goal setting Archives - Page 2 of 4

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.

Have you ever been in the same situation? Why did you quit your goals? What were the reasons?

What are 3 common mistakes people often make when setting goals?

They don’t learn from mistakes
They are influenced by others
They don’t track their progress (MindTools)

Summary on how to effectively set goals:

Use a proven method to aim your goals (SMART or 54321 method)
Don’t plan too many goals (or too complex ones)
Be realistic
Analyze your resources and skills in advance
Break down goals in small time frames (weekly/monthly goals)
Note down immediate actions you can take

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We joined the 5 AM Club for you, this is what happened…

Project Girl 2 Woman

So people have been raving about getting up at 5 a.m and joining the 5 AM Club. It’s supposed to have a magnitude of benefits. But is it really as useful as they make it out to be? Will it really change our life as suggested? In a 5 day self-experiment we tried the 5 am club for you.

First of all what is the 5am club concept?

The 5 AM Club as introduced by Robin Sharma is a concept where you wake up at 5 am and do a set of 20/20/20.

Phase #1: The first 20 minutes you are supposed to workout, get your heartbeat up. Sweat. You can do yoga, run, do pilates, anything sweat inducing really.

Phase #2: The next 20 minutes you should use for self-reflection. You can for example journal or meditate.

Phase #3: And the last set of 20 you learn something you are interested in.

Suggested benefits of getting up at 5 AM are:

First of all we googled why you should even get up at 5 am? Why would you do that to yourself? WHY? There better be a really good reason. This is what we came up with:

You’ll become a new person.
You’ll be more confident.
You’ll show up more powerfully in your relationships.
You’ll strengthen your self-discipline.
You’ll lose weight.
You’ll gain extra planning time.
You’ll gain extra work time.
You’ll have more time to yourself.
You’ll sleep better at night.
You’ll have better health.

Sounds to good to be true, right? Well let’s say we were sceptical.

How to Wake up early?

Here is what I do to get up early:

I go to bed early to wake up early. Slowly adjust your schedule to sleep sooner.
Get overhead light when you wake up. Turn on some bright lights.
I don’t use my phone for waking up. When you get enough sleep you’ll wake up early automatically.
Once I wake up I get up immediatelly or I fall back asleep.

Now this is where we started:

Julia:

Why I am doing the 5 AM Club challenge? I want to build a habit that boosts my productivity and gives me more time to accomplish my projects.

I tried to wake up at 5 AM several times before but I’ve always had too many steps in my morning routine. I am not really a morning person. Maybe that’s why I always fall back into my old sleeping patterns.

Usually, I don’t use an alarm and wake up between 7 to 8 AM (benefit of being a student). I just do a quick washing routine, make my favorite iced coffee (I really love iced coffee❤️), and scribble down my tasks for the day. After that, I start with the first task. Around 10 I get unfocused until it gets dark again at night. What can I say I am most productive in the morning and at night. As the 5 AM Club only has 3 steps, I hope that it will stick better than what I tried in the past.

Carina:

I generally wake up around 6:15 am. Wash real quick and start home office at 6.30ish. I don’t do breakfast. The first time I eat is around 12. pm (unless I give in to temptation and snack on something)

Lately I have been super stressed. And my skin has been breaking out like crazy. Between my 9-5 (is it ever really just 9-5?), and the blog I have barely any me-time. And if I take it I feel bad for not working. If that makes sense.

I decided to give it a try in hopes that more me-time would destress me. Also, I do struggle with self-discipline. So getting up at 5 is a real self-discipline builder. Or so I hoped. I decided to go for yoga/ pilates as my workout, to journal (was too worried I might fall asleep again while meditating), and I am reading the psychology of money by Morgan Housel.

Day 1 of the 5 AM Club

Julia:

Waking up at 5 am was hard but not as bad as expected since we went to sleep at 9 pm.
Feeling super weak so no jumping exercises (you are lucky Mr. Neighbor).
Craving water in the morning, after the workout. Usually, I drink wayyy too little.
Plan more time than 60minutes (I needed almost 120minutes).
I feel a lot less stressed, and more organized now that I take the time to write everything down before the day starts.
Chose coding as a skill to improve for 20 min.

Carina:

Woke up at 4 am after a nightmare and couldn’t sleep anymore.
Really struggled with starting the workout →so I just did some light yoga. Guess what no back pain while working! BIG plus.
The 20-20-20 doesn’t include washing, brushing your teeth, etc. → Needed 15 more minutes for “The Essentials”.
I had a lot of time before I started to work. I enjoyed a cup of tea and started my day less stressed.
I was super hungry by 6 am. I had a quick breakfast around 9 am.
I was super cold on the first day after 7 pm.

We are trying the 12-week year Method by Moran for goal setting. Learn all about it here!

DAY 2 of the 5 AM CLub

Julia:

In the evening the headaches started.
My eyes were really puffy and burned in the evening.
I had sweet and salty cravings due to low energy.
I was super tense at night,became frustrated and was in a bad mood.
In the morning I was very tired and had no energy for the workout

Carina

Started my day with a F*** my life.
Can’t stop yawning
I looked more tired than on the first day.
I’ve been cold all day and went to bed at 8:30 pm.
Had a pretty productive day.

Read Next: Learn how to stick to goals even when it feels impossible.

Day 3 of the Experiment

Julia:

I am so tired, day 3 was the hardest day
No energy to workout, so I chose an even easier one (Goodbye Chloe Ting and hello bed workouts)
Very cold during the day
Headache got worse, and I didn´t feel productive at all

Carina

By far my worst day.
Been super grumpy and frustrated. Been snapping at my sister all day. (Sorry )
Really didn’t feel the workout → Stopped and started again and again.
Still cold…
Look more and more tired. (Are bloodshot eyes attractive?)

Day 4 of Waking up at 5 AM

Julia:

I got more done during the day (finished 80% of my tasks during the day – if i feel motivated lol).
Brain fried after 5 PM.
Completely lost and in a daze after 7PM.
Sugar cravings.
Super dehydrated so I try drinking more water right after waking up.

Carina:

Struggled again to get up, but it’s getting easier.
I have a lot more energy. I’ve been in a really good mood.
Realized I am eating a lot more lately. Can’t confirm the statement that the 5 AM Club leads to weight loss.
My skin starts getting better.
I’ve gotten physically a lot stronger. I am working out with boho beautiful doing pilates.
My eyes are still bloodshot.
My days been productive again.

Want a more relaxed morning? Check out our Self-Care Morning Routine Ideas!

DAY 5 Saturday...

Julia:

No longer cold but very unmotivated and unproductive all day
Feel very stressed, as I have more time and expect from myself to finish more
Seeing the sunrise is amazing
Working most productively when its dark outside, so I have 2 productive zones not only 1 at night
Sleep better as I am super tired at night

Carina:

Not that tired. But obviously didn’t manage to go to bed at 9 pm yesterday. I mean it’s Friday.
Forgot to set an alarm, but woke up at 5am anyways.
I miss sleeping in and snuggling into the warmth of my bed. Doesn’t help it’s a gloomy day and the weekend.

Is the 5am Club legit?

Julia’s conclusion:

Overall I really like waking up at 5 and I will stick to it. I will do a light workout in the morning to wake up but do a throughout workout later in the day. I hope that with a bit more time my body gets used to the new sleep cycle and I feel less burned out at the end of the day. Also my diet needs to be adjusted as I ate a lot to compensate for the energy deficit. This way I would be done by 5pm and actually have more time to relax at night. -> would sleep better too.

Carina’s Conclusion:

I think 5 days weren’t enough to come to a real conclusion. So i decided to keep going and I’ll do a follow up post in a month! So stay tuned.

PROS of the 5 AM Club:

PRO Altogether I achieved my goal. I had more me-time. And I’ve been less stressed. Even my skin agrees. I think it’s worth continuing this experiment.

PRO I can’t say I’ve been more productive in the morning since I start work pretty early anyways and the weekend has started just now. I’ll come back to that. But altogether I feel I had a pretty productive week.

CONS of the 5 AM Club:

CON Wash time just wasn’t included. The following days I’ll do some changes. Instead of doing 20-20-20. I’ll do 15-15-15-15. With 15 minutes being for washing, clothing and self pampering. I am also thinking about giving myself a cheat day.

CON Have to go to bed too early during the weekend. I want to sleep in on Sundays. And have fun Saturday evenings. I think I can do the routine around 7am. or 8am as well.

According to a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition you can burn up to 20% more body fat by exercising in the morning on an empty stomach. On the other hand due to being tired I ate more. I’d say it’s a myth that you lose more weight. So I wouldn’t recommend it for weight loss.

Want us to test something you’ve heard about, but aren’t sure it works? Let us know in the comments below 🙂

Have you tried the 5 AM Club? What was your experience?

We joined the 5 AM Club for you, this is what happened… Read More »

Smart and Smarter Goals – A Smart Goal Breakdown +Free Cheatsheet

Project Girl 2 Woman

Mark Murphy the author of “Hard Goals” “hates” them. Brain Tracy likes them. But what are SMART Goals? Can they help you finally achieve your goals? Or are they just another hyped management tool?

In our smart goal breakdown we’ll take a look at where they came from, how to make smart goals work for you and when it’s useful to set smart goals. And did you know there are even SMARTER Goals now? What’s up with that? This and more will be covered in the following post.

What are Smart and Smarter Goals – A Smart Goal Definition

The first time I ever encountered the acronym SMART was at university. when professors tried to teach us about the benefits of SMART Goal Setting for our studies.

So. what does SMART Goals Mean? There are multiple explanations to what the acronym SMART can stand for. Here is the most common one:

S = Specific (where, who, what)

M = Measurable (how many/much)

A = Achievable/Attainable (possible?)

R = Relevant (why, how does it help?)

T = Timebound (when)

Later on, authors added additional elements, such as SMARTER²:

E = Evaluated (evaluation of the progress – where in the action plan are you?)

R = Reviewed/Rewarded (lessons learned, feedback, reward)

The Origins of SMART Goals

I did a lot of research on where the term SMART Goals originated from for the smart goal breakdown. The truth is I didn’t find any conclusive evidence as to who really invented the term.

There seems to be a general consensus that the term was firstly used in the article “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives” published in 1981 in Spokane, Washington by George T. Doran, a consultant and former Director of Corporate Planning for Washington Water Power Company.¹

In the article Doran explains how to write meaningful objectives:

“ […] when it comes to writing effective objectives, corporate officers, managers, and supervisors just have to think of the acronym SMART (p.36).”¹

Doran’s original definition consisted of the following 5 elements:

Specific: target a specific area for improvement.

Measurable: quantify, or at least suggest, an indicator of

progress.

Assignable: specify who will do it.

Realistic: state what results can realistically be achieved

given available resources.

Time-related: specify when the result can be achieved.

(Doran, 1981,p.36)

While these days it is believed that a SMART goal should include all 5 elements Doran explicitly explained that the suggested acronym doesn’t mean that every objective written will need all five criteria. Keeping it much more flexible.

These Topics might also Interest You!

SMART Goals Examples

Now you probably wonder how a good SMART goal looks like. Let’s check out some examples:

BAD SMART GOAL EXAMPLES

GOOD SMART GOAL EXAMPLES

I’ll lose weight till the end of December.

Not specific enough.

I’ll lose 2 kg of fat by the 31st of December.

Be specific

I’ll write 50.000 words for my new book.

Smart Goal Breakdown Checkmark Until when?

I’ll write 50.000 words for my new book until the 1^st of January.

Always give a time -limit.

I’ll watch 30% less Netflix by the 21^st of October 2021.

Smart Goal Breakdown Checkmark Too complicated to track! Do you know what number 30% would equal?

I’ll watch a maximum of 1 hour of Netflix per day by the 21^st of October 2021.

Make it as simple as possible and easy to track!

Set SMART Goals with The Goal Setting Workbook

Buy the 30 Pages of Goal Setting Here!

How, Why, and When you Should Use SMART GOAL SETTING

How to SET, TRACK, and HIT your SMART GOALS - A SMART GOAL BREAKDOWN

“Only Action Creates Results. Words Are Cheap.“

Set Your Goal

Be as specific as possible. A common mistake is often that people are too unspecific. Read the examples again to check whether your goal is specific enough!

When making your goal measurable you have to find the right key performance indicator. A key performance indicator is a number that measures your performance.

Let us say you want to lose weight. Maybe the scale alone isn’t the right way to measure goal achievement, since you will also gain muscle mass. Figure out your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). When exactly is your goal achieved and how can you measure that? Need help finding your right indicator? Send us a message with the goal you try to achieve.

Is the goal achievable within the given time? You can still shoot for the stars, but you shouldn’t be discouraged, when you only hit a mountain. When you start with smaller goals, and you hit them you’ll get loads of motivation. Next increase the difficulty level. My personal experience is that when the goals are too big, I get discouraged or overwhelmed.

Make sure your goal is relevant. Does it support your long-term goals? I had the habit of studying everything when I was a student. Instead of focusing on exercising and focusing on the most relevant parts I would get lost in the details. Was that efficient? Sometimes we do stuff for the sake of doing something. Make sure to set relevant goals. The 80/ 20 Rule can help you with that.

Keep to the schedule!

Don’t be too harsh on yourself. Keep it flexible. That’s what the evaluation process is for.

Action Plan

We’ll explain action plans in more detail at a later point. But the most important steps are:

Create a Before and After. (What’s the current situation – Where do you want to be?)
Create Milestones (How did others get there?)
Break Them Apart into Small Achievable Tasks
Organize them into your Calendar
Stick to it.

It doesn’t matter how awesome the action plan is. In the end whether you stick to it depends on your grit! Sometimes you just have to do stuff even thought it is hard. With determination, persistence, focus, stubbornness and discipline.

“Everything is hard before it is easy.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Emotional Management can help you with that! As does creating routines and habits.

Track and Evaluate the Progress

In order to figure out whether your Action Plan works you have to track the progress and evaluate your results.

Are your Action Steps getting you where you want to be?
Are you within your given Timeline?

You can track that with weekly, monthly yearly with Progress Reports.

Smart Goal Setting Worksheet – A Free Smart Goal Graphic

We’ve created a small goal-setting template for you to help you with setting Smart Goals. All you need to do is click on the picture and subscribe to our newsletter and you’ll get it into your inbox in no time! 😊

Here is a little preview:

The Criticism

Critics often mention the following negative aspects of SMART Goals:

Inflexible: SMART Goals lack flexibility and therefore don’t work as well for long term goals that might change over time.
Demotivating: Due to their strict character, smart goals don’t cause excitement instead demotivating.
Stifles Creativity: As you have to follow certain steps and achieve a rigid goal there isn’t a lot of room for flexibility

When and when not to use SMART GOALS – Our Experience

So last but not least I’d like to give you a little review on our experience with SMART Goals in the form of a short Q and A:

Q: Do we think smart goals are useful?

A: Yes and no. They are great for short-term goals, but they are too inflexible to achieve our dreams. Their inflexible structure stifles motivation in the long term they don’t leave enough room for experimentation and fun.

Q: When would we recommend smart goals?

A: With simple manual tasks that don’t need creativity. Like preparing 10 packages for transport within 1 hour. For quantity goals, they are the best! And when you are a numbers person.

Q: Why do smart goals fail?

When we set our goals to high.
When we aren’t really into the goal.
Too many goals at once.
When our action steps are too difficult to achieve.

The most important part is that you set goals and that you work towards them. Create your own goal achievement system that works for you and get started.

Sources:

¹ Doran, George T. “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives.” Management Review 70.11 (Nov. 1981): 35. Business Source Corporate. EBSCO . 15 Oct. 2008.

²Yemm, Graham (2013). Essential Guide to Leading Your Team: How to Set Goals, Measure Performance and Reward Talent. Pearson Education. pp. 37–39. ISBN 978-0273772446. Retrieved 2013-07-05.

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Love from Germany,

Carina and Julia

Smart and Smarter Goals – A Smart Goal Breakdown +Free Cheatsheet Read More »