Don’t Miss The 2 Crucial Steps Keeping You From Reaching Your Goals!
For most of us, creating SMART goals is the key to our success. Many people set goals, but never achieve them. I’m going to give you the 2 key steps that are often missed, to always achieve your goals.
If you want to achieve your goals, you need to make sure you WRITE THEM DOWN! That’s worth saying again, WRITE THEM DOWN! If you’ve been doing this step, but still missing the mark, the 2nd key is to keep track of your goal progress. If you don’t keep track of where you are in completing your goal, you won’t keep moving towards it, and eventually achieve it.
You now know the most crucial steps to see your goals to the finish. Let’s back it up a little and explain the whole process.
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What Will Your Goals Be?
First, think about what you want in life. What’s missing? This is where you dream. Think about what the perfect you looks like right now: weight, friends, income, car, home, job/business?
I like to divide my life into 4 categories:
- Relationships
- Money
- Spirit
- Body
Relationships involve your significant other, friends, family, acquaintances…basically anyone you interact with. Money has to do with what you are looking for financially. There’s your job, side hustles, businesses…anything related to generating income. Spirit has to do with your spiritual and mental health. Think of church, praying for you or others…whatever is spiritual for you. As for Body, we’re talking about your physical well-being.
This list is not all-inclusive. It is just a framework for you to start. You may have none in one of those categories. You may have 9 in another. There’s no right or wrong. Goals are personal.
Smart Goals Guidelines
Now you’ve examined where you want to change in your life, it’s time to write some goals. When you write your goals make them S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound). If you’re like me, your thinking, I need more info…what is a SMART Goal?
Specific – Don’t be vague
Smart Goals Definition
- Not – I want to be a real estate investor.
- Instead – I want to purchase a property to rent on Air B&B
Measureable – Make sure you can track your goal’s progress
- NOT – I want to save some extra money.
- Instead – I want to save $500 per month.
Achievable – Make sure you can attain your goal
- NOT – I want to lose 250lbs next month.
- Instead – I want to lose 10lbs next month.
Realistic – Start small
- NOT – I want to buy $1M home while working for $15/hour is your only income.
- Instead – I want to save $5K towards a down payment on a home.
Time Bound – Set an end date to achieve your goal
- NOT – I want to retire early.
- Instead – I want to retire by my 40th Birthday.
Why Should You “Waste” Time Creating SMART Goals?
Studies have shown that those that make goals are 10X more likely to succeed. SMART Goals give you direction and help to keep you focused.
Imagine you want to go to a beautiful waterfall. You saw a picture on your phone and it was breathtaking. You go to the airport and fly to the country it was in, and pick up a rental car. The problem is you don’t know where the waterfall is and haven’t set or written a goal of what to do here. So as you drive, you see a beach and hang out, then you see a nice museum and so on. Eventually, the 2 weeks are up in, and you never saw the waterfall. Why not, you never set the goal to see it. You had no direction.
This is what goals do for your life. They give you the directions to reach your best you. Otherwise, you end up seeing the life you want, but getting caught up doing everything but what will get you there.
Let’s say you see a debt-free lifestyle, and think it would make things easier. Yet, you spend all of your money on silly disposable things that add no value to your life. You’re never going to get there.
When you see something “shiny”, you’ll continue to buy it because you’ve got no real goal.
However, if you create a SMART goal, and write it down. You’ll think twice before making that frivolous purchase. Your goal (map) helps to give you direction.
Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life.
Les Brown
Let’s Start Setting SMART Goals
SMART Goals Step 1
Now that you have a better understanding of why you need goals…let’s WRITE some down.
I’ll give you an example of my goals from a previous year. If you’ll remember, I break my goals into categories (Relationships, Money, Spirit, Body)
Sam’s 2021 SMART Goals
Relationships
Go on 26 date nights
Call Mom 52 times
Reach out to an old friend 52 times.
Meet with Goal Buddy 8 times
Introduce myself to 100 new people
Money
Write 50 Blog Posts
Open 24 Credit Cards
Get Credit Score to 680
Get a H.E.L.O.C.
Buy 2 Rental Properties
Education/Self Improvement
Write 50 Blog Posts
Listen to 365 Podcast Episodes
Attend 4 Live Webinars
Talk to 50 People about Real Estate
Review my goals 50 times
Spirit
Pray for 12 people
Listen to 26 Sermons
Meditate for 5 minutes 100 times
Go to 24 Counseling Sessions
Body
150 Workouts
26 Runs of At least 2 miles
50 Stretch Workouts
Get to 165lbs
Vegetarian Diet
There is real power in you writing your goals and being able to see them. If you were like me and tried keeping goals in your head, you know those goals rarely get seen to the end. I won’t say it never works. Sometimes your why is big enough that written or not, you’ll make it happen. Usually, that’s not the case so again, WRITE YOUR GOALS DOWN!!!
SMART Goals Step 2
Now you’ve written your goals, right?? Seriously…they’re still in your head?? Go write them down…I’ll wait.
You now need to keep track of your progress. I don’t know if you noticed it, but this is actually one of my goals. You don’t have to check your progress weekly, as I do. There’s no right amount of times. Some do it daily, some monthly, others quarterly. I just don’t want you to not see your goals again until the next year rolls around. Ok, I said there’s no right amount, but I think quarterly should be the minimum.
Life happens and we forget what we wanted. Reviewing your goals is a reminder. I know from experience that it’s easy to lose sight of what you’re shooting for. There’s no foolproof way to reach success, but I know it’s a lot easier if you have goals.
SMART Goals: Bonus Content
Thanks for reaching this point in my post. I’m not the biggest reader, so I wanted to be sure to give a little extra for those that make it here.
We don’t like to let ourselves down, but most of us hate to let someone else down. So my bonus tip is to find a Goal Buddy. What the heck is a goal buddy? I would have been thinking that too.
From the astute mind of the Doss Experiment…
Goal Buddy
A person you meet with, who also wants to achieve success through goal setting, that you share your goals with, as well as what you expect to have accomplished when you meet the next time.
Wow, was that as hard to read as it was to write?? A Goal Buddy is someone who helps keep you accountable. This is like reviewing your goals on steroids…not that I know what steroids do from experience, but I’ve heard. 🙂 Being accountable to something more than a piece of paper is powerful. You also get the benefit of having someone that has different strengths and weaknesses than you. Something you see as difficult may be simple through a different set of eyes.
Don’t just stop at your goal buddy, tell everyone about your goals. The last thing you’re going to want to do is see someone a few months later and say you’ve done nothing towards reaching the goal you told them about. Other people make you revisit your goal and see how far you’ve gotten.
You need to know that no one is perfect. You will miss goals. That’s ok. I miss goals all the time. Missing your goal is not a failure. The only way to fail is to quit. If it doesn’t work the first time, look into why it didn’t work. Talk it over with your goal buddy or a trusted mentor and try again. The reality is Smart Goals are just a roadmap to give your life direction. The more you use your map, the faster and easier it will become to go from where you are to where you want to be.
“We all learned to walk one step at a time after MANY failures, but we all survived it because we didn’t quit!!!”
-Doss Experiment
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Please check out my other Blogs here.
Buying Your First House: Things Everyone Should Know
What’s The Best Strategy to Pay Off Debt?
The #1 Thing Keeping You in Debt
How to Create SMART Goals AND Achieve Them
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