, before you can accomplish the bigger goal. When you set your goals consider setting them in phases, this is the logical order they should be completed in.

When setting goals include as much information about them as you can so that you have a clear idea of what it's going to take to be successful. Realize your goal can be much easier when you identify and create goals that are measurable, realistic and done in their logical order.

Guest blogger John Hawkins is the author of Building a Strategic Plan for Your Life and Business. You can read more of his tips at his website and blog.