Ok, we’re nearing the end of February, so how is everyone doing with their new year’s resolutions? Do you even remember what they were??
If you’ve lost track of your goal progress, don’t be discouraged! Let’s take a moment to look at those goals and make sure you’re setting yourself up for success.
Follow these do’s and don’ts for your goal setting to make sure you’re on the right track:
Do start small
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your perfect beach bod. It’s great to have a ‘DREAM BIG’ goal but it’s more effective to break it up into small achievable pieces. For example, if your goal is to run a marathon, build up to it slowly; 5k one month, 10k the following month, and so on.
Don’t set too many goals
The key to achieving goals is focus. And you can’t focus if you set yourself too many goals. Try to achieve goals one at a time. Don’t join the gym, learn Spanish and start a new HR course all in the same month. Start with one, get comfortable, then consider taking on the next piece.
Do write it down
It sounds simple but almost nobody does it. Write your goal down. The process of simply writing it down will make it feel more ‘real’. Place it somewhere visible so you’re constantly reminded – on the bathroom mirror is a popular choice.
Don’t be vague
When you’re writing down your goal, BE SPECIFIC. A vague professional goal would be “to network more”, but a specific goal would be “to attend at least one new networking group each month”. If you want to get even more specific, you could say how many new people you want to meet at each event. Being specific will make it easier to hold yourself accountable.
Do tell everybody
After you’ve written down your specific goal and plastered it all over your home and workspace – tell everyone about it! If you tell people that you want to start your own professional blog, then people will naturally follow up with you about it, and you’ll feel more driven to action. Plus, the more people that know about it, the more people that can help you get there!
Don’t let setbacks defeat you
If you stumble along the way, get busy, get lazy, it doesn’t matter; just don’t let it deter you. It’s ok to have small failures. It’s ok if you’re not perfect while you learn to play the guitar, or give your first Toastmaster’s address. If your goal is giving up something e.g. smoking, fatty foods; don’t take the attitude of “it’s all ruined now” if you falter. Brush yourself off and keep going.
Do set a deadline
New year’s resolutions are meant to have a deadline of the end of the year, but that usually goes out the window within the first few months. Set deadlines for each step involved in reaching your goal.
Don’t give up
If you get to the end of your deadline and you’ve failed to reach your goal, so what? Keep going. No one said success would be easy. Silicon Valley lives by the motto “fail early, fail often”. Failure isn’t a dead end, it’s a rehearsal. Assess what you did right and what you did wrong, develop a new plan and keep going. We know you can do it!
