Goal setting is important to me. I never start into a big project until I know what my end goal is. This applies to my work life, my home life, my blog life etc. It’s important to set goals so that you aren’t shooting aimlessly into the dark night. Goals keep you focused on the outcomes you want.
Goal setting is easy. You sit down, you write specific, measurable goals, and you set out to achieve them.
That last part though? Achievement? Not always so easy. We write down our goal and then we forget that we even set it. We didn’t create an action plan for those goals. The goal wasn’t quite as important to us as we originally thought and it fade into the background.
In 2018 let’s say “goodbye” to forgotten goals and say “Hello” to crushing them. Today I’m going to share my goals along with my simple guide for how to set and achieve your own goals.
5 things to consider before you set your goals:
- Consider the past year. What about it would you go back and change? Would you take more time off of work? Do you wish there were more photos of your family get-togethers? Do you wish you had more family get-togethers?
- Consider what you can control. There is no use in shooting for goals that are beyond your control. Make sure that whatever you want to achieve is within your realm of influence.
- Consider the potential impact of working to achieve this goal. Will it mean 10 hours a week in the gym? Will you have to spend more money to achieve it? Will you have to spend less money to achieve it? Will it affect the life of others around you?
- Consider how you will measure your progress. How will you know when you achieved this goal?
- Consider how you will hold yourself accountable. Are you the type who can easily be held accountable to yourself, or do you need a manager to help make sure you’re on track?
Here’s one last bonus tip before you jump into your goal setting: Consider creating an overarching theme for your goals. Mine is “Consistency”. Every goal I set requires consistency. That means that I will need routines in place that will allow me to produce the results I want to see. Good luck and may you set your goals with the confidence that you will be able to achieve them!
Here are my big goals for 2018
1// Improve time management
Time management has been a huge struggle for me in 2017. I have never felt like I’ve had enough time to complete everything that needs to be done. I’ll know that I’ve achieved this goal when I can sit down and read a book and not feel stressed that I should really be doing something else.
2// Spend more consciously
Starting January 1, I’m restarting the spending fast…I’ll share more about how I’m going to do that and how you can zero in on your big financial goals in 2018. This goal comes with a support group and simple steps to follow, however it will have a large impact on my life and my family. It will be important to be prepared for that. I’ll know I achieved this goal when I pay off 100% of my debt.
3// Maintain a consistent fitness routine
Looking back on 2017 I feel I could have been much more successful with my fitness goals had I just been a little more consistent. Consistency means a minimum of 4 days a week at the gym, weighing and measuring my food, and daily tracking of my macros and water consumption in MyFitnessPal. This will have a big impact on my life, but hopefully the time management goal will help me out with this one. I’ll know I achieve this one when I reach my specific fitness goals. I’ll talk about those more in a future post.
4// Keep a clean house…and car…
If anyone in my family is reading they’re laughing at this one. I struggle to keep things clean. I don’t know why, but I have such a hard time keeping shit clean. I am bound and determined to find some ways to DESTROY this goal in 2018. Again, I think the time management goal will help! The impact here will be on me and my family. Corey is going to become a professional at cleaning. I’ll know I achieved this goal when my house and car are clean for longer than 2 weeks in a row and I’m not overwhelmed by laundry piles or lunch containers.
ooh the and car part is something I should be thinking about too! It’s just so hard with young kids.
For me the real issue is that I’m always carrying my daughter in from the car, so anything that made it’s way to the car stays there until I have a time to get it. Hopefully I can really focus on doing things differently in 2018 though! Especially now that my daughter can walk.
These are great tips for goal setting! Taking time for reflection on the past year is SUPER important when brainstorming goals for the new year 🙂
Thanks for your feedback! It really helped me plan my 2018 goals with serious intention. I found it surprising that most of my regrets were related to lack of self development throughout the year, so that was what I focused on for my goals. 🙂
I think taking the time to plan helps so much! Great tips thank you
Glad you liked them! Hopefully you’ll be able to implement them and be successful with your goals in 2018!
It’s so important to determine what kind work it will actually take to achieve your goals. I think that’s been my problem in the past.
Yes! It really helps to understand what it takes. I think so often we set goals and just hope that it will work out without really knowing the work we’ll have to put into them. This so helps.
I like how you started the post with considerations of what your readers could take on before they started making goals. For me, consistency in all areas whether it’s blogging, fitness, or my home is my goal.
Beth || http://www.TheStyleBouquet.com
I’m glad you liked it! Consistency really is so important! I think it will really help center my focus on my big goals. Good luck with all your goals!
These are actually very similar to my goals for the year. I would just change fitness to healthy habits. Mine always starts with food.
Food is my big struggle too.
Great post Katie! My goals overall remain the same. What I’d like to change is the smaller things that make it difficult for me to achieve those goals. Somewhat similar to your goals, for instance, better time management (spend less time watching TV), prioritizing travel over material things (buy less) etc.
I wish you luck in 2018! 🙂
Cheers!
Parul | http://girlinchief.com
yep that’s kind of the idea. In future post, I’ll break down the small parts of each goal individually. My first one is about how to electronically declutter to save time where we’re getting stuck in a time suck. 🙂
Settings goals is the best thing to do. Kyle and I were just talking about this tonight. Resolutions aren’t permanent they are a quick fix. Here is to an awesome 2018!
Yes exactly! I always like a fresh start to reflect on the past year and make new goals, but a “resolution” and a goal just don’t seem to give me the same drive.
Spending more consciously is one of our big goals this year too! I definitely want to hear more about how you do it. We’re setting two “no-spend” days every week which I feel like is going to be hard for me so we’ll see how it goes!