10 Unique Reddit Q&As on How To Effectively Set Goals

Okay, the headline is not 100% accurate as I also researched questions on Quora. During my last post I wondered how you look at the goal setting process. How you usually scribble down goals – or if you even set goals at all. I am kinda surprised how many different questions popped up. Sadly a good amount was connected to negative experiences. After scrolling through both plattforms I categorized your questions into:

How and what is the best method to set goals?

How do you achieve your goals?

I don’t have goals

Why do I feel like I can’t finish my goals?

So lets get right into the first questions:

How and what is the best method to set goals?

There are many different goal setting methods to apply. The most applied and looked for is the SMART goal theory by George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham.

Check the full post on the SMART goal theory if you’ve missed it.

The Smart theory definitely explains how to set goals that work. Nethertheless I’d like to add a second method I learned thanks to your questions:

Also Read: Goal Setting Methods of Successful Women.

The 54321 goal setting method:

This method is based on setting goals for a certain time period. What do you want to achieve the next:

5 years
4 months
3 weeks
2 days and
1 hour?

Here is a Goal Setting Example for a full-time blogger:

5 years I am a full-time blogger travelling the world
4 months I have a set income (even if its not enough for fulltime yet)
3 weeks I have a thriving website with at least XXX traffic a month
2 days I created my first 10 pieces of content, and set up social media accounts
1 hour I buy a domain and set up my website

Noticed that I write in present tense? Writing in present tense helps your brain sort the process in “its currently happening” and not in “I wish it would happen”. It is way more final. A solid message to yourself.

If you feel stuck,unsure of how to set goals, and what goals to set – you can use the different areas of goal setting explained in the following posts:

This is also a great way to break down goals into small feasible tasks. So what do you say? What’s the best way to set and attain goals?

How do you set your life goals?

Set Your Goals Today -With the Digital Goal Planning Workbook!

Get the 30 Pages of Goal Setting Here!

Posts that will Improve/Inspire your Goal Setting:

How do You Achieve your Goals?

“I’ve set my goals, now what?” Thats probably what most goal setters wonder once they finish their goal sheet.

Have you ever set your New Years Resolution and somehow lost track of it just a few days later?

Working on your goals is hard, especially when you have a hundred million things you want to change!

Also Read: The 12-Week Method To Achieve your Goals

Step One: Don’t put too much on your plate!

Pick one goal and only focus on that one goal. You want to workout every morning and read 20 minutes at night? Thats fine, thats doable!

You want to build a 1 million dollar business withing 365 days while completely improving all your bad habits, and wake up at 5 AM every single day? I think you can imagine how that will turn out. Being realistic is key. Don’t focus on too much at the beginning. Change one thing at a time.

No you are not missing out or get left behind by others

Starting slowly is still better that quitting your journey 2 weeks in because you put too much on your plate and can’t handle it. Actually most peoply won’t realize their goals – so if you accomplish just something small you are doing a great job!

Believe me. I always felt like I needed to achieve everything at the same time. Immediately. I was scared that others would have so much more accomplishments in the year that I pressured myself into overcommiting.

But its just not realistic. Change comes in small pieces, with time and patience.

Step Two: Don’t Fear Failure or Mistakes

My grandma always says “If someone works he’ll make mistakes, and if someone doesn’t work he won’t make mistakes”

So if you don’t make mistake you don’t work and if you don’t work you won’t grow or learn.

Make mistakes. Take responsibility. Be brave.

If you are scared think about what can go wrong. (Note: This doesn’t apply when you can get physically or mentally hurt!)

Step Three: Have Faith

It will get better. Maybe your results aren’t as good as expected and you tried your hardest. You put in all the extra hours – but got nothing out of it. Don’t give up – keep trying. Try new things, new perspectives, new software programs, new designs, new content. Try try try. If you want something that other people don’t have (or try to compete with them) you need to believe in yourself and the process.

I always tell myself that everything has its point of time. If it didn’t happen yet, then the moment isn’t there. Have patience.

Now let’s see what people do if they don’t know how to effectively set goals:

3 Reasons Why people set a New Year's goal and it only lasts for about a month

Set too many goals for a small time period
Want to have immediate change and results
Don’t follow up with actions
Have low self-esteem and compare themselves with others
Set the wrong goals
Are scared to make mistakes /embarass themselves in front of others

You probably wonder “Why is goal setting so hard?”. The hard part is that you need to make a decision – how do you want to live?

You need to take the risk to fail, to embarrass yourself – to take responsibility of your own actions. You need to motivate yourself to do better – constantly. Depending on your goals you need to work and hammer on your projects while others are out spending their saturday afternoons at the pool.

We don’t want to miss out on life. But we also want to realize our dreams.

Its hard to bring both together without falling back on old habits. Nor can we miss out on the lovely memories we make with our loved ones.

Goal setting and achieving isn’t easy. But it is worth it at the end. It is a life long journey of learning and growing – trying, failing, trying again and failing again.

But remember

“If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” – Tom Hanks

Posts To Help You Pull Through When you Feel like Giving up:

I don’t have goals - what now?

Ever had to scribble down your goals in school and your brain just goes blank? It happens to all of us.

Maybe you need to figure out who you are in life- and who you want to be.

What do you like, what don’t you like?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What makes you happy/sad?

You don’t need to aim for becoming a CEO to set goals. You can aim to join a book club or to simply eat one chocolate bar less a day. You can focus on the things you like and note down to visit your favorite places more often – or make the effort to call up your parents once in a while.

Here are some Self discovery posts that will help you with your goal Setting:

Why do I feel like I can't finish my goals?

This question intrigued me for several reasons – I’ve been there. I’ve been there many times. I scribbled all my goals down. Dreamed about them. And deep down I somehow new I would never reach them. It was sad really. Now looking back I had following habits that fueled my discouragement:

I set goals year by year but I quit everytime (by the end of January)
I set my goals way too high
I always started too empheurically into the new year and drained myself with overcommiting
I had low self-confidence
I stopped when I had to step out of my comfort zone

Today I know that I started the year with the wrong mindset:

“If I can’t accomplish it – then why do I even try?”

I didn’t care about the progress, the obstacles I would face and grow by. I didn’t care about the journey I would go on. I only cared about the outcome.

So when I stood infront of the first hindrance, I stopped and turned around. I gave up because I wasn’t mentally prepared to simply jump over it.

Lesson Learned:

If you don’t like the journey, you will not make it to your destination. Focus on the road, the scenary, the people you meet. Don’t waste your time thinking “what will happen once I get there”. Live in the present.