How to Achieve Your Personal Goals in 7 Steps
These practical, effective tips on how to set and achieve your personal goals in seven steps are from licensed psychotherapist and author Karol Ward.
Before the tips, a quip:
“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals. Adjust the action steps.” ~ Confucius
Achieving your goals can require re-planning, re-scheduling, and re-thinking your approach. No matter what your professional or personal goals are, they are achievable – if you adopt a strategic approach. Don’t worry: it’s easier than you think, especially with Karol Ward’s goal setting tips! For more goal-setting tips, click on Find Your Inner Voice: Using Instinct and Intuition Through the Body-Mind Connection by Karol Ward. And, read on for tips on achieving your goals in seven steps…
How to Achieve Your Personal Goals in 7 Steps
When it comes to setting new goals, it’s important to remember that “one size does not fit all.” A personalized approach will help you set and achieve goals that are aligned with who you are.
1. Listen to your body. Give your body a chance to voice its opinion as you set and achieve personal goals. Pay attention to your physical energy every time you set a goal. Do you feel calm or excited or lethargic? These are important cues to consider when you’re setting and achieving your personal goals.
2. Consider your personality traits. When setting goals, factor in your personality traits. Are you someone who likes doing things on your own or do you thrive in a group? Do you operate best in the morning, afternoon or evening? To achieve a goal, you will have do something that goes against your natural style, like attending school at night when you are a morning person or fitting a workout in the morning when you are more energized in the evening.
3. Be realistic. Be realistic when creating your goals by observing your current life situation. What do you need to pay attention to right now in your life? Are there certain things that are new and or perhaps not changing for a while? Are you relocating, changing jobs, going back to school or handling a health issue? Life can surprise us and we sometimes have to adjust for the unexpected. However, you can set and achieve personal goals by being realistic about your health, state of mind, family and career. For help with this, read Tips on Setting SMART Goals.
4. Know why your goals matter. There are times when your goals will bring you immediate gratification and times when you have to wait for the prize. Taking an action to finish a work project provides immediate satisfaction, while getting your doctorate has delayed gratification. Either way, it’s important to remind yourself along the way that you are worth the effort. Connect to the self-care and self-respect that is involved in setting a goal and achieving it.
5. Acknowledge your effort in tangible ways – this is key to feeling like you are making strides. I have many of my clients do “acknowledgment” homework so that they can stay in touch with their journey. This means they have to come in with a written list of the accomplishments they have completed during the week, no matter how small. Writing down your accomplishments and sharing them with others will inspire you to continue working towards your goals.
6. Evaluate what is working. If you gauge your progress along the way, you won’t give up when you reach an impasse. Sometimes, we give up rather than fine tune some aspect of our goal-setting-and-achieving plan that is not working. However, we may just need to take smaller steps, resolve some fears, get information or bring in emotional support in order to continue.
7. Adjust what doesn’t work. When you’re setting and achieving your personal goals, it’s important not to view the need for an adjustment as “starting over.” Instead, you are simply picking your goal back up after reviewing it. All the experience and effort you have already put in still counts…and you’re one step closer to achieving your goals. For more info, read How to Recognize Goals That Aren’t Good for You.
If you have any questions or thoughts on how to achieve your goals, please comment below…
For more inspirational, practical life tips and tools, visit Karol Ward.com.
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Comment by PennySue on 19 March 2009:
Setting personal goals in life can be a challenge. Its up to you if you succeed with reaching your goals in life. Staying balanced and focused enables you to develop a plan of action and make it your choice to follow through. Very good steps for reaching success in this article.
Comment by Angela England on 20 March 2009:
Great reminders! Setting reasonable goals for yourself can be the most difficult aspect for me – I am so Type-A I refuse to admit that I canNOT do something. So I set totally crazy goals for myself.
I am learning the art of realism in terms of goal setting.
Especially with three young children.
Comment by Dorothea Hover-Kramer on 23 March 2009:
Good thinking! The tips for achieving goals are practical and well-stated. I would enjoy more details especially how to manage my own energy system so when an objection to success comes up or I just don’t feel like doing something, I will know how to treat myself.–Dr. Dorothea Hover-Kramer author of “Second Chance at Your Dream” (energy psychology press, 2009)