The perfect goal

A lot of successful people say that you have to set yourself goals in order to become successful. But how can you set yourself such a goal? The reason why many goals are not reached is a mixture of the person who created the goal and the goal itself. Maybe the goal was not set very well. Or maybe it was set to high and the result was frustration.

Maybe you have experienced the same. Maybe your goal was to get fitter or to lose weight, but after some time you lose motivation and you miss your goal. In order to set yourself the perfect goal what motivates you and what you will reach you need five different characteristics.

Why should I set a goal?

Before I will tell you the five characteristics I will tell you why it is so important to set yourself goals. Setting a goal should give yourself a direction you want to go. Setting yourself no goal is like going on a hiking trip without a destination. How do you know if you are on the right track? And where do you want to go? If you have goals you want to reach, you can be much more focused and motivated.

In addition, when you reach your goals you will be more confident and happy. Isn’t that what everybody wants? 🙂

What are there for different goals?

You need short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals are the goals you want to reach within the next month. Medium-term goals can be in-between 1/2 and 5 years. Long-term goals are goals you want to reach the next 5-10 years (or more).

You need to start with a long-term goal. Sit down with a piece of paper and think about all the things you want to have achieved 10 years from now. Maybe you want to drive a Ferrari or have a big home. Or maybe you want to run 10 miles without a problem. Whatever it is, write it down. Now take the goal, where you think that it has the highest impact on your life.

Now take this goal and think what you should have achieved 5 years from now so you can achieve your long-term goal. The last step is to find smaller steps you need to succeed in order to achieve your goal.

I give you an example, maybe you want to earn $10mio/year ten years from now. So a good goal in 5 years would be to earn $5 mio/year. Now you have to think what you need to achieve in order to reach your goal. Well, you usually can’t earn $10mio/year with a normal 9-5 job. So you need to find a different job, maybe you’re a good athlete or maybe you have to become a successful entrepreneur. If you want to become an entrepreneur you have to think about all the stuff you need to become a good entrepreneur. Maybe you need to talk to other successful entrepreneurs or you need to read more books, this can be your short-term goals.

Now you have a plan for your future, including small steps on the way to reach your goal. Of course, maybe it is hard to determine what it takes to be a good entrepreneur, but if you want to become one, you need to set small goals so you move in the right direction. A first goal could be for example to build your first business. Then you need to learn what it takes to create a business and again you have smaller steps.

I hope you can follow me 🙂 now it’s getting interesting. As I mentioned before you need five different characteristics to set yourself a good goal, so here are the five characteristics:

The five characteristics

S – Specific

First important characteristic is that your goal is specific. An unspecific goal can be for example: “I want to become fitter”. Well, this is great, but what does that mean? That can mean that you want to run faster or lift more weight. A specific goal would be for example: “I want to run faster”. Everybody understands your goal and you can work on your running in order to become faster.

M – Measurable

The next important characteristic is that the goal is measurable. For example, your goal is to run faster. So you have to measure your performance now and then. This is why “I want to become fitter” is not a good goal, because how do you want to measure this? But if your goal is measurable you can easily track your performance to see if you are reaching your goal.

A – Achievable/Acceptable

Another important characteristic is if your goal is achievable. What does this mean? This means that if you reach your goal, can you be proud of yourself? If now the goal is not acceptable. For example, the goal: “Make 10 steps per day” is not very acceptable. But for example “running a marathon” is one. So the important part here is to set your goal not too low! Your goal should challenge and motivate you!

R – Realistic

Also, should your goal be realistic. Don’t set yourself a goal you can’t achieve. For example, if you can do 10 pushups maximum you can never do 100 next week. If your goal is so high you can never achieve it, you should make your goal smaller. This can be really frustrating and demotivating. It is important also not to set your goal too high!

T – Time-based

This is one of the common mistakes when it comes to setting a goal. Most people set themselves the goal to loose weight. But if you don’t have a time frame you will never start. So for example, if you want to loose weight say something like: “until the end of March I want to loose x pounds”. So set yourself a specific date/time for your goal.

So the next time you want to set a goal, make it a SMART goal. Setting the perfect goal shouldn’t be too hard following these 5 rules I hope 🙂

I hope you now have the knowledge to set yourself the perfect goal. Follow the five rules and your goal will be motivating. You will be more motivated and more confident in your life.

What are your experiences with setting a goal? If you have any questions I would be very happy, if you leave me a comment below 🙂