How to Set Achievable Goals

Do you know what goals you need to be setting yourself for 2022? Have you considered what goals will help you become more resilient, continue your self-development, or succeed in whatever it is you need?

The First Rule of Goal Setting

Reflecting on last year’s activities and achievements will help you to figure out what goals to put in place for this year. At the same time, keep in mind that the most important aspect of goal setting is that they’re aligned with your overall Purpose. Remind yourself of what your purpose is to ensure your goals are right. We’ll talk more about Purpose in next month’s newsletter.

When it comes to actually deciding which are the right goals for you, some of them may occur to you easily while others may take a bit of deciphering. Do you need to upskill to achieve your goal, or is your goal all about improving yourself anyway? Perhaps your goals are more tangible or measurable, such as increasing sales by 50%, employing more staff or developing a new service or product to add to your current offering.

Areas where you may need to consider what the goals look like, how to make them sound realistic and achievable, are often around self-development. These could include:

• Building confidence to be more effective in meetings
• Improving your organisational, prioritising or time-management skills
• Learning how to use new software, or improving your PowerPoint presentation skills
• How to run successful virtual meetings
• How to build rapport within your teams
• Improving your mental wellbeing skills to support your staff

There are many types of goals that you could set within each one of those, from going on training courses to finding a mentor to guide you.

Whatever your goals are, my GROW Model technique is a powerful but simple to implement structure that helps you both set and achieve your goals.

The GROW Model

G – Goal

• Is your goal inspiring and challenging enough? If not, adapt until it is.
• Set time parameters. When do you need to achieve your goal by? You may need to break it down into steps – or bite-sized chunks – to make it easier to achieve. This approach also helps to prevent overwhelm or loss of motivation.
• Does your goal reflect your purpose? This is important, allowing you to really commit to it. We’ll look more into how to find your purpose next month.

R – Reality

• To help you turn your goals into a reality, reflect on what you accomplished in the past. What did you learn from that experience that you can transfer here?
• Who supported you in the past, and would they support you now?
• What obstacles are currently hindering your progress? How can you remove or bypass them?
• Do you need resources such as equipment, training, or finances?

O – Options

• What other options are needed? Pretend that money and time is no object as you write your list of all viable options. Then, whittle it down to a more realistic list.
• Next, consider what the advantages and disadvantages of each option are.
• What else could you do or change to achieve what you need?
• Do you need to stop doing anything to achieve your goal?

W – Will, Way and When

• This is your ‘Actions’ list – the Will to do it, the Way you do it and When it needs to be done.
• Begin with the most urgent or the easiest action to get you started.
• Write down the action, when you need to achieve it by, and how long it should take.
• Note down ways to keep yourself motivated.
• Keep your action list short to prevent overwhelm. Five to six actions should be enough to achieve your goal.
• Evaluate your list regularly; how often should that be?

You can use this process for many types of projects, not just goal setting. It also helps with creating new habits, which in turn helps to keep you focused and on track.

But if you are still struggling to come up with clear, achievable goals, you may benefit from some one-to-one coaching with me to help clarify your thoughts. That way, you are bound to end 2022 having achieved all you wanted. And possibly more!