Goal Setting - Top 10 Tips
A conversation I had four years ago, haunted me for the best part of two years.
My partner asked me a "hard" question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?". Instantly, I got shitty and thought what sort of a dumb question is that, obviously I want to be here with my family.
It wasn't until two years later, I finally understood how important that question is! So my partner asked me again, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I was so excited to give him my answer.
This is now a question we ask and review every year. And now I know, goal-setting is actually a big part of optimal well-being, to thrive in life.
So, here I am on the path of where I want to go. I know what I want my life to look like and setting goals helps realise the steps I need to take. I am designing my life!
Goals give you a clear sense of direction.
Goals can help you discover your life purpose if you're feeling lost. If you already know your life purpose, goal setting will help you get you where you want to go!
Goals are actually very necessary to motivate us to keep striving.
Now, I know there is the whole 'SMART' acronym for goal-setting but it just wasn't quite hitting the mark for me, something was missing. I found my own formula and what worked for me.
So let me share it with you:
1. Dream big - Set BIG, HUGE, MASSIVE goals. Think big.
What does your dream life look like? Yes, add the most "outrageous" trimmings. Expensive car? Beach front home? Hot tub on your balcony off the master bedroom...why not? Flying first class around the world, working 4 hours a week, playing tennis every Wednesday?
Or perhaps it's simply sitting on the deck watching the sunset with your soulmate every evening, camping every other weekend with family or learning new skills.
2. Emotion - use it to your advantage. Think about how it will feel with you get something you desire, excitement, happiness, joy + gratitude. These are all high vibrational states. When we vibrate at a higher frequency, we attract more of the things we want into our life.
You can use your emotions as a gauge, if you can tap into the right feels when you're setting the goal or taking action and it feels right, then that's generally a good sign. Even do something thats out of your comfort zone and you feel nervous but excited, yep, that's good sign too.
3. Clarity - get clear and know why you're setting each goal.
In my previous blog post, Life's Lessons - Part 2, lesson #30 your 'why' should always start with you.
4. Vision board - get some pics, get creative and put your vision where you can see it. Stimulate the mind with a visual representation of what you want.
I have a vision board in my home office for my business and my personal one plastered all over my bedroom cupboard where I can see it every morning.
5. Affirmations - use affirmations to achieve your goals.
Write an affirmation statement as if the goal has already been achieved.
Here is an example:
Goal- Author
Clear Goal - I am a best-selling author.
Emotion - I am so happy & grateful now I am a best-selling author.
6. Meditate - allow your mind to stop being stimulated by whats around you, just let the thoughts flow through. When you focus on meditation, it's like you give you mind the chance to be free of outside distraction and the best ideas can come forward.
7. Take Action - when you get those golden ideas come through, you can take inspired action! One step at a time, day by day.
No one is coming to save you, it's on you to "do the work"!
Want to be fit? Well then move your body and do some exercise every day!
8. Journal - write it all down!! Put it into writing and on to paper, every idea even if it seems silly or out of reach.
Write down your affirmations as goals. Any thoughts you don't want to forget or thoughts you need to remove, get it in your journal so it doesn't take up prime realestate needed for other things.
9. Visualise - I prefer to do this first thing in the morning before I get out of bed and last thing at night before I fall asleep, when I am in the theta brainwave state. This means I go to sleep with a request to my subconscious mind.
The idea is to see the image of yourself and the life you desire, with your goal achieved. Using your vision board to help pull the image together, use your imagination and add details, even the tiniest detail. If you are struggling to create an imagine in your mind, you have to repeat all the steps, use your vision board and be consistent until you can clearly see your vision - it takes practice!
10. Gratitude - grateful life is a great life. Practice your gratitude daily.
Say what you're grateful for to yourself when you wake up before you get out of bed. Write down your goals in your journal being grateful that you've already achieved them.
What comes next? You need to work out how to schedule your goals into your day, how to measure them to see if they've been achieved and what needs to be reevaluated.
This is my own personal formula that I have discovered and it's what works for me! Take the bits and pieces that resonate and start designing your life.
Here are my top 3 resources:
1. Jack Canfield - Goal Setting Tips To Creating An Extraordinary Life
2. Brendon Burchard - I use his High Performance planner
3. Dawn Warrior - If you need help and guidance, Tara is an incredible coach, holistic counsellor & author that has a special course to help you find your way.
With Love,
Carla