There’s no better time than the start of the year to begin thinking about what you’d like to achieve over the next few months. Personal development is something all of us can benefit from at any stage in our lives. To help you get to where you’d like to be in life, you’ll want to set realistic goals that will keep you motivated every day.
Keep reading as we share ten of the top tips for setting goals that you really will be able to achieve this year.
1. Focus on Setting Achievable Goals
While we’d all love to completely transform our lives in just one year, we need to be realistic about the types of goals we are setting. Try to follow the SMART goal setting plan, which involves creating specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-sensitive goals.
You’ll find that you are much more likely to achieve your goals if they are within your reach, as opposed to giving up because you feel too overwhelmed.
2. Share Your Goals with Someone
Find a trusted friend or family member to share your goals with. If you want to stick to your goals this year, it’s best to have someone who will be able to hold you accountable for them.
Ask them to check in with you either weekly or monthly to see how you are progressing. You’ll be far more likely to achieve any personal development goals this year when you have someone else you need to report back to.
3. Create an Action Plan
Once you’ve taken the time to set your goals, you then need to create an action plan to achieve the final results. Clearly outline the steps you need to take to reach that goal.
Remember, this progress isn’t going to happen overnight, so make sure you break your goals down into manageable chunks over the upcoming weeks or months.
4. Put Aside Time to Work on Your Goals
If your number one goal this year is to run a marathon, you are going to have to commit time to this goal. No matter what type of personal development goals you set yourself, make sure you put aside time daily or weekly just to work on this.
Almost every goal we set ourselves requires hard work and dedication, so don’t just write down your goals and wish for the best. Know that time will be needed to make your dreams a reality, but in the end, it will be well worth it.
5. Share Your Goal Online
For anyone who doesn’t have a friend or partner to keep them accountable, you could opt to share your journey online instead. By making your goals public, you’ll be much more likely to track your progress and share it with the world.
You’ll soon be able to connect with like-minded people online who will help to motivate you towards your end goal.
6. Set a Deadline for Your Goal
Having deadlines is important in every aspect of our lives. At work each day, we usually have deadlines hanging over us, and these are what motivate us to get our work done.
The same goes for your personal development goals. Have a date in mind to complete your goal, and make sure you check back in with yourself on this day to see how far you’ve come. When we have a deadline in front of us, we are so much more likely to take action, so don’t just set vague goals with no endpoint.
7.Check-in with Yourself
Life changes throughout the year, and sometimes we find our goals are no longer serving us. You may find that you’ve already achieved your goal within a few weeks or that it’s no longer relevant to your needs in life. It’s important to review our progress throughout the year and celebrate our successes as well.
Every quarter, put aside time as you do at the start of the year to review your goals. You might also want to add new goals at this point, which will help to challenge you even further.
8. Adopt a Positive Mindset
If we could share one piece of advice to help you reach your goals this year, it would be to adopt a positive mindset. When you don’t believe you can achieve your goals, you’ll be so much more likely to fail. Think positively, and you’ll notice that you start to attract good things into your life.
Even on those tough days when you feel like giving up, remember that it will all be worth it in the end.
9. Visualize Your Future
We often give up on our goals because they seem too far-fetched or out of reach. If you don’t believe in yourself and that you can achieve your aims in life, how will you ever get to where you want to be?
Imagine yourself reaching your goals and what your life will be like when you get there. By allowing yourself to daydream about the future and really envision yourself in that place, you’ll find that you are far more motivated to keep going.
10. Reward Yourself
When you do reach your goals this year, you need to take the time to sit back and congratulate yourself. Look at how far you’ve come and feel proud of yourself for the time and dedication it took to improve your life.
Personal development is something we often take for granted, but you need to treat yourself when you hit your goals. Do something special for yourself as a reward, and then start thinking about the next aim you could work towards.
In Conclusion
By following these top tips, you’ll find that setting goals and achieving them is far easier this year. There’s no denying that many of us give up on our goals within a few weeks or months at the start of the new year, but this is your chance to make a real change in your life. We hope that whatever personal development goals you set, our tips will help you to get one step further towards living a life you can be proud of.