Have you ever been in a position where you set many goals and write them down endlessly while working tirelessly to achieve them?
Have you ever been in a position where you write down too many tasks for a day to "seem busy"?
Oops. Guilty as Charged.
BUT, without goals, life seems to go on an endless trip to nowhere. To remove the deepest voids in our nonchalant monotonic lives, we make goals.
At least, that's what I think.
To my understanding, or at least, to what I personally would like to think, goals give us a reason to get out of bed and do something. Accomplishing those simple tasks seem rewarding and you tend to do more of such tasks.
However, creating an endless stream of goals which are unachievable only to take stress upon yourself and realise that you're lacking somewhere is not the ideal way to end your day.
So we are now going to understand - how to make achievable goals!
HOW DO YOU SET THESE GOALS?
The first step I would recommend is - begin by planning your goal.
What is planning your goal?
You often realise that you have a list of tasks to accomplish but don't really know how to go about and then ultimately feel overwhelmed. Thus, you end up having a list of unachievable tasks to do.
Begin by giving time to yourself and analysing your situation. How will you evaluate your present situation?
Easy. Think about what you have done till now. Think about all your past achievements leading to this very moment. Think about the decisions you made that brought you where you are today.
Then write down what you would like to see yourself achieve. And, I do not mean your daily to-dos. I mean what you would like to actually achieve for yourself that you are 100% sure would make you happy? They could be long-term or short-term goals.
You will realise that the list would immediately shorten down into a handful of goals in life.
This brings us to our next step.
Back these goals with a sense of purpose or will to accomplish them.
Why should you do that?
It is because as human beings we tend to look for opportunities to make ourselves happy, to give ourselves rewards and to make sure that we are accomplished enough.
So when you have a purpose to accomplish some task, those tasks would seem more meaningful to you. Even in the daily to-do list.
For example, if your task is "get this shirt ironed", ask yourself why do you need to get it ironed. The answer could be anything- it could be that you're meeting someone and hence you need to look presentable or it could be that you simply do not like unironed shirts.
Whatever the reason is, keep your tasks, goals and ambitions backed with a will or purpose.
The third thing is to keep your goals measurable.
For example, if I write a goal saying, "complete the notes", it will not make sense to me.
Why should you keep these goals measurable?
Here's why:
When you tend to keep unmeasurable goals, you tend to procrastinate. Taking the example I've stated above, the goal "complete notes" is pretty vague.
I will write down a bit and then say "okay I'm done. I'll do the rest tomorrow and tick the box off.
However, this has only tricked my brain to believe that I have achieved something while in reality, I have achieved nothing at all.
So how do you have measurable goals?
Write down the exact task you want to achieve. Again, taking the example above, and converting it into a measurable goal, here's the outcome:
"Complete 3 chapters of X subject by 10:00 PM"
This gives me a deadline and a measurable unit to complete my tasks. I can work on them and stay focused because I know that I have to complete these many chapters in this much of time.
Now by setting measurable goals, it is pretty hard to trick your brain to think that you have completed a certain task if you haven't.
The fourth step would be to keep your goals always in your vision.
If you do not have your goals near you or if you do not have your goals always in sight, there is no point of having them.
Sure you may be blessed with an incredible memory power, but keeping them in your line of sight would actually help you motivate to complete these tasks more effectively and religiously.
Then, Break things down.
The amount of goals listed down may be overwhelming. You may have 3 main tasks to focus on, but how do you actually break those tasks down is a very very important thing to consider.
More often than not, even when we do set achievable goals, we do not actually know how to plan to achieve them.
Based on my experience, here's what you can do:
Draft a small mind-map. A similar mind-map as the one you would do while revising your notes. Take the big goals and then break them down into smaller goals. Plan a route to achieve your smaller goals and then plan a route to achieve your bigger goals.
If your big goal is to buy a car by the end of 2022, then instead of asking yourself what is the best time to buy, ask yourself, can you buy the car with the current situation of yours? If yes, then ask yourself, how much do you need to save up for that or how much do you need to work to buy your desirable car. But if the answer is "no", then ask yourself, what changes do I need to bring in my lifestyle to buy this car? Should I spend less? Should I buy less? Should I save more? Should I take a loan? And the likes...
Finally, when you have a plan, the steps and the draft ready, it is time to execute them.
You sit down and think to yourself and ask yourself the most important question- "What will happen if I don't accomplish this task?"
If the answer is "nothing" then it means that the task wasn't really important enough to be a part of your goal. This task you should always give you a reason to get up and do it. Do your task.
Along the way, your goals may change, your visions may change, your tasks may change and everything else may change as well. But the path to achieving those tasks will never change.
So get up and go do it.
HAPPY READING!
If you like this blog post, be sure to subscribe to my blog, like and leave a comment and share if you wish to. Also, if you haven't already, check out my Instagram page for updates on blog and more of such stuff. I also provide study tips updates on freebies and other tips on Instagram, so be sure to follow me there- https://www.instagram.com/shivanispeakslegally/