What Good Goals Look Like

So, what does a good goal look like? How might you phrase this same objective in a manner that will increase your chances of success?
The first thing to do, is to focus on things that are immediately within your control and that are not influenced by outside factors at all. These goals should be things that you can accomplish in a guaranteed manner and that you will be immediately graded on on a pass-fail basis.
So for instance, instead of aiming to lose 2 stone by next year, you would use this goal:
“I will work out three times a week, every week, for at least 15 minutes”
Now that is a goal that you can aim for. Regardless of your metabolism, or of injury, or of any other outside factor, this is a goal that you can accomplish. It also means you can’t ‘put off’ the goal and it means you’ll never reach that disappointing point where you can no longer stand any chance of completing it. At any point in your life, there is no reason that you can’t set out to accomplish this goal and expect to be successful.
But by focussing on this small short term goal, you will then find that the long-term goal of losing the weight takes care of itself.
How to Formulate Your Goals
But that doesn’t mean that any short-term goal that is binary in nature is going to cut it.
First of all, you need to know what you want and make sure that the goal you are setting for yourself is going to help you get there. You need your goals to be intrinsically motivating and that means that you have to feel truly passionate about them. It’s only be following a goal you really feel excited about, that you will find you have the energy and motivation to keep going.
Working out for 15 minutes a day is an effective goal because it is sure to take you closer to your broader goal of losing weight. By keeping that end goal in mind, you should stand a better chance of staying motivated to work out even when you’re feeling tired, or when you’re feeling low on will-power.
And you shouldn’t just be aiming to ‘lose weight’ either. Instead, you should have a more concrete vision of what this entails. Do you want to be thinner? Do you want to be more muscular? Why do you want that thing? Is it so that you will be more attractive to the opposite sex? Or because you want more energy? Be honest with yourself and listen to that drive inside that is pushing you toward the goal you want to accomplish.
If your goal is to make money, then try to focus on what the emotional hook is that is making you want that money. It likely boils down to more than cash – maybe it’s status you really want? Power? Confidence? Freedom? Only by really understanding the true nature of your own dreams can you a) take the fastest route to accomplishing them and b) maintain the drive and motivation you’re going to need to get there.
This is going to require some soul-searching!
Moreover, you need to ensure that the goals are achievable and realistic and that you have broken them down into small enough steps. Case in point: our goal for weight loss is to work out 15 minutes per day. That’s a tiny amount but it works because it’s achievable and realistic. If you make your goal harder – such as working out for an hour a day – then you’re going to find you’re quickly disappointed when you can’t find the time or the energy. You’ll put off the exercise and make excuses. The best part about training for just 15 minutes is that once you start, you’ll often find you go for longer.
Put it this way: it’s much better to have a small, easy-to-accomplish goal and stick with it, than it is to have a massive, life-changing goal that you can’t manage!
But of course if you’re making your goal smaller, that means that it will take you longer to reach the eventual destination you’re gunning for. This is not a problem: this is just another thing you need to accept if you want to accomplish anything. Things worth havingtake time. Take small steady steps and enjoy the journey.