Set your goals

• Determine what you want: Your first step is to determine what you want to achieve. It can be a big or small change, but spending time thinking about what you hope to achieve is an important step towards success. For example, is your goal to be a happier person? Is it learning how to play an instrument? Is it to be one of the best at a sport? Is it being healthier? All of them are valid goals. It's up to you to determine what you want.

 

• Define your terms: Once you have a general sense of what using-plans-to-achieve-goals thinking about what these objectives mean to you. The definition of a goal for one person may be very different from another. For example, if your goal is to be happier, you have to think about what happiness means to you. How is happiness? What types of things make you happy?. This also applies to less general objectives. If your goal is to learn to play guitar, what does that mean exactly to you? Will you be satisfied by learning some chords so that people can sing with you at parties or are you striving to be a guitarist for classical music concerts? Knowing how to play guitar has very different definitions

 

• Ask yourself why: It is important that you spend some time thinking about why you're going to set goals you've chosen. If you think through your motivations, you may end up wanting to change your goals. Let's assume that your goal is to learn to play the guitar. You stop to think why and you realize that it's because you think people who play guitars are popular at school. This does not indicate that there really is a dedication in playing the guitar. It may be a good reason to stop and ask yourself if there is any other easier way to get what you really want, to be more social than musical.

 

• Determines if it's possible: Last but not least, you should determine whether your goal is realistic. Sad as it may seem, not all dreams can become reality. If it seems that your goal is beyond the realm of possibility, maybe it's time to choose a different target. Imagine that you determine that your dream is to be the best basketball player in the world. It is a hard-to-reach goal for anyone, but it may be possible for some people. However, if you only measure 1.52m, it is likely that this target is beyond what you can achieve. This predisposes you to fail and you get discouraged. Still, can have fun playing basketball with friends. However, if you want to be the best in a sport, you should probably focus on one in which stature is not so important.

Make a plan

• Brainstorming and write: Once you've set a general goal, you should start to be more specific and make a plan to achieve it. A great first step is free writing. Get a sheet of paper and write down some ideas that have with respect to the following:

• Your ideal future
• Qualities you admire in others
• Things you could do better
• Things you want to learn more
• Habits you want to improve

This step is meant to help you fantasize and imagine many possibilities. After some of these possibilities are on paper, you can determine which ones are most important to you.

• Be more specific: Once you have thought about some of your goals and you've had a brainstorm, it 's time you start being more specific. Use your brainstorm notes and your definitions from the previous section. List some specific things you want to achieve or do. A goal like "I want to play better, so I'll do everything I can" is not an effective goal like "I want to be able to play my favorite song in six months." Goals that are not well-defined or vague, such as those that say "I will do everything I can," are not as effective or specific.

Go beyond general goals like "I want to become rich" and focus on specific accomplishments that give you results. Instead of "I want to become rich," your goal could be "I want to become excellent at investing in the stock market." Instead of "I want to play guitar," your goal might be something like "I want to be the lead guitarist for a rock band." It is a good idea to write a little more here, describing your goals in the most detailed way possible.

• Consider using the SMART method (for its acronym in English). One way to specify and evaluate your goals is to use the method SMART. This is a strategy to establish objectives, which must redefine your goals are evaluating whether:

• Specific

• Possible to measure

• Possible to reach

• Relevant

• Unlimited time

• Categorizes your goals: Many people have several goals. In fact, in your free writing, you may have discovered that you are already hoping to reach more than one goal. If this is your case, it is a good idea to classify them in order of importance. Sorting your goals will help you focus on those that are most important to you. For example, you may want to get a doctorate in astrophysics, learn to play classical guitar, read the full works of Tolstoy and run a marathon. It is likely that doing all these things at once is not realistic. Determining which goals are most important can help you plan for the short and long term.

Part of this process is to assess your level of commitment to each goal. A difficult or long – term goal which do not get involved too is unlikely to achieve. If you want a Ph.D. in astrophysics, you should probably not make it a priority in your life.

• You must anticipate the impact. Spend a little time thinking about how each of these objectives will affect your life. This will help you determine the benefits of striving for each of your goals. Thinking in these terms will also help you visualize the process of striving for these goals. This can help you increase your motivation.

 

• Create goals under the main objectives: Most of the goals are easier to achieve if you divide them into smaller tasks. These smaller tasks are sub-goals that are added to the main goals you hope to achieve. For example, if you want to learn to play the guitar, your first sub-target might be to have a guitar. Your next sub-goal might be to enroll in a guitar class. Next, you'll want to learn the most basic chords and scales, and so on. Create a schedule for these subgoals, as they can help you stay focused and keep on track. In the above example, you may have intended to save enough money to buy a guitar in three months. You may plan to enroll in a guitar class a week later, learn basic chords in another two months, and so on.

 

• Identify obstacles: Last but not least, think of the obstacles that could arise in your way to achieving your goals. Think about this in advance gives you the opportunity to strategize on how to overcome these obstacles. For example, it's possible that guitar lessons seem more expensive than you can afford right now. This could lead you to think of ways to make more money for classes. You could also consider learning alone with books or didactic videos.

Take it to term

• It takes time: There are many things you can do to make this process easier and to stay focused. However, at the end of the day, most goals are achieved devoting enough time and effort to turn them into reality. Think about how long you expect to achieve your goal and when you want to complete it. Imagine that it will be necessary for you to work 40 hours to master the fundamentals of playing the guitar and that you want to learn it in a month. You will have to spend a little over an hour each day.

 

• Make it a routine: One way to make it easier is to spend time is in your daily routine strive. Dedicate time to strive to achieve your goals every day.  You could spend half an hour, from 6:30, practicing the musical scales. You could spend another half hour, from 6:30 until 7, practicing the chords. You could spend 15 minutes from 7:15 learning to play a specific song. If you stick to this every day you could learn the basics of playing any musical instrument quickly!

 

• Track your progress: Once you start working to achieve your goal, ensure that you track your progress. Keep a diary, use an application or have a desktop calendar and note the time you spend, the sub-goals you have achieved, etc Keeping track of your progress can help keep you motivated by highlighting your successes. It can also help you stay accountable to stick to your routine.

Having a journal in which to write the daily process is also a good way to reduce the stress that you may feel for wanting to achieve your goals.

• Stay motivated: One of the hardest parts of concluding a goal, especially in the long term, it is to stay motivated. Whether setting sub-goals you can achieve or track your progress can help you. However, you may need additional reinforcement. The reinforcement indicates that you must create consequences for your actions. There are two types of reinforcements; positive reinforcement means adding something to your life. For example, you could indulge yourself with a dessert for reaching a goal. The negative reinforcement is when they take something away from you. If it's something you do not want, it can be a reward. For example, you could allow yourself to stop doing a task for a week as a reward for achieving a sub-target. The task is "eliminated" from your life that week.

Reinforcement is more effective in maintaining your motivation than punishment. Depriving yourself of things or punishing yourself for failure can work in small doses. However, instead stick to the rewards whenever possible.

Always :

• Believe in yourself.

• Be yourself. Your goal will not be sweet at all if you do it by doing things you do not feel proud of.

• Do not forget the words of Lao Tze: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step".

• Put it in writing. Writing reinforces thoughts. Even if you are the only person to see what you have written, noting your goals can give more power to your intentions.

• Engaging people with goals, whether similar to yours or not, can act as a great support system. Talk to them daily. If you can not see them in person, then try an online community where people set goals and make themselves responsible to each other.