Mastering Goal Setting: A Roadmap for Success in the New Year

Setting and achieving goals has a highly motivating effect. Not only that, it also has a 'snowball' effect – achieving one goal gives you the energy and motivation to go after the next one.

This applies to both individuals and teams, both professionally and personally.

"There is no favorable wind for the one who does not know which port to sail to." Seneca

This quote from Seneca emphasizes the importance of having clear goals and a defined direction in life to take advantage of the opportunities that arise.

Let's look at the key strategies to do this most effectively:

Key 1: Set short, medium, and long-term goals. In fact, try to have at least one goal for each day. Completing your day by achieving these objectives will make you feel much more satisfied with yourself, your life, more fulfilled, and happier. Try setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals.

Key 2: Visualize your goal in detail. This way, you are programming your 'radar' to help you pick up all the information relevant to achieving your goals. Have you ever bought a certain car brand and suddenly started seeing it everywhere? That's simply because if we focus on something, we become much more alert to gather all the information related to what we want to achieve.

Key 3: Write down your goals. Writing down goals also helps to organize ideas, to internalize them. It is said that when a goal is written down, there is an 80% greater chance of achieving it.

Key 4: Be specific. You have to specify as much as possible what you want, in great detail. It's like when you go on a trip and program your GPS: the more details you provide about your destination, the better it will guide you.

Key 5: Measurable. You must be able to measure your goal, quantify your progress, see how far you are from reaching it, and monitor if you are heading in the right direction. Seeing your progress will help keep you motivated.

Key 6: Achievable. If you set a goal that is way beyond your capabilities, not only do you risk not achieving it, but you also have a high probability of becoming frustrated. It's about assessing your strengths and setting realistic goals. It may also happen that a goal initially seems totally out of reach, what I call an 'elephant goal,' but how do you eat an elephant? Slice by slice, right? You have to do the same with your goal, break it down into sub-goals, so that when you finish the first slice, you gain energy and motivation to tackle the next one, and so on, until you've eaten the entire elephant.

Key 7: Challenging. If a goal is too easy, you won't achieve that motivating effect I mentioned earlier. The more challenging it is to achieve a goal, the more motivating it will be to achieve it. The ideal is to have a good balance between achievable and challenging.

Key 8: The time factor. A goal or project without a deadline runs the risk of dragging on indefinitely, so much so that it may never be fulfilled. Therefore, it is crucial to set deadlines for our goals.

Key 9: Ecological. The fact that a goal is 'ecological' does not mean that it does not harm the environment. It has nothing to do with that. It means that it is not in conflict with your values or with any other goal or that it does not harm anyone important to you. If it is not ecological, achieving it will not make you happy.

Key 10: Reward. Finally, every goal must have its reward. Why do you want to achieve this goal? What is the purpose? What will it mean for you to achieve it? That 'why' will be our engine in weak moments, on days when we lack the strength to continue. If we have a purpose, a weighty reason, something that is the reward for achieving our goal, it will be much easier to stay motivated.

These are the ingredients that every good goal must meet to be formulated correctly.

If these goals are for your team, make sure to involve them in the entire process. This will make them feel part of it, increase commitment, and, of course, generate valuable ideas. Don't miss the opportunity to leverage the Collective Intelligence of your people.

Have you set your goals yet?

#GoalSetting #SuccessTips #NewYearResolutions"

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Did you enjoy this post? Well, you'll find all this and much more in my book "PRODUCTIVITY FOR LEADERS" You can get it in both paperback and ebook versions.

Inma Ríos, Expert in Leadership and High-Performance Team Development, has spent over a decade guiding Leaders and Teams to achieve their goals through Training, Mentoring, and Personal Development. An engineer with 15 years of experience in multinational companies across various countries, she is a Business Trainer, International Speaker, and Certified Agile Coach. Awarded the Top Women Leader 2022. More information at www.inmarios.com.