7 Steps to Setting Goals for Your Life

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen | | 0 Comments

These seven steps to setting goals for your life are effective for professional, personal, or physical aspirations. You can apply this “seven steps to success” to almost aything!

“Most of us do make some form of New Year’s Resolution, usually with a health and fitness slant,” says personal trainer Caroline Radway, author of KettleBelleBody. “Yet most of us will find that by February all those good intentions have gone out of the window, and we are back to our old habits.”

For more info on achieving your goals, click on Goal Setting: How to Create an Action Plan and Achieve Your Goals by Susan Wilson and Michael Dobson. And, read on for Radway’s seven steps to setting goals for your life…

7 Steps to Setting Goals for Your Life

1. Believe in your goals. If we truly believe in our goals they will be far easier to achieve. Our goals need to have meaning and we need to be emotionally connected to them. Our habits are deeply ingrained and if we don’t truly believe that we want or need to change them, it won’t be long before we slip back into old routines. The ‘why’ is so important when you face struggles, so make sure it is strong enough to help you achieve your goals.

2. Break your goals down into manageable chunks of time instead of focusing on the entire year. A 6-week exercise and nutrition plan will give you great results without being too daunting. When the 6 weeks are up, you can then re-set your goals and start another 6-8 week chunk or phase. This will keep you focused and motivated, and allow for the occasional indulgence or slip-up while ensuring you get results!

3. Dare to dream. While you need to truly believe in your reason for working towards a goal, sometimes it is important to suspend disbelief and allow yourself to dream big! Find a balance between keeping your goals realistic and still achievable. For extra motivation, read 10 Tips for Improving Your Luck.

4. Write down your goals, then look into each goal in more detail and determine what you actually need to do in order to be successful. You may realise at this point that you have bitten off more than you can chew – so prioritise! Better to focus on one or two more important goals and actually achieve success, than to spread yourself too thinly and not achieve anything.

5. Visualise your goals. Writing down your goals is the first step to making them real. Posting these goals up somewhere you can see them on a regular basis further increases your chances of success, as you are constantly reminded of what you want to achieve, especially if you have included a behavioural element to the goals.

6. Take consistent action. No matter what, make sure you take regular action every day toward your goal. Now you have your plan, this is much easier – you are no longer ‘winging it’ but you have a clear strategy. This should mean you don’t feel overwhelmed and means that you know exactly what you need to do. And that really is the key – it is what you actually do, the action that you take, that makes the difference.

7. Remember that it’s simple, but not easy. Setting and achieving goals may be simple but it’s not necessarily easy, and that you are bound to face obstacles and challenges. Some of these you will navigate easily, others will be harder to overcome. Being prepared and ready for some hard work is really important.

Do you have any questions or thoughts about these seven steps to setting goals for your life? I welcome your thoughts below…

Caroline Radway is a Personal Trainer in the UK. For more info, visit her at KettleBelleBody.