Simplify Your Goal Setting Process
When you are planning your goals for the next year, month or quarter it is important to keep the process simple, so you don’t delay progress by making the process too complex.
In fact, you can simplify your goal setting process with a single piece of paper.
The key to simple goal setting is to set one to three priority outcomes. Even better if you can choose ONE goal when possible because it can provide clarity and direction instead of having too many goals, which makes things complicated whether you are team of one or many.
Keeping things as simple as possible allows you to focus your energy on completing the tasks that will move the needle forward and make you far more effective at making progress.
Here’s the simple goal setting process I use and teach:
Brainstorm
Start by making a list of the things you want to accomplish. Add everything on your mind to this list. You are not going to focus on everything on the list, but it is important to get everything your mind has been thinking about down.
2. Choose one thing that will have the biggest impact on your business this year.
Now take a look at the list and highlight the goal that can change your business and life if you achieve within the next year or so. Think about whether it is something you can achieve in the next year when you consider your time and resources. It can also take less than a year. It could be something you could accomplish in a month or three months. If you think it will take several years, then break the goal into a milestone goal that will take a year or less to achieve. Anything longer than a year makes it difficult to stay motivated. Review the goal again. Is it something you REALLY want? Clarify why you’re passionate about it. Visualize what life will look like and how you’ll feel when you achieve it. Write down your primary motivation for wanting this goal and review it daily or weekly to keep your motivation high.
3. Identify one new habit you are going to practice to help you stay on track.
Once you’ve chosen your goal, identify an action-inspiring habit you need to practice consistently to elevate your mindset and progress. This could be a recurring action you need to complete, a personal habit you need to implement or something else.
4. Make a list of projects and steps you need to complete to make it happen.
If your goal will take a year or longer to accomplish, break your project list into quarters or semi-annual target dates. Identify what you can do in the next month to get yourself a few steps closer to that goal, post the action list in your calendar and block time in your schedule for the tasks you want to accomplish in the next month.
5. What are you doing today?
When you start each day, ask yourself what you are doing to move closer to making your priority goal for the month, quarter or year a reality. It can be just one thing for the day. If you want to complete two or more tasks on a day go ahead, but don’t overpromise yourself. Make sure you do the one thing and do it as early in your day as possible. Don’t put it off until later in the day when you might be tempted to push off doing it until tomorrow.
This may sound like a lot of steps, but the process is very easy to implement:
1. Choose a goal
2. Implement an action-inspiring habit that elevates your mindset and progress.
3. Schedule the tasks you need to complete each day to stay on track
I created a simple goal plan worksheet you can click here to download and use right now. It’s a really useful template you can get started with right way to schedule your priority steps on a daily and/or weekly basis depending on how you manage your time.
DOWNLOAD MY FREE SIMPLE GOAL PLAN WORKSHEET
What if you have more than one goal?
Start by implementing this process for one goal for now. If you want to pursue two goals at the same time, create a plan for each goal using this free worksheet.
Most often the problem with not achieving your goals is not clearly setting them as a priority to begin with, losing the motivation to do what you need to do or avoiding what you need to do because of an underlying fear or belief that holds you back.
Set yourself up to succeed by clarifying the one small habit you can commit to repeating. Consider working with an accountability partner or coach to help you stay on track and avoid getting stuck or stalling out.