Setting Powerful Goals

It that time of the year again – time for New Year’s resolutions! The start of a new year seems like a good time to make a fresh start and chart a course for the year ahead. But how many times have we done this, only to abandon or give up on our goals or resolutions by the end of January.

If you want a different outcome this time, you need to do something different!

Here are some tips on setting powerful goals that you will want to keep working on until you achieve the outcome you desire.

Take time to reflect

This is a step we often neglect. We fail to take some time to reflect on what goals we achieved, and what goals we set but failed at. We need to understand what worked and what didn’t and we need to understand why.

Without this step, we are setting ourselves up to repeat the things that didn’t work.

Align your goals with your values

We need to ensure that our goals are closely aligned with our values.I bet that if you took the time to reflect on what didn’t work in the past year, you will find that the goal was not in alignment with what you truly value.

When your goals are aligned with your values, they take on more significance and meaning, and you will be more likely to work hard, even sacrifice in order to achieve them.

Many times we set really great goals, but they may not be great for us, because they don’t align with what we value.

Be bold

Now, be honest!Do you sometimes set goals that you know you can easily achieve?It can be easy to do this because we don’t want to fail.Often we are told to set realistic, attainable goals, and that might be true, but that doesn’t mean your goals should be easy.

If you are creating a list of easy goals, you are not creating goals, you are creating a checklist!Be bold and set goals that are going to challenge you.

Growth is meant to be challenging, prepare for it, expect it and work at it!If the goal is challenging but it is important to you, you will be willing to put in the work!

Understand and visualize how achieving your goal will change your life

Think about what your life will look like if you achieve your goal. Imagine what you will feel like. Imagine every detail of what success will be like. This practice of visualization will help you to harness your inner strength and your persistence when you are challenged.

Plan for roadblocks

While visualizing the positive outcome is important, so is planning for what might trip you up.If you know what might stop or delay your progress, you can plan or prepare for that.

Then when you hit the roadblock, you already know how you can get around it and continue to make progress.

Think about what progress will look like

This is important if your goal is complex or will take some time to achieve.Having milestones that demonstrate your progress will help to keep you moving forward towards the endpoint.

Assess, assess and assess

Be sure to set aside time on a regular basis to assess your progress and remind yourself of why you set these goals.If you are making great progress, can you push yourself to achieve more?

If you are not making the progress you wanted ask yourself some of these questions. Why wer

e these goals important to you at the beginning of the year? If they don’t feel important anymore, ask yourself why?What has changed?

Be honest with yourself.Have you lost momentum? Are you being lazy?Have you really done your best?Or did you set goals that weren’t truly meaningful and relevant to you? If you assess and reflect regularly, you can notice issues and address them quickly and get back on track.

Let’s make 2019 the year we bring our best selves to everything we do! I wish you the success you desire!