Writer and sunshine soul, Mishqa Rossier takes us through practical goal-setting and how to achieve what you dream.
Our goals are a reflection of our ambition - whether they are big scary dreams or more digestible daily targets, it’s all in the name of progress, growth and success. And yes, personal goals have kind of gotten a bad rep; some see it as what they make after New Year’s Eve and have given up on by the end of January. But setting personal goals - within your personal life and work life - could be the key to success and will provide you with the focus to achieve things that you may have never thought possible.
Of course, the kind of goals you set and how you go about it is also important. Luckily we’ve compiled a few tips and helpful apps that will assist you in feeling triumphant. Whether it’s to have some control in your life during this very uncertain pandemic-time, or tick off certain benchmarks in your career or home life, there’s no bad side to setting goals. So here we go...
There's no bad side to setting goals!
Talk to yourself about setting goals
Analyse and scrutinise your goals: ask yourself why do you want this goal and what do you hope to get from achieving it. Unpack your reasoning and basically be your own therapist: knowing why we do things will help motivate us if things ever look bleak.
An example would be: “I want to make more money this year.” So ask yourself, why do you want to make more money? How do you see it benefiting your life or what will making more money mean? More security? The ability to take more risks? To be able to afford to spend more time with your loved ones? Etc.
This exercise will help you understand and pick the correct goals for where you are in your life, and ensure you’re doing it for the right reasons; it will also help keep you on track. Besides, it’s always good to be self-reflective and introspective from time to time.
Make sure your goals are SMART
So you’ve probably heard of SMART goals in a seminar or read about it online, but it truly helps to make your goals more tangible.
Your goals should be:
Specific.
Measurable.
Attainable.
Relevant.
Time Bound.
Specific
Ensure your goals are clear and defined. Generalised goals won’t help you, as they don’t provide enough direction. Remember, your goals show you the way to success so make sure your path is well lit.
Measurable
Include very specific dates, amounts and details in your goals so you can measure your success. Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you have actually achieved something.
Attainable
Make sure the goals you’ve set are realistic and possible. We’d all like to be able to fly like a bird, for example, but putting that on your 2020 - 2021 goals list may be setting yourself up for failure. Not setting goals that you can actually achieve will demotivate you; you need to know your goals are within your reach - not necessarily today, but one day.
Relevant
Your goals should be relevant and applicable to the direction you’d like your personal life or career to take.. By keeping your goals aligned with being relevant, you’ll develop more focus to do what you need to do to achieve it.
Time-Bound
Give yourself a deadline; it can be 6 months or 6 years but make sure you have an exact date that you want to have achieved things by. A deadline creates a sense of urgency and will help you to stay motivated and celebrate the achievements you make on the way.
Set your goals in writing
Studies in Neuroscience have shown that writing your goals down with pen and paper make it more real and tangible. While writing, remember what kind of language you are using. Example: Write “will” instead of “would like to” as it shows your intention and is more positive.
It may be tricky at times but always keep the positive in mind. Write a goal statement in the most positive light, for example, “I will improve my review scores at work within the next financial year” rather than “I will do better at work”.
Vision boards or Dream boards
A vision board is a physical manifestation of your goals; a valuable visualisation tool that will help keep you on track and motivate you. This inspirational collage serves as your image of the future – a tangible example, idea or representation of where you are going. They should represent your dreams, your goals, and your ideal life.
Basically: Put your goals out into the universe. And hopefully, the goals you focus on will expand into your real life.
What should be added to your vision board? Think about images/photos that could capture the following: Your values, career goals, family and love life, health and wellness and how you’d like to learn and grow.
These images can be actual pictures/photos or affirmations and words such as your favourite quotes or anything else that inspires and motivates you.
Appsolutely!
In our technology-driven daily life, apps are great tools to assist us - from buying a pizza, to navigating streets and finding someone to soon ghost on Tinder; so why not use apps to set some goals as well.
Apps also act as great motivation as they have push-notification reminders. Using an app may also make it even easier to remain goal-orientated because, let’s face it, whether we like it or not, we use our phones constantly. Here are a few to play around with:
Strides
On Strides you can set daily habits that are relevant to achieving any goal you have in mind, by any deadline. Each day, you hold yourself accountable to these goals by checking off the habits on your checklist. Each successful daily habit will be highlighted in green, while skipped habits are red, to incentivise you to not break your stride.
Fabulous
Fabulous has a "science-based" approach, where all of its pre-planned sessions are made in collaboration with experts or are based on data supporting stress reduction techniques and positive psychology. Not only can Fabulous users track daily goals, but the premium version of this app integrates various programs for dieting, fitness, and mindfulness exercises, and getting morning and evening rituals to feel like second nature.
Loop Habit Tracker
Loop helps you create and maintain good habits, allowing you to achieve your long-term goals. Detailed charts and statistics show you how your habits improved over time. The app is completely ad-free and open source. Just check each task off as you do it to complete the "loop" that's next to each of your goals.
Paid apps (but worth it):
Smart Goals
R29,99 on iOS and Android
The Smart Goals app helps users create and work toward achieving goals, dreams, and habits. When you create a goal in the app, you also list your milestone along the way, which helps you measure success. You’ll also be asked to define why the goal is important to you.
Streaks
R79,99, for iOS
This app helps you set personal goals and stick to them using a combination of reminders and tracking. With it being a very easy app to use, it even won an Apple Design Award in 2016. Streaks is designed to remove the friction of turning goals into habits by tracking tasks in a way that doesn’t become tedious, which makes it important to be able to mark items as completed quickly and easily.
Well now that you have all this great information at your fingertips, go forth and set your goals. Don’t be too despondent if you do not achieve them as quickly as you’d like: keep the bigger picture in mind, always be realistic and don’t be too hard on yourself. We are all just trying to reach our goals under strange and interesting circumstances right now, so cut yourself some slack and remember to celebrate the small wins as well. Good luck!
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