How to set goals that work for YOU

Do you set goals in your business? Or your life?

Or do you just wing it and hope for the best?

What is a goal even REALLY?

Well, the definition is ‘the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.’ But I think it’s much more than that.

Goals are an intention.

Goals are clarity on what you want.

Goals are a way to get everything you actually want.

Goals are you making a commitment to yourself.

Why do we need goals?

Putting it simply, those people who set goals are almost 300% more likely to achieve them than those who don’t.

Good enough reason?

There are a million other reasons that I’ll go into more detail on below but that’s a good enough one to start off the conversation!

Goals help with the overwhelm…if you use them properly!

Often when we have a HUGE goal and we don’t go anywhere near it because it’s overwhelming. All of these ways of setting goals will help with that.

The funny thing is, we tend to overestimate what we can do in a year and massively underestimate what we can do in five years.

When we go through the process of actually setting goals it makes us get really clear on what we actually want in our lives and our businesses so we always have a focus and can always see progress.

So many of us go through life not working this out so is it any wonder that we can wind up unhappy? With no progress, no drive, no bigger picture? This can cause us to feel lost and stuck and not getting anywhere fast.

Goals give us direction and focus and help us actually take ACTION on the things we want to achieve.

Spam filter

Goals also help our brains filter out the important stuff that we need to notice. Our brains have a natural ‘spam’ filter (Reticular Activating System) that literally filters out the ‘noise’ to let us see the most relevant information.

We simply can’t take on all the sights, sounds, images, smells, senses in general that we are bombarded with daily so when we tell our brains what is important to us then it helps to filter out what we need. But you need to tell it first!

Types of goals

Here are a few of my favourite types of goals to think about and you’ll be able to see which ones can work for you and how you work.

SMART Goals

I’ll start with an oldie but a goodie and these types of goals are so well known for a reason.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

This is the part where you break it all down and make it achievable and easy to see the path.

Your goal needs to be super specific, clear and easy to explain.

How will you measure that you’re on track?

Is it achievable, can you see the steps clearly?

Is it realistic, is it all within YOUR control?

And then set a deadline! It makes the process really structured, easy to follow and easy to keep track of and can really help break down bigger goals into more manageable ones.

Stretch Goals

OK so a stretch goal is kind of exactly what it sounds like, it’s a goal that you know will ‘stretch’ you and not something that’s possible with exactly where you’re at right now.

It’s not an easy one, it will require work and growth to get there…which is the fun part!

It will push you, require you to learn new skills or gain new knowledge in order to achieve it.

Often when talking about stretch goals people use the quote ‘shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars’.

The idea is that even if you don’t hit the end goal for whatever reason you will still end up in a significantly better place than you were before you started…and probably feeling pretty awesome!

Small Goals/Short term goals

These are super important to get rid of the overwhelm gremlin when you’re focusing too heavily on the big huge scary goal.

When you can set yourself smaller, more short term goals you will achieve them more quickly, build your confidence and gain momentum towards your big scary goal.

So instead of going ‘OMG I’m nowhere near it, what was I thinking’, you’ll be saying ‘check me out I’ve made a tonne of progress in the right direction and I feel awesome, look at me go’.

Lifetime or BHAG Goals

This sounds a bit morbid but what do you want people to say about you at your funeral, what legacy do you want to leave?
Knowing the goals you want to achieve in your lifetime will actually help you set your short and long term goals and make it MUCH more likely for you to achieve.

BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

The big picture, the big plan, the vision of the future you have for yourself.

You know it’s a stretch but you also KNOW it’s achievable and drives you in working towards it.

These goals are also GREAT to help you with your visualisations, which as we know are HUGE when it comes to being able to get super clear on what you want and help you take action on getting them. Helping your brain act as if it’s already true because it can’t distinguish between real and imagined and in turn creating much less resistance to you actually taking action towards it.

BHAGs are what get you out of bed in the morning. They are the picture of ‘what would you do if money were no object’ they are what drives you and makes you excited. The big fat fulfilling goals that if you achieved you would be over the moon and probably crying big fat happy tears.

Goals have the power to shape our reality

So I’m hoping what you can see here is how goals can really help shape our reality. It can help give us focus and purpose and help get us to exactly where we want to be.

We can set hourly, daily, weekly, yearly goals and everything beyond that. We can start with teeny tiny goals but the point is just starting.

If you know you need some more of this in your life then The Proactive Pants Mastermind will be right up your street.  It will get you out of overwhelm and procrastination frustration and INTO positive action, focus and actually moving forward in your business with me in your corner.

If you know that now is the time to start changing things for yourself and want to explore this further, have any questions or want some accountability to make sure you’re doing the things you need to then please book in a free discovery call so we can see what needs to happen to get you from where you’re at right now, to the successful business owner you know you can be!! All the details are in the link below and I hope to see you on the inside.

Fx

Fran Excell, Subconscious Success Mentor – Helping Business Owners Overcome Self Sabotage & Get More Done In Less Time at www.franexcell.com

RESOURCES:

Check out The Positive Pants Podcast here

Download your FREE Stressed To Success Meditation here

Shop Printables & Meditations here

Grab your 365 day ‘Attitude Of Gratitude’ Journal here

Grab Your ‘Positive Pants Firmly On’ Notebook here

Book In a Free 20 Minute Discovery Call here