Goal setting is vital for anyone who wants to achieve something in life. Setting goals allows you to feel motivated and reach the destination you truly want. By using specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals, you can set yourself up for success.
SMART goals allow you to focus on small achievements that lead up to your bigger goal. Let’s say you want to paint your house but don’t know where to start. By creating small goals that act as tasks, you’ll be able to get your bigger project done with ease.
Goal setting can also allow you to focus on yourself. When you set goals, you are forced to think about where you are now and where you want to be. Not only will you evaluate yourself, but you will also hold yourself accountable. When you work towards your goals, you will make decisions that benefit you in the long run because you know they’ll help you reach your goals.
Much like anything else, people make mistakes when they try to set goals for themselves. Avoiding these mistakes can make your goal setting go smoother and have you reaching your goals in no time.
No matter if you struggle to set deadlines or don’t give yourself enough credit, these mistakes can happen to anyone.
9 Common Goal-Setting Mistakes You Should Avoid
Mistake #1: Not Setting Specific Goals
Not setting specific goals is a very common goal-setting mistake. When you don’t know what you want to achieve, you will find yourself going through the motions. Instead of saying “I want to get fit,” say “I want to lose 10 pounds in 3 months by going to the gym 4 times a week and eating healthier.”
Specific goals allow you to know exactly what you want to achieve. Saying you want to “get fit” is a completely general goal. How will you know if you’re reaching your goal if you don’t know what you want?
You also want to create concrete goals. Instead of saying you want to get a good job, maybe say you want to create a successful business with 10 employees. Your goals should have you reach a place you desire.
When your goals are specific, you allow yourself to track your progress. You want to be able to look at where you were at a certain time and where you are now. If you have vague goals, you will have no way to measure your progress.
Let’s say you’re a student and you want to improve your math grade from a C to a B. Not only will you set a goal, but you’ll also tell yourself how you’ll reach that goal. You’ll want to study 30 minutes a day to ensure you at least reach your goal.
Specific goals will allow you to feel more confident in yourself and your goals. You want to feel as if you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Read Also: How Owning Your Mistakes Fuels Personal Growth
Mistake #2: Setting Unrealistic Goals
Setting realistic goals is important when you want to feel motivated to reach your goals. When you create goals that are too out of your reach, you’ll start to feel discouraged. Instead of pushing you to want something more, you’ll feel like you’ll never be good enough.
If your goals aren’t realistic, you’ll likely feel stressed out before you start. You should feel excited and eager to work on yourself, not feel like running away from everything.
A lot of people want to travel the world by next month. They’ll pick a place they want to travel to and try to go. But what they don’t know is that they’re going to need money to travel and time to get there.
Instead of trying to travel to a random place, maybe look into traveling to places you can get to with your savings. By setting goals that are attainable, you’ll challenge yourself without feeling incompetent.
You should also try talking to others about your goals. Sometimes, your friends or family can help you see if your goals are too big or not. They may be able to point out things you wouldn’t think about when you set your goal.
By setting realistic goals for yourself, you’ll have a better time setting goals in the future.
Read Also: 10 Ways to Stop Running away from your Problems Today
Mistake #3: Failing to Write Down Your Goals
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when bettering yourself is not writing down your goals. When you write down your goals, you force yourself to be specific on what you want to achieve.
You want your goals to be attainable, specific, and measurable. When you write down your goals, you become more clear on what you want to accomplish.
Having your goals written down will allow you to see them every day. You want your goals to be visible so you think about them every day. When your goals are always in your head, you may forget about them or they won’t seem that important.
When you fail to write your goals down, you don’t give yourself something to work towards. If your goal is written down, you can use it as motivation when you’re feeling down. Reminding yourself what you’re working for can help keep you motivated.
Studies have shown that people who write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve them than those who don’t.
When you write your goals down, you become accountable not only to yourself but to others. If you tell others your goal, they’ll expect you to achieve it. You want to be held accountable when trying to achieve your goals.
Read Also: Practical Ways to Build Self-Control in Your Daily Routine (10 Tips)
Mistake #4: Not Setting a Deadline
Setting a deadline for your goals is one of the most important parts of goal setting. When you don’t give yourself a deadline, you’re less likely to complete your goal. You want to give yourself enough time to reach your goals but not too much time where you forget about them.
If your goals don’t have a deadline, you might procrastinate on working harder to reach them. You also want to make sure you reach your goal within a certain time.
When you have a deadline, you’ll want to complete your goal more. You’ll feel as if you need to finish your goal by that certain date.
Giving yourself a deadline will make you take your goal more seriously. You’ll want to put more effort into your goals and ensure you reach them.
When you have a goal with no specific time, you may lose track of your progress. If you want to lose 20 pounds, you may want to give yourself 3 months to achieve your goal. That way, you’ll want to lose around 2 pounds a month to successfully reach your goal.
Not only will you be able to track your progress, but you can adjust your goals if you’re not where you want to be. You want to check in on your goals to make sure you’re at where you think you should be.
Try not to place unrealistic deadlines on your goals. Sure, you should push yourself, but make sure you can reach your goals within that time. You want to push your limits but also know what you’re capable of.
Read Also: 10 Ways to Embrace Your Flaws and Love Yourself More
Mistake #5: Ignoring Short-Term Goals
When people think of goal setting, they focus on the big picture. What they don’t realize is that short-term goals are just as important as your big goals. Short-term goals will allow you to see what you need to do to reach your bigger goals.
If all your goals are big picture, you’ll seem confused on where to start. You want to break down your goals into small steps.
When you don’t give yourself smaller goals, you won’t feel accomplished along the way. When working on a big goal, it can take a while to achieve it. If you don’t celebrate the small victories, you may feel like you’re not going anywhere.
By setting short-term goals, you allow yourself to stay motivated. Every time you reach a small goal, you’ll feel more confident in your abilities. You want to congratulate yourself every time you accomplish something.
Another reason you should give yourself short-term goals is because you can track your progress. When you set goals, make sure you set goals that you can measure. If your goals are measurable, you can keep track of where you were at that time vs. where you are now.
Life can get in the way when you’re trying to reach your goals. You want to have short-term goals just in case something does come up.
Mistake #6: Not Tracking Progress
Tracking your progress is something people often forget to do when trying to achieve a goal. When you set a goal for yourself, you should also track how far you are to reaching your goal.
If you never track your progress, you’ll never realize you need to change something. Maybe you’ve reached a goal, but going at this pace won’t let you reach your goal on time.
You want to make sure you track your goals by creating milestones. Milestones are when you break your goals down into smaller bits.
You can use checklists, spreadsheets, goal-tracking apps, anything you want to track your goals. When you reach a milestone, take notice of how far you’ve come and celebrate.
Checking your progress allows you to see if your goal is even something you want to achieve. Let’s say you want to lose 20 pounds in a month. There’s a good chance you’ll put yourself at risk by trying to rush your goal.
You want to make sure you’re still wanting to reach your goal by checking your progress. If you realize that your goal isn’t something you want to achieve anymore, then stop.
Try checking in on your progress every week or month. When you reach a checkpoint, you can reflect on how far you’ve come and celebrate your victories. Also, if you’re falling short on a goal, you can try to see what you’re doing wrong.
Don’t just focus on checking your goals when you feel like you’re not reaching them. Tracking your goals will help you succeed in the long run.
Mistake #7: Focusing on Too Many Goals at Once
Trying to better every aspect of your life at once is another mistake you want to avoid. When you try to focus on too many goals, you’ll become overwhelmed and you won’t be as effective.
You may start to feel like your work isn’t good enough because you’re focusing on too many things. Instead of trying to better yourself in 10 different areas, try to pick 3.
Focusing on your goals will allow you to put your all into everything you do. You want to try your best at every goal you set for yourself.
When you focus on too many goals, you won’t be able to spend enough time on each goal. Imagine if you only had a month to work on 10 goals. You’d only be able to spend 3 days on each goal.
Studies have shown that if you focus on 1 or 2 goals, you are more likely to succeed.
Pick goals that you want to focus on and try to toss out other goals. If you really want to achieve something, you’ll find a way to work towards your goal.
Focusing on your main goals will allow you to achieve so much more than if you didn’t. Not only will you be able to finish more tasks, you’ll feel relieved that you don’t have 10 things on your mind.
Mistake #8: Not Being Flexible
One of the biggest mistakes that people make is not being flexible with their goals. You want to give yourself room for error if something happens.
Letting your goals have flexibility will allow you to still work on your goals when something comes up. Life is going to throw things at you that you’ll want to be able to work around.
If you don’t set goals that can be flexible, you’ll feel stuck. Say you want to become a manager at your job by a certain age.
But what happens if your company goes under or the job requirements change? You’ll be forced to either settle for less or try to work harder even though your original goal won’t be satisfied.
When you set goals for yourself, you should map out what you want to do to achieve them. But you should also map out what you’ll do if something isn’t how you wanted it to.
Things come up in life, whether they’re work-related or personal. If you have kids, you want to make sure you can spend enough time with them but also work on your goals.
Allowing yourself to have flexibility when goal setting will allow you to change your goals if need be. You should periodically ask yourself if you still want to reach your goal.
Life changes people, and if your circumstances change, you’ll want to change what you want to reach as well. Checking in on your goals will allow you to see what you want to achieve and change them if need be.
Not being flexible will only hinder you when you’re working on your goals. Allow yourself to forget about certain goals if they’re no longer in your interest.
Mistake #9: Comparing Yourself to Others
When trying to achieve your goals, you should not compare yourself to others. Someone might pop into your head that currently has what you want.
You could look at your coworkers and think you’ll never be as good as they are at their job. When you compare yourself to others, you aren’t focusing on yourself and your goals.
Goal setting is about you trying to achieve something you want. Your goals should be based on what you want to achieve, not others.
Everyone is on a different path when trying to achieve something. Just because your best friend got into college before you doesn’t mean you’ll get in at the same time.
Comparing yourself will make you lose sight of what you want. You want to focus on what will better you and not what someone else has achieved.
Don’t feel discouraged because someone else already achieved their goal. Instead of worrying about others, focus on yourself and if you’re where you want to be.
Try to check yourself when working on your goals. Ask yourself if you’re bettering yourself or trying to be like someone else.
Comparing yourself to others will only hurt your chances of setting goals later on. If you focus on others instead of yourself, you’ll never be happy with your accomplishments.
Focus on yourself and the goals you set for yourself, and you’ll feel accomplished at the end of the day.
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