Setting Goals

How to Set Goals 

As a kid I thought that setting goals was unnecessary. I always thought if you want to do something then just do it. But as I’ve grown, I’ve realized the importance of setting goals and why you should do it.

It’s a good way to measure growth and productivity, accomplish the things you’ve set out to achieve and even ensure that your life is moving in a positive direction.

It’s easy to be aimless about what’s next or just live the daily grind or fall into a sense of restlessness if you feel like you’re not moving towards anything. This is where my method of setting goals comes in. There are different ways to do this, but I’ve found that breaking it up like this works the best for me and is a realistic and manageable way to go about things.

Monthly Notes:

I think breaking things up my month are the best way to set goals for yourself for two reasons. One, you’re checking in and holding yourself accountable every month which is far more consistent then one year (which could be why New Years resolutions fail so often). And two, for those of you who feel too constricted or daunted by setting a goal, you have a whole month to accomplish these things.

If you’re just starting out and are unsure or feel daunted by the idea of monthly goals, I have a number for you: three.

Just write out three things you want to accomplish.

And that’s right, I said things you want to accomplish. This is why the section is called monthly notes. Because it doesn’t have to be some big overarching goal you want to do, it could be as simple as just things you want to so that might not inherently make time for.

As you can see from the picture, the notes could be anything, small or big, easy or difficult, but ultimately, it’s a list of things that you are committing to doing before the 30 or 31 days are up. If you have an overarching goal for the year, for example weight loss, then you can break it up by month and add it to your monthly notes.

See my post on Different Kinds of Goals if you are unsure of what to write.

For those who are all in and want more, feel free to up the anti and write out as many things as you want. I personally usually write down about eight things for my monthly notes, a mixture of the different types I’ve talked about.

And from there on it’s simple. Follow whatever organization method you usually do to keep track of things, calendars, notes on your phone, writing down on post-it notes, and make sure you accomplish what you set out to do. And at the end of the month check of the things you were able to do (which is hopefully all of them).

See my post on Organization and Goals

Another important note: if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew then it’s okay, do as many as you can. If at the end of the month you’ve only checked off four of the things you meant to do, then that’s still four more than what you would have done. Now you have a better idea of what you can do and modify the next month so it’s more manageable.

Overall, to wrap this post up, here are the main points.

•          Setting goals can help you measure your growth, feel productive and accomplish the things you’ve always wanted to accomplish
•           Monthly notes are a good time frame to measure growth while also giving you ample time to complete these things
•           Write down a minimum of three things you want to do each month
•           I recommended a mixture of the Different Types of Goals
•           At the end of the month come back and check off all the things you’ve been able to complete
•           It’s okay if you are unable to do everything, just keep trying.

So just go out there and try it out. See if this method works for you. I didn’t invent this concept and many other people follow monthly goals and I’m sure there are other articles and blog posts about it too. I just wanted to outline what I do.

And with that, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts, and I hope that you were able to learn something new from this!

I’ll see you in the next one :)