There are so many different ways to set goals! Today we are going to talk about tips and ideas that you can use to find YOUR way of goal setting that will help you be successful (and happy!)
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What Is Goal Setting Exactly?
Today I have been listening to a bunch of different people talk about personality types and knowing yourself… which lead me to thinking about how we are all different and need different goal setting systems in order to be successful!
When you are working towards your goal, there is definitely not a one size fits all approach (even if you read a definitive guide and someone said their way was the only right way!)
Many times we feel like failures because we heard about a cool new way to accomplish our goals, set up an action plan and jumped in with abandon, only to find that we failed, again… sigh.
Because teaching people to set and achieve goals is my jam, I read A LOT of goal setting theory and self help books about effective goal setting. With that in mind, I thought I would go over a few that I have heard about, tried or failed at myself!
1. 10X or Big Hairy Audacious Goals
To start, let's get the machismo, beat your chest, “kick goals in the ass” guys out of the way first!
Grant Cardone is a huge proponent for setting 10X goals … meaning that you take whatever goal you think you can accomplish and then ten times that goal into what you are shooting for. Gary Vaynerchuk is a great guy too who is all about hustle, working 18 hours a day and having dreams of owning the New York Jets.
I actually love these guys and in the past was able to do some death marches following their lead. I would set huge goals and then work my face off to accomplish them.
An example would be to say that you want to make $100,000 this year and then 10X that to say you want to make a million and then work back to see what you have to do to accomplish this.
What I love… I love the enthusiasm of this system! It is fun to dream of a world where you shoot for the stars and even if you miss you succeed greatly by only getting to the moon. Also, to attempt these goals you have to have a mindset bigger than what your world is now!
What I dislike… for me, failing at a big goal just feels like failing, I don't get a rush from having succeeded partway. Also, since I got the kids it is not possible to spend all my time in pursuit of just my business goals so this is one is out of reach for me right now. I also think this is not a good long term strategy because you will burn out fast!
I think that this is a GREAT way to move your business ahead at a super fast pace short term and if you have the time, definitely give this type of goal setting a shot!
2. Slow and Steady Wins The Race
Another type of goal setting system is to have a defined goal (say to have $10,000 in your emergency fund) and to work a little bit each day, week or month towards that goal.
My pal Kirsten is a slow and steady goal setter. She is happy to put away $1.50 a week towards a smaller goal and doesn't worry about the big picture, she just knows if she does a little bit at a time this will add up for her in the long run!
Because she follows Dave Ramsey, I have to think that you could find out more about her systems by checking out his Total Money Makeover book for his guidance!
What I love… nothing…ha! This is NOT the way that I accomplish goals, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you! Kir has had great success over the years by doing “baby steps” along with Dave.
What I dislike… I am more of a task oriented person and this doesn't have any breakdown of what you are supposed to accomplish. Instead you have a big goals and do little things every day to work towards it.
3. Super Structured With Charts and Graphs
Brian Tracy is an old friend (he doesn't know me, but he is my friend) … I have listened to hundreds of hours of his recordings and he is super slow, deliberate and structured in everything he does (he has 21 different parts of his plan).
His book, Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, walks you through all the ways that you can set, measure and track your progress.
What I like… I do like the idea of keeping track of my goals and progress. That old saying, “Inspect What You Expect”, is so true. If you are aren't tracking and measuring, it is hard to tell if you are making progress.
What I don't like… if goal setting becomes too complicated I do one of two things… 1) I get so involved in the minutia of figuring out what my goals should be that I forget to do them or 2) if I have to take more time recording my goals than doing them I get grumpy. That said, there are MANY more people who love checking things off and making spreadsheets of their goals so I am probably in the minority.
4. ALL The Things
Another friend writes down a million things to do in a day…. okay, that is a bit much, it really is only 50 things to do each day. Holy schnikeys, that is a lot of things to do.
While that may seem overwhelming to you, many people are super happy to have every single thing they want to do each day and week written down and planned out so they can just run on autopilot. All the big decisions have been done and it is just implementing against the plan.
What I like… I love the comprehensiveness of this. Having this many tasks written down means that there has been some careful consideration of goals and then a detailed path laid out to getting there.
What I don't like… having that many things to do on a list everyday would be seriously de-motivational to me. Huge amounts of things to do all in one place would probably seize me up and I would do any of them.
5. Just One Thing Every Day, And Then One Thing More
This is the way that I do goal setting! At the first part of each month I decide a few things that I am going to do everyday. This month I am writing a blog post every day and posting a pretty picture every day. That's it.
OF COURSE I am doing a whole lot more than that, but I consider a day a success if I have accomplished just those two things this month.
Last year I had a goal to make a video a day for a year (which I accomplished) and this coming year my goal is to write 3 blog posts a week and do 2 videos a week.
This type of goal is called a “performance goal” or “activity goal” because it doesn't require you to guess about the outcome or project. You just commit to doing the activities to achieve success.
For example, I am leaving pretty early tomorrow to have lunch with a friend and so I already have a blog post written and ready to post in case I don't have enough time to do a full one tomorrow.
What I LOVE… I am a pretty simple person who doesn't like to have millions of things to do in a day. I am super happy to feel accomplished if I get my few things done and then fit all the other parts of my business around them.
I also love the fact that the cumulative result is pretty spectacular. For example, doing a video a day for a year resulted in me having over 2,000 followers, getting monetized and having hundreds of videos on my channel.
What I don't like… sometimes I feel like that is not enough. Like I should be packing my day with things or that I am not working hard enough. Tomorrow I have my blog post (done already), one pretty picture, meeting with friend, a speaking event in the evening and that is it. Seems like a PERFECT day, but being from Pennsylvania, sometimes my Puritan work ethic yells at me that I should be busier!
By having something I do every day I keep from having to mess around with my schedule, wonder what day it is or think overly much. Instead I just do my few things and then move on!
Additionally, I don't have to have a GREAT picture or blog post a day, I just have to have one that I feel good enough about to publish. Some will take off and be a success and some will be total duds. Either way, it is not my place to worry about the result. My only obligation is to do it.
Liz Gilbert talks about this in her book, Big Magic, she didn't vow to be a brilliant writer, she only vowed to be a writer! It is up to the world to decide if they like her work or not.
Goal Setting Wrapup
Hopefully there is some goal setting technique that will strike a nerve with you, whether you are thinking about business goal or a personal goal like to lose weight! Picking a goal specifically for your life is the most important thing!
If any of them sound like something that would work for you, then read up, try it and DON'T worry about being perfect. An important aspect of this working is that it is good for YOU, not what is popular at right this moment!
Get going on a system and no matter how much or how little you do, it will be better than doing nothing!
Want more? Check out all my fun goals quotes!
