Setting Goals to Revamp Your Life

Are you interested in setting goals?

Isn’t that a thing of the past?

With all the modern technology available, is the setting of goals important?

I love setting goals. I consider it to be one of my favourite weekly past time.

Setting goals has helped me in the past when my life lacked direction and I wanted some visual input to get me back on track.

But maybe this goal-setting thing does not appeal to you.

Or maybe you fail to see its relevance in your life?

Perhaps you don’t find it easy to think of a goal at this minute.

And maybe you feel stuck in your life right now and you don’t have a clue where to start.

Whatever your reasons, goal setting can be challenging to do.

This article will explain goal setting and give you five positive tips for you to start.

Write it All Down

It is better to get the thoughts out of your head by either writing them on paper or your favourite electronic device.

This way you can get to see all the things that you’ve held back and also get the opportunity to work towards achieving your goals one by one.

According to recent research, you are 20%  more likely to become successful when you write down your goals.

If you are a visual learner. like myself, it is always a relief to get things out in the open and start planning how you are going to achieve them.

This method will help to guide you and also monitor your progress as you go along.

So, what do you think setting goals is all about?

What is Goal Setting?

Because everything in your life is all ‘over the place, you need to get them to a specific area that will help you see things more clearly.

I see the setting of goals as a visual countdown in the planning of life that positively leads to the future.

When you put yourself first, you are also putting your hopes, dreams, activities, and future into one space.

You are now creating the space that says I am the priority, and this is where I want to go!

Now that we understand goal setting a bit clearer. let us now talk about we go about setting our goals.

5 Process of Setting Goals

Setting goals is a step-by-step process that anyone can achieve once they have a positive mindset.

The psychologists Locke and Lathan (2006) state that when you set goals, it causes an increase in your self-esteem, motivation, and self-confidence.

Although they are various methods and strategies in goal setting, we will be using these five steps to explain the process of goal setting. 

Reflection

Think about your life now as it is and where you wish things could be.

• • Would you say that you are happy with the way things are or how they have been?

• • Wouldn’t you want the chance for some improvement and a positive outcome?

Take this moment to choose the areas of your life where you wish to set your goals. It would also help if you were honest with yourself.

Are the areas of your life that you are thinking about needs improvement?

It may be the case that you’ve done this before and you’re a bit disappointed that things didn’t go the way that you had wanted.

Although it is okay to have these feelings. it is also okay to remember that failure is a part of success.

When we partake in reflection prior to setting our goals, it can boost our motivation and lead to a positive impact on our performance.

Visualisation

This is where you can see how you want your life to be. It is a bit like daydreaming but with more realistic, positive outcomes.

According to recent studies, when you visualise your goals, you feel an overall sense of happiness and fulfilment that will boast you to be successful.

Try picturing your goals already achieve with a smile of success. Can you see your positive effect after achieving these goals?

• • Would you say that you are a more confident woman?

• • What about how you feel about yourself?

• • Do you seem more positive, focused and ambitious?

• • Can you say that you seem happier now that you can see the outcomes of these goals?

Planning

This has always been the fun part for me. I love to write down my goals and everything that I want to achieve because it is no longer in my head, thus making it real.

After reflection and visualisation, it is time to plan to get these fantastic outcomes. Do you know that you are 90% more successful when your goals are relevant and challenging?

It is now your turn

Have a go now. Write down all the things that you reflected on and visualised.

You should now have a mixed feeling of excitement and anticipation.

You should be wondering about the next step that you will take.

Your next steps will involve asking yourself about all those goals that you have written down.

Are they really what you want to achieve?

• • Do you want to have an outcome for these goals in front of you?

• • Do these goals seem realistic to you?

• • Most importantly, have you created a space and time for yourself to achieve these goals?

Taking Action

This is where the phrase ‘action speaks louder than words comes in.

It is time to look again at your list and make some critical decisions.

It is essential to ensure that each goal has an actionable task.

When you set an actionable task, studies suggest that you are more inclined to achieve your goal.

• • Do I have too many goals to achieve?

• • Can I make time to fulfil all of my needs realistically?

• • Do I need to re-group my goals and put them into 3 separate categories – urgent, not so urgent, can be done on review?

After you make this new decision, it is now time to assign a time frame to each of your goals and the frequency that you will do each.

Break into small manageable tasks

Try to focus on the overall outcome instead of daily, weekly or monthly.

Looking at the overall picture is vital as this keeps you visualising your progress.

• • Take each goal and break it down into small milestones to make it easier to achieve

• • Be creative and inspiring by using a vision board, work flowy app, infographics or anything that is colourful and inspires you.

• • You can cut it out and put it on the bathroom mirror or refrigerator to ensure that you can easily see it.

• • Ensure that you give yourself adequate time to complete each goal.

You can also take this a step further by sharing it with a close friend or partner you trust to make yourself more accountable.

Every small step or action that you take will increase your progress in achieving your goals.

Study shows that when feedback is given, it leads to an increase in motivation.

This will eventually assist us in sticking to our goals.

Review

No one said that following through with your goal setting would be easy, but this is something you have to do.

You should ensure that you review your goals regularly to prevent complacency.

When you check your goals, you will see if some goal elements are either met or not needed.

If they are not required, then you need to make new plans to reflect this.

Your planning and actions should reflect in your review.

A weekly review is needed if we are struggling to fulfil our planning.

This is where our support network comes in to help us to continue on our journey.

You must see positive changes as you continue to follow through with the implementation of your goal-setting.

Setting Goal Activity in Motion

Several years ago, after realising that I was overweight.

I reflected on my unhappy state of mind and behaviours and decided to lose weight.

Although it was a challenging time for me, I used visualisation and planning to help me implement actionable goals for my weight loss goal.

It was an exciting feeling for me as I visualise how I would look after losing weight.

I would constantly daydream about wearing whatever I wanted and not what I had to wear because my desired attire was not my size.

The best part of it all was to wear dresses and skirts that would emphasise my shape and show my defined, toned thighs.

Each day after my strenuous workouts, I would tell myself that I was one day closer to getting the body that I wanted.

For every vegetable that I ate, I would remind myself of the mental image of the woman I wanted to become.

It was vital for me also to reward myself. My reward was always about the amount of effort that I put in for that week.

Some weeks were more challenging than others, and sometimes, it wasn’t easy to complete, but each week I would still reward myself for my diligent efforts to lose weight by putting on clothes that were a size smaller for me.

This served as a constant reminder that I was almost near each milestone or short-term goal.

Final thoughts

Sometimes in life, we feel as if we are not making any headway or progress.

This can lead to us feeling frustrated, depressed and anxious.

It can also make us have low self-esteem and low self-worth, and our confidence can become non-existent.

Setting goals will correct the unfulfilled areas that we have in our lives.

It is a process that we need to monitor carefully to ensure its success.

The importance of visualisation and holding that positive focus and thought mentally is a crucial factor in fitting the pieces into our overall puzzle.

Our support network is also essential to help us and prevent us from giving up and failing.

To achieve our goals successfully, we need to constantly push through all hostile environments and thoughts to reach our destination.