Erin Daugherty
There’s always one thing or another we’re working towards achieving in life but sometimes that goal becomes something we’re working on for a couple weeks, then a couple months and so on.
The key to accomplishing goals is simply knowing how to set them.
You can’t just think, “I want to earn a raise” and expect to get it. Setting and accomplishing goals is a process that should be well-thought-out and taken into careful consideration.
Mind Tools is a career skill-building site that offers a wide variety of resources to help you reach your career goals.
“Goal setting not only allows you to take control of your life’s direction; it also provides you with a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding,” the Mind Tools Content Team said.
According to Mind Tools, a golden rule of goal setting is that the goal should be something motivating and meaningful to you.
If you do not have an interest in the outcome, there is no point in setting a goal for it.
When the goal is a high priority, you will be more inclined to focus on it.
“The biggest problem for me is I don’t really do much to hold myself accountable,” sophomore Catie Moat said. “I make them and then ignore them.”
Mind Tools also recommends setting “SMART” goals. These goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound.
This means your goal should be meaningful to your life and reasonable to reach. You should be able to define what you can do to accomplish this goal and set a time frame to achieve it in.
It is helpful to write all of this down in a safe place, such as a journal or the notes app on your phone where you can look back on it to reflect on your progress and make any necessary adjustments.
Writing the steps down to accomplish your goal is a very beneficial way to commit your goal to memory and hold yourself accountable.
These can be simple things, such as, “every day I am going to stretch for 10 minutes” because you want to be able to do a split in the next two months.
“Remembering why I wanted to do it in the first place and seeing the progress I’ve already made helps me hold myself accountable for my goals,” junior Jerri Hunt said.
According to Molly Cain at Forbes, creating a vision board can motivate you to accomplish your goals because it enables you to visualize them.
“A goal that you can actually see is massively more powerful than a goal you write on a checklist,” Cain said.
A vision board is composed of cut-outs from magazines or printed images that motivate its creator.
For example, if you want to travel to Spain, then you might select pictures of places in Spain you would like to visit or anything that speaks to you on that level.
Alternatively, if your goal was to raise your grades, you may choose pictures related to your degree or dream career.
You may also consider creating a digital vision board using Pinterest. Then, you can include videos and articles that inspire you as well as images.
Setting goals is about committing to yourself because you are the only person in the process that matters.
Commit to your goals, then recommit again and again even when you fail.
No one else can accomplish your goals except for you.
