How to Set Your Goals in 2018

January is almost upon us and with it comes the time, when we set goals that we would like to achieve in the new year. However, setting goals is one thing, but achieving them is a bit more difficult than that. One must be willing to work over a long period of time and dedicate energy towards something abstract in the future. Even so, there is no goal that we could not accomplish with careful planning. Why don’t you just keep reading and we will tell you how to do it.

Brainstorming

First of all, sit down and think about what you would like to achieve in the new year. Write down everything that comes to your mind. The first step is rather about brainstorming ideas than making specific plans, so don’t limit yourself by restrictions such as budget, time or anything else.

Organize your goals

Take a look at the result of your work and consider, if some of the goals could be combined into thematic units such as health-oriented goals (exercise, diet), career development (career change, starting a business), personal development (taking a course, learning languages, studying a degree program), etc. It will tell you a lot about what areas you want to develop most.

Prioritize

Have a think about what goals are the most important to you and focus your energy on them. If you have twenty goals on your list, you can hardly expect that you will reach all of them. What will most likely happen is that you will keep splitting your energy into so many tasks until they eventually exhaust you and you lose motivation to complete just one.

Come up with action steps

When you know your priority goals, it is time to choose a process that will lead you to them. Define the timeframe and come up with action steps for each goal separately. For instance, imagine that you want to start studying an MBA program, which will have a positive impact on your career. Your first step should be researching the market and finding the ideal program for you, which should be completed by (for example) 31st January and the enrollment date by 28th at the latest. Deadlines will help you keep the momentum going.

Re-evaluation

Give it a month or so before you take a look at your list and re-evaluate the selected goals. If your priorities have changed over the past month and you no longer have the urge to run two miles each day, consider replacing this goal with another from the list or split your time among the remaining goals.

As you can see, achieving your goals is not too complicated if you only set out a plan with specific action steps and a timeframe!