How To Set Goals And Achieve Them

A Complete Guide to Goal Setting

It can be said that life goals and goals scored in soccer or football are the same because they all have one thing in mind; achievement.

Life goals

Life goals are milestones that we set to achieve. At times, it can dictate how we observe our daily life routines and they help in determining our behaviour on the long run.

4 Reasons for setting goals

#1 Clarity

first of all, going into Locke’s theory of goal setting; that puts intention squarely at the center of our behaviour (Locke 1968). He found that individuals who set specific difficult goals performed better than those who set general, easy ones.

Setting goals tend to clarify ambition. The thought put into crafting and planning brings us closer and directs attention to our aspirations providing great motivation and something to focus on

Though, there are limitations to this theory, setting goals alone does not lead to success.

#2 Feedback

Goals give room for feedback. We should know how far we have gone with progress, when we know where we want to be. Feedback helps us adjust our behaviour accordingly.

Feedback can be criticism or appreciation, either way it is, it allows us to know the next step to take in achieving our goals.

#3 Happiness

Goals should be based on values so they will have a purpose and be meaningful. Achieving them creates happiness and happiness and gives a feeling of fulfillment which is a very vital part of life.

#4 Discovering strengths

if we set aside what matters most to us, we tend to channel our inner strengths into this, making us discover our passion.

Two types of life goals

1) Intrinsic goals

relates to emotional, personal growth and offering helping hands to others. They are aligned with human needs and reflects inherent desire for self-knowledge and more fulfilling relationships (maslow 1943)

Intrinsic life goals satisfy human wants and needs, including psychological and self-fulfilling needs. Life goals based on psychological needs include:

• Finding and keeping healthy work and relationships balance with family and friends
• Having a loving marriage or trusting relationship with significant other
• Creating inspiration for others through beliefs and actions
• Becoming an expert in a field and helping others

Self-fulfillment need based goals include:

• Being a successful entrepreneur and running one’s own business
• Creating personal brand for work
• Graduating with a master’s degree or doctorate
• Learning a new language and;
• Picking up a skill and mastering it

2) Extrinsic goals

are generally wants and easy to come up with. They are somewhat materialistic and do not require a lot of self-reflection. Examples:

• Owning the latest sports car
• Becoming wealthy
• Starring in a movie
• Having own workshop or office
• Going on vacation to different countries

How to set life goals

Designing goals: The first step is designing goals. When creating goals, the need to remember that they are intentions which guide our behaviours should be put in mind. When designing goals :

They should be concrete, that is, success should be measurable because goals are well- structured and detailed.

They should be based on approach, they should be written out in a step by step pattern, this way, achievement can be measured.

Working towards goals: creating goals is not enough to achieve goals, rather, working towards it is. Set things in motion, get things together to set the ball rolling. Reach out to people, make researches and try to find people with common interests.

Goal setting objectives and guidelines

• Be realistic: keep things real when creating goals and working towards them. Research shows that the best goals are challenging, yet achievable(Locke and Latham, 2002)
• Be ready for failure, but don’t relent: Setbacks will occur and there will surely be obstacles along the way but the capacity to persevere and keep pushing is what is needed. Resilience is a useful skill to develop during the journey to achieving goals.
• Break down your goals: little wins matter and it’s worth celebrating. When goals are broken down, the little wins could occur on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and this will depend on aims you choose to follow. However, research shows that celebrating little wins are critical for momentum and motivation(Amabile and Kramer, 2011)
• Set healthy goals: Do not set negative goals that will have you steering away from unpleasant outcomes, instead set positive targets.
• Involve others: Family and friends could help a lot when it comes to achieving set goals. They can help generate ideas and can also serve as social resources that we reach out to for support on the long run.

Examples of setting life goals. Here is an example of setting life goals.

Jack likes to help his neighbor’s kids with homework, he will help them today. But he will derive a greater sense of achievement if he raises the bar higher. Jack might make his goals more challenging and set “I will become a school teacher by the end of the year”

The more difficult a goal is, the higher the accomplishment.

An Intrinsic goal

Jack just got a job with an oil company, he met rose on the same day and they started a relationship almost immediately.

Work becomes more serious and Jack becomes more engrossed at work. He doesn’t see rose often like before and he rarely speaks to his parents on phone.

He thinks to himself “I haven’t seen Jane in a long time and I haven’t spoken to mother, I must find a way to balance my activities, I will meet Jane twice in a week and call my parents thrice in a week” this is Jack setting an Intrinsic goal, this is under self-fulfilling needs.

An Extrinsic goal

Jack’s friend, Paul visits in his new 2020 range rover sport, it’s sleek and shiny and quite a good one for the road.

Jack makes enquires from his friend and finds out if he saves up for two years, he will be able to purchase it, Jack sets a goal to save 200 dollars every month from his monthly salary towards buying a 2020 range rover sport car.