Goals are a great way to invest in your growth. But you can’t set just any old goal. You have to set effective goals to achieve the growth and life change that you desire.
When it comes to goal setting, most of us just wing it. We lay out our intentions for growth and move on without giving much thought to how or when we will actually accomplish the goals we set. Your goals become effective when you use a strategy that helps you achieve the growth you desire.
To make your goals effective you’ll need to follow the steps below.
Write them down
Your brain does some interesting things when you put pen to paper and write out your goals in detail. According to an article by author Mark Murphy in his Forbes article “Neuroscience Explains Why You Need To Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want To Achieve Them” your brain activates external storage and encoding when you write your goals down. In other words, you’re more likely to achieve your goals thanks to the visual cue your written words provide and the subsequent activation of the memory processing center of your brain.
Find a writing utensil and some paper and start writing down your goals! This works best if you record your goals in a daily planner, journal, or other space that you can reference back to.
Tell someone about them
After you have written your goals down the next step is to tell someone about them.
Sharing your goals with trusted community ups the accountability factor. It’s much harder to give up on your goals when you know someone is going to ask you how your progress is going.
Here’s how I recommend sharing your goal:
- Identify a few safe people in your inner circle
- Tell 2-3 of your safe people about your goal – call them up or send them a text
- If you are part of any kind of group (dinner group, intramural volleyball, bible study) you might consider sharing your goal with the group
Before moving on to the next step, set a date in your calendar. Give yourself a deadline for sharing your goal!
Helpful tip: Don’t announce your goals on social media. You might get an initial rush from the enthusiasm and encouragement of your friends and followers but those people aren’t going to check in on you. Make it a point to share your goal face to face with people who care about you and want to see you win!
Use the SMARTER Method
SMART goals are my recommended method for setting effective goals. George Doran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham are credited with inventing SMART goals. The original intent of the SMART method was to make goals easier to understand and execute.
Though it was developed in the 1980’s, I still find the SMART method relevant today. SMART is an acronym that stand for specific, measurable, actionable*, realistic, and timely. Each letter in the acronym stand for an element of effective goal setting.
Specific – Make your goal as specific as possible. The goal of reading more if good. The goal of reading 10 non-fiction books by October 1st is great.
Measurable – How will you know that you are making progress in your goal? Identify a unit of measurement to track your progress and success (ex. If the goal is to read 10 books before the end of the year you will measure your progress in number of books read).
Actionable – You should be able to take action on your goal. A goal that is dependent on other people or factors largely outside of your control is not actionable.
Realistic – Goal setting is exciting, make sure that in all of your enthusiasm you are setting a goal that is realistic for you.
Timely – Your goal should have a start and end date. Take a moment to determine when you will start working on your goal and establish a deadline.
Go back to the goals you wrote down. Revise them using the SMART method. Make sure that your goals are specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time bound.
*The original SMART acronym defines the “a” as attainable. I find that actionable works better.
Enlist accountability
You’ve written your goals down, told someone about them and implemented the SMART method. Make your goals even more effective with the help of an accountability partner. This step is optional but highly recommended for my readers who self identify as a procrastinator. An accountability partner can help you stay on track and muster up motivation when you’re just not feeling it.
Start by brainstorming to or three trusted friends or family members that would be willing to help you stay on track. Next reach out to at least one of the friends or family members and ask if they would be willing to be your accountability partner. Finally, be sure to clearly communicate your expectations.
Clearly communicate:
- Share your goal and it’s start/end date
- When your accountability should check in – Do you need a check-in once a day? Once a week? Once a month?
- How they should check in – Should they text, call, send you an email?
- What they should say – You don’t need to give your accountability a script but you might give them some questions to ask so that both of you know exactly what they will be checking in on.
A word of caution: Don’t ask just anyone to be your accountability partner. You accountability partner should be filled with grace, kind, and committed to helping you follow through without being too lenient or too harsh. The wrong accountability partner will forget to check up on you, go too easy on you, or use guilt and shame to coerce you into follow through.
Schedule Goal Check-ins
Every step mentioned so far in this post is important but this one is by far the best things you can do to make your goals effective: Check in on your goals.
Goal check-ins don’t have to be time consuming or complicated. I recommend checking in on your goal progress at least once a week. During your check-in take a moment to honestly reflect on how things are going.
Pause here to schedule your goal check-ins. You can set a reminder in your phone, create a standing 5-minute appointment on your calendar, or ask your accountability partner to check-in on you at the same time every week. No matter how you go about your goal check-ins take the time to pencil a check-in into your busy schedule.
Need more guidance when it comes to doing a goal check in? Read more here.
Don’t forget to celebrate
If goal check-ins are the best thing you can do for your goal progress, celebration is the most important.
We all probably know someone that has given up on goal setting. That person likely neglected to make their goals effective and they definitely didn’t celebrate. Instead, they beat themselves up for failing to meet the goal and vowed to stop putting themselves through the torture of setting a goal and failing over and over.
Unlike the person who likely just came to mind for you that has given up on goals because of past failures, you can take an approach to goal setting that doesn’t end up in self loathing and defeat. Celebration is the key. Celebration creates a positive association with goal setting in your brain. Here’s the trick: you have to follow through on celebrating no matter how close you come to achieving the actual goal.
How to Celebrate:
- Decide how you will celebrate – What would feel like a reward to you? A day off work, a special coffee drink, dinner with the girls? Pause here and identify how you will celebrate yourself.
- Schedule your celebration – Your goal should have a start and end date. The end date of your goal is the date you will celebrate your goal progress (if you haven’t accomplished the goal already). Celebrate the steps you took toward your goal and the courage it took to pursue growth!
- Follow through – It might feel foreign to celebrate even if you don’t totally accomplish the goal but trust me, this is what separates you from your defeated friends who are cynical about goal setting.
There you have it, the most important step in the goal setting process
Pro tip: Whatever you do, don’t punish yourself! Beating yourself up when you don’t accomplish a goal does the opposite of what we are trying to achieve here. Punishing yourself for not achieving a goal creates a negative association with goal setting in your brain and can make you less likely to set goals in the future.
You go goal getter!
Ready to set effective goals? After reading this post you have everything you need to set goals that will actually lead to growth! Remember, write it down, tell a friend, make it SMART, schedule check-ins, and celebrate!
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