How to achieve your goals? step-by-step plan for achieving the goal

Hi all. In this article, I would like to tell you about one technique for setting and achieving a goal, which I read in one of Brian Tracy’s books on personal effectiveness, “Get Out of Your Comfort Zone.”

After reading this book, I was finally able to determine my main life goal for 5 years. And if you and I study in detail the 14 stages of goal setting (6 stages for setting a goal, and 8 for achieving it), then exactly the same thing will happen to you.

Read also:
Learn how to make plans correctly for the year, month, week and day

Top 100 main goals in a person's life

As an example, we can cite the following goals in life, from the list of which every person will find what he wants:

Personal goals

Find your place and purpose in the world.
Achieve some success in your activities.
Stop drinking alcohol; smoke cigarettes.
Expand your circle of acquaintances around the world; make friends.
Master several foreign languages perfectly.
Stop eating meat and meat products. Read about the dangers of meat in our article
Wake up at 6 am every day.
Read at least one book a month.
Go on a trip around the world.
To write a book.

Family goals

Create a family.
Make your soulmate happy.
Have children and raise them properly.
Provide children with a good education.
Celebrate your copper, silver and gold wedding with your spouse.
See grandchildren.
Organize holidays for the whole family.

Material goals

Do not borrow money; on credit.
Provide passive income.
Open a bank deposit.
Increase your savings annually.
Put your savings into a piggy bank.
Provide children with a substantial inheritance.
To buy a car.
Build your dream home.

Sports goals

Take up a certain sport.
Visit the gym.
Take part in a marathon.
Do the splits.
Jump with a parachute.
Conquer the top of the mountain.
Learn to ride a horse.

Spiritual Goals

Work on strengthening your will.
Study books on world literature.
Study books on personal development.
Take a psychology course.
Volunteer.
Enjoy every day you live.
Express sincere gratitude.
Realize all your goals.
Strengthen your faith.
Help others for free.

Creative goals

Learn to play the guitar.
Publish a book.
Draw a picture.
Keep a blog or personal diary.
Create something with your own hands.
Open the site.
Overcome stage and audience fear. How to cry out in public - more details here.
Learn to dance.
Take cooking courses.

Other goals

Organize a trip for parents abroad.
Meet your idol in person.
Seize the day.
Organize a flash mob.
Get additional education.
Forgive everyone for any offense ever caused.
Visit sacred land.
Expand your circle of friends.
Give up the Internet for a month.
See the northern lights.
Conquer your fear.
Instill new healthy habits in yourself.

It doesn’t matter at all whether you choose goals from those already proposed or come up with your own. The main thing is to act and not retreat from anything.

As the famous German poet I.V. said. Goethe:

Examples of SMART goals for work

Here are some examples of professional SMART goals for work that will help you advance in a successful career.

7 – Find your dream job

Example of a weak goal: I will find a better job.

Example of a SMART goal:

Specific: I'm looking to become a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist at a leading software as a service (SaaS) company such as Shopify or Oberlo and work remotely.

Measurable: I will apply to at least 8 positions within two months.

Achievable: I worked as an SEO specialist for two years in the office of an accounting firm and I am good at my job.

Relevant: I want to collaborate with interesting people, contribute to something innovative, and join a company that has room for me to grow. Also, I want to travel for long periods of time as a digital nomad. Timeframe: I will apply to 8 suitable positions over a two month period, submitting 1 application per week.

What happened:

I will find my dream job working for a SaaS company like Shopify or Oberlo and travel extensively as a digital nomad. To achieve this goal, I will submit 1 application per week for two months, submitting a total of 8 applications.

8 - Earn a promotion

Example of a weak goal: I want to get a promotion.

Example of a SMART goal:

Specific: I'm looking to get promoted to become a Senior SEO Specialist.

Measurable: I will complete the required training and submit an application. I will also take on an additional work project to demonstrate my willingness to take on more responsibility.

Achievable: I have been working as an SEO specialist for 3 years now, and my work has brought significant results. In addition, my company plans to hire another senior SEO specialist at the end of this quarter.

Relevant: I want to continue to learn and challenge myself as I progress in my career.

Timeline: I will take on 1 additional work project within the next 2 weeks, complete required training within 6 weeks, and submit an application within 8 weeks.

What happened:

I'm about to get promoted to become a senior SEO specialist at my company. To achieve this, I will undertake an additional work project within 2 weeks, complete the required training within 6 weeks and submit an application within 8 weeks.

People who have achieved success in life

More than a dozen people know where to start their successful life and how to overcome obstacles. Many of them are ready to share their opinions on what success is and how to achieve it.

Let's look at the bright stories of former “losers”. By the way, “loser” is a cliché of people who do not see the whole picture of an individual’s life; in fact, there are many more successful people than we can imagine. It all depends on what goals a person sets for himself and what kind of close circle he has.

Terry Crews

This famous actor was actively involved in American football until he was 29 years old. World fame came to him at the age of 37, when he brilliantly played a role in the TV series “Everybody Hates Chris.” He later became famous in some other films.

Ronald Reagan

This name on the lips of several generations around the world still remains relevant. This is the 40th President of the United States. For most of his life, Reagan was engaged in activities completely unrelated to politics. He was an actor and radio announcer. But at 56 he was elected governor of California, and at 69 he became the fortieth president. And, by the way, very respected.

Bryan Cranston

One can safely say about this actor, director and screenwriter “From rags to riches.” His life path began as a loader, and at the end of his life he became a very famous and respected person.

Nick Vujicic

A man with a capital letter. The Australian has a heart that can embrace the whole world, although he has no limbs. A young guy with a congenital disability was planning suicide, but at one point his life began to change for the better. Now he is a world-famous speaker, motivator and businessman. He motivates people who feel like failures in this life by saying that God has a plan for them.

Motivator Nick Vujicic

Suze Orman

Until the age of thirty, Susie worked as an ordinary waitress. There were losses and disappointments along the way when she lost a significant amount of money through a bad investment. But after a certain time (very little) she rose to the rank of vice president of a financial company, “turning” into a writer, the host of her own show, and a millionaire.

Ray Kroc

Well, there are already legends about this “McDonald's dad”. Until the age of 50, the American was a realtor, a pianist, and changed other professions. But at the age of 50, he visited the McDonald brothers and was impressed by the fast service and concept of the restaurant. He bought the rights to his business, which led to the opening of his own restaurant. Now even children know what McDonald's is.

Nikolay Kobelkov

Nikolay - a Russian person - confirms that people with disabilities can achieve success in life! He was born without arms and almost without legs. But he was clever and mentally strong. Thanks to this, he became a famous circus actor who amazed first Russia, then all of Europe and America. It took place not only in professional activities, but also in family life.

Olesya Vladykina

This is a Russian athlete who, after losing her left arm in a car accident, achieved amazing results. In 2008, with one arm, the girl became a Paralympic swimming champion in the 100 m breaststroke.

Ben Carson

I really like his story! And I am amazed at the strength of his mother. The boy Ben was an underachieving student, he could not do his homework, there was practically no studying, and his mother could not help him, since she herself was illiterate. But she always taught me to achieve goals and think independently, reason. When Ben grew up, he became a world-famous neurosurgeon who was the first to separate the brains of Siamese twins!

We see that success can be achieved in business, sports, and other activities that are central to a person. And even people with disabilities did not give up and did not say what is the point of achieving success in life if you die anyway. They set a goal and sometimes achieved success with the help of superhuman efforts.

Ben Carson

Preface

Now that timid moment has come when you decide to ask the monumental question “how to achieve your goal?”, thereby potentially increasing the number of successful people per combat unit.
Today we will find goals, if there are none, we will make a plan to achieve the goals and move in their direction. This post allows you to put into practice the information from the introductory article on goal setting; we recommend reading it first. No, not for likes and subscriptions, but so that you can follow the steps of this victorious guide with skill.

Content

How to achieve your goal in 7 steps Step 1 - description of desires
Step 2 - writing goals
Step 3 - Setting a Deadline
Step 4 - filtering out left targets
Step 5 - create a plan to achieve the goal Choose a goal
We break the goal into subgoals by year
Dividing the year into months
We break the month into weeks
Recording actions to achieve the goal
We detail the actions by day
We draw up a plan for other goals
Setting priorities
What is the beauty of this approach?

Step 6 - Working with an Action Plan

Step 7 - Adjustment

What to do if you fail to create goals

P.S

A little background information before we begin. Having goals in life, contrary to everyone's stupid opinion, is fun and wonderful. We call it the “Game Principle” (we still need to work on the name), where you have fun because you discover new things, you start completing levels faster and better, you become better and, in the end, you get the opportunity to win.

Goals guide, ennoble and help , it is still not clear why so many people deliberately deprived themselves of this cool tool, but oh well. The skill you will gain here is truly invaluable. Let's go.

Motivation

One of the components on the path to success is motivation.

The psychophysiological process influences the subconscious, prompting it to action, manifestation of activity and firmness. Motivation can be defined as a goal that a person passionately desires to achieve.

The main types of motives that encourage action:

External - independent of the main field of activity: the desire to receive an award, the approval of friends, superiors;
Internal – related to the type of activity: the desire to earn a certain amount of money;
Self-affirmation – the desire to become the best in one’s profession, sports, studies, business;
Imitating a successful person is the desire to repeat someone else’s success;
Thirst for power – career growth;
Fear of losing something - for example, material reward, if you do a bad job.

Motivation can be considered as a powerful tool for inducing action. Therefore, you can try out the following methods of motivation:

Allan Pease gives advice on how to set goals so you can achieve them

If you do exactly as I tell you, you will become much more successful than you ever imagined. Just stand in front of the mirror and look carefully: in front of you is the person who is responsible for what is happening to you.

The last two times I was told that I would not survive. This was 13 years ago, and the doctors who told me this are no longer alive. Interesting, isn't it? People eat the same food, say the same things, and hope for different results. If you want to achieve something you've never had, then you have to do something you've never done. That's exactly how it works.

I once thought it was a great idea to step dance. This point has been there for 20 years. I wanted to learn how to tap dance and thought I would become a star. But it didn't work! I hate tap dancing - it's very hard. If you don't like something, you can cross out this item and forget about it. Before I die, I won't think about the fact that I never learned to tap dance or moonwalk, and that's wonderful.

If you want to achieve something you've never had, then you have to do something you've never done. If a person is thinking about how to become a helicopter pilot, but he has neither education nor money, he will never become a helicopter pilot. This goal has been on my list for 30 years. I have tried to become a helicopter pilot three times already, but I will definitely learn.

All thoughts are jumbled in your head and resemble spaghetti, and when you write down your desires and thoughts, they become more organized. In 1970, an interesting study was conducted in America. His goal was to determine the difference between millionaires and billionaires. One thing was definitely determined: billionaires wrote down the things they wanted to do, but millionaires kept a lot in their heads and wrote nothing down.

Now I drove in Moscow in traffic jams for four hours and didn’t even think about the fact that among the cars there were many Toyotas. I've seen a lot of Lexus and BMW, but not a Toyota. Because this car is no longer on my list.

Your head is something like a satellite navigator. After all, when you use it, you don’t think about how to do it, you think about the purpose of the trip. You just mark point “A” and point “B”, and the navigator itself paves the way. Your brain works the same way: don’t think about how you want to achieve your goal, think about what you want to achieve. The solution will come by itself.

What is the difference between millionaires and billionaires? One thing was definitely determined: billionaires wrote down the things they wanted to do, and millionaires kept a lot in their heads. And it would be nice someday to try, for example, to catch a snake with your hands. I caught snakes with my hands wherever they were found. I caught about fifty. I was bitten once, but it was my fault, not the snake's - I wasn't fast enough.

The biggest obstacle is relatives. They will say: “What, do you want to quit your good job at the bank?” Or: “You won’t succeed, it’s impossible!” you are able to accomplish everything you wrote down. Because if you weren't able to do this in the first place, you wouldn't think about these desires and goals.

What is the difference between a goal and a destination and a dream?

A dream is a cloud of thoughts, it is something vague. Erema lies on the stove, scratches his belly, and thinks, “It would be nice to eat some fish soup.” A dream is a substance without weight and time; you can be a great dreamer, with a rich inner world, but a deeply unhappy person.

Destination is a long journey. What you came into this world for. This is a global concept that brings moral satisfaction. For example, helping people or animals.

Actors, for example, may have a purpose - to make this world a little happier, more smiling, more emotional. Purpose is embedded in us. It is within us, from birth. You can find your purpose by reaching an agreement with your subconscious.

And a goal is a specific, measurable object or action located from the outside - this is a SMART goal (detailed description with examples here). And the task is even smaller. This is a specific action that will lead us to the goal.

It turns out to be such a funnel: a dream is vast, without clear boundaries, a destination is a path that is comfortable to follow. A goal is the end result, while a task is a step towards the goal.

If you don’t want anything, apathy, your soul is turning you back, start by defining your purpose. You may not realize that you are not moving on your own path. You can work with machines, mechanisms, papers (inanimate objects) for a long time and feel sick.

But it turns out that your purpose is to work with people. They changed their field of activity, and that’s it - other emotions began to appear, the sun began to shine brighter. It may be exactly the opposite: a person has been with people all his life, but he is comfortable with mechanisms.

Of course, it would be good to decide on this issue before leaving school, and not go where your parents want or by “inheritance” - your great-grandfather was a doctor, he was a doctor, your father is a doctor and you are heading into medicine. Listen to yourself, your heart. Maybe with cars my soul will open up more.

But if laziness has overcome you and you don’t know how to cope with it, read a separate article.

What is planning?

Planning brings the future into the present and allows you to do something about it now.

Alan Lakein

In the practice of self-management, planning is setting goals and creating ways to achieve them. This stage is key. If you were able to ask yourself what to do next, then you have started a change.

Planning helps not only to develop a procedure for changing ourselves, but also to better understand what we really want to achieve. Too often it turns out that behind the simple desire to overcome a bad habit lies a hidden need for recognition or understanding. If you identify it, you can simplify your work on yourself.

In self-management, planning includes four stages:

Mission.
Target.
Tasks.
Plan.

Once you get acquainted with this simple scheme, you will begin moving towards your goals today.

Figure out what you like

You can often hear that people like to do nothing. But often this is a lie, because virtually every person has some kind of hobby that causes a storm of emotions, fire in the eyes. Some people like to cross-stitch, some like to ride horses, some are passionate about music. However, life often develops in such a way that we put off our favorite activities for later in order to provide for our life, our family, and so on. Others believe that hobbies and work have nothing in common and should always remain separate from each other. But all this is nonsense. Answer yourself the question of what you can do and what you can master for your own pleasure. Everything here is quite simple, assess the level of your skills and determine whether the level of your training will allow you to provide you with a decent standard of living with the help of your hobby. If the answer is no, then there is only one way out: study, study and study again.

Examples of SMART leadership goals

Here are some examples of SMART goals for leaders to illustrate how you can lead your team to success.

9 – Improve team performance

Example of a weak goal: I will help my team increase sales.

Example of a SMART goal: Specific: I will help my team better qualify sales leads so that they spend their time selling only to people who are most likely to make a purchase.

Measurable: The goal is to increase team sales by 5%.

Achievable: We've identified the number one reason our prospects don't buy: They don't fully fit our target market. If we can make sure that everyone we call matches our target market, our sales are likely to increase.

Current: Our main goal is to increase the company's sales by more than 20% this year.

Timeframe: We aim to increase sales by 5% within 3 months before re-evaluating our strategy.

What happened:

I will lead my team to improve the qualification process so that the team only calls highly qualified leads who are most likely to make a purchase. Our goal is to increase sales by 5% within 3 months.

10 - Manage a team effectively

Weak Goal Example: I'm going to help the team communicate better.

Example of a SMART goal:

Specific: I'm going to help the team communicate better to free up time wasted on ineffective communications. This way, the team can spend this time on their core responsibilities.

Measurable: Our time tracking software shows that team members spend an average of 1.5 hours per day on email. We aim to cut this time in half to 45 minutes per day.

Achievable: We can avoid the confusion that comes with long email chains by using a team messaging solution like Slack. If we implement a messaging solution, it is likely that we can dramatically reduce the time spent on email.

Relevant: I want to empower my team so they can do their best work and increase their impact by reducing time wasted on unnecessary and ineffective tasks.

Timeframe: We will implement the messaging solution within two weeks, and over the next month we will halve the time spent on communication.

What happened:

I will improve team communication and free up wasted time by implementing a team messaging solution within two weeks. The goal is to reduce the time spent on messaging from an average of 1.5 hours to 45 minutes per day per team member over 1 month.

— Correct motivation

__________

The right motivation can set a person in a positive mood and help him cope with his own fear.

Several principles that will help you stay in good shape and achieve your goals. So.

The most important advice is to clearly define your goals. Those that are really close to you; the ones you really want to work for. If the goal is inspired by fashion, the example of a neighbor, or something else in the same spirit, then this is 99% a bad goal.

1) The first days are not for Stakhanov’s exploits, but for developing habits. The right approach is to use the first few days to create an environment in which you will be comfortable working. Develop habits that will help you stay committed to your goals. Here is the main recipe - to change not only yourself and your attitude, but also the situation around you.

2) Monitor your physical condition.

What kind of motivation can we talk about if a person is feeling unwell? We introduce at least elements of a healthy lifestyle:

a) Daily routine (we go to bed and get up at the same time, and not too late). b) Power mode. c) Limit alcohol.

Breaking a regime is not an easy task; perhaps, with the transition to a healthier option, on the contrary, your health will worsen somewhat. That is why you need to tune into a new mood in the first cheerful days.

3) Create work habits. Firstly, this is also a routine, a habit of doing a certain thing at a certain time. This schedule needs to be drawn up taking into account personal characteristics - when it works better, when it works worse, when you want to unwind. Within a day, just like within a year, there are individual rhythms. Life in harmony with them is much easier and more joyful.

In addition to the regime, it is worth paying attention to:

a) Regular breaks. b) Rational duration of classes. c) The habit of concentrating on a specific task.

4) We regularly analyze our affairs and seek support. Find an opportunity to confidentially discuss with someone how you are doing in terms of achieving your goals.

This means that by regularly communicating your progress on the plan and the accompanying emotions to another person, you better understand yourself. Your motives and aspirations. This helps to identify subtle, emerging trends (for example, weakening zeal) and understand their causes.

And an outside perspective will help make it even better. Also, during the discussion you will inevitably touch upon the ultimate goals of your work. They are the main motivator.

It may very well be that such an analysis will reveal incorrectly set goals or allow you to find shorter paths to them.

5) Breaks, variety in life and quality rest. We could end here, but I’ll note an important detail. It is highly advisable to completely forget about your goals on the weekends and have fun without any special restrictions (except perhaps not going too far out of your daily routine). Weekends are sacred!

6) We prepare in advance for the fact that not everything will go smoothly. If you break the usual rhythm of life and take on new things, obstacles and unplanned things will inevitably arise. You are entering into uncharted territory, there is no other way. You need to take such disruptions of plans calmly, preparing in advance to return to the work you started when it becomes possible.

__________

4-step algorithm for achieving your goals

- Do you have a plan? I remember exactly this question, asked by a friend of mine, who actually instilled in me the basics of non-standard thinking. -Plan? I answered. -Yes, a plan, at least for the next year; Without hesitation, I answered: “Well, of course!”

In fact, I didn’t even have a plan for tomorrow. And the speed of my answer was due to the fact that it seemed to me that writing a plan was not the most difficult task, I just didn’t have time for it. I could tell myself that I would have a free hour and I could plan my whole life. In general, there was more than enough self-confidence.

My friend asked me about the plan regularly, it seems that he liked to watch the speed of my reaction to answer this question. It’s already starting to piss me off a little! And one fine day, I finally set aside “an hour” to write the cherished plan and then present it to my friend for review.

What can I tell you, after sitting at work for “an hour”, with half-hearted grief I was able to scribble down only what seemed to be the main goals for me at that time. They turned out to be: 1. Health; 2. Relationships; 3. Education; 4. Career.

I think this list would coincide with the list of most people and in my opinion these are wonderful goals that deserve to spend maximum effort, energy and time on their implementation! So it is, but I ran into a problem, the fact is that all these goals seemed abstract to me. Personally, I have the impression that I am standing on the edge of a cliff, I see all these four goals in front of me, and so clearly and clearly, but the most important thing is that I do not see bridges to these goals. Seeing these bridges, in my opinion, is the most important moment in achieving your planned goals. One thing was clear: to achieve each specific goal, an algorithm is needed, that is, a clear sequence of actions. This logical structure does not tolerate approximations and accidents. Now I would like to present the algorithm itself, which I called it – the algorithm for achieving the set goals.

4-step algorithm for achieving goals

Now let me explain this logic circuit in words. As you can see, the algorithm is built from four blocks; I will call these blocks stages.

Stage 1 of the algorithm for achieving goals

This is the basic stage where we decide on our most important goals, making a list of them. I have already given my earlier list of goals above.

Stage 2 of the algorithm for achieving goals

The second step is to identify the key components of each of the main goals.

Stage 3 of the algorithm for achieving goals

Attention! This stage requires maximum attention, because it is the most important detail in the mechanism for achieving goals. At this stage, it is necessary to draw up a list of actions necessary to achieve all components, each basic point of the plan.

Stage 4 of the algorithm for achieving goals

And finally the final stage, it is arithmetic in nature. It is at this stage that all expended resources are calculated, expressed in a time range and in monetary terms, or in some other way.

I talked about four stages aimed at implementing your plans, but I want to note that there may be algorithms consisting of five or more stages. The five-step algorithm can be applied to, say, intermediate goals, which we all encounter very often throughout our lives. An example to illustrate a four-block algorithm would be a standard everyday situation. Let's say you need things like a refrigerator and upholstered furniture. According to the algorithm, you have decided on the model, calculated the cost and know how you will get the money to buy one of these things. And this is where the fifth stage appears, the purpose of which, as you already guessed, will be “weighing” according to the principle of first necessity.

Now for clarity, I would like to depict an example of the algorithm that I created. Since the first goal in my life plan, I think, like many others, is Health, I will depict it:

An example of a 4-step algorithm for achieving a Health goal

Each stage has its own geometric figure. In conclusion, I would like to give one last piece of advice: when creating such algorithms, try not to increase the number of blocks unless clearly necessary, this can lead to the “distant goal” effect. Sit down, calmly highlight all the key blocks and in these blocks you can make a list of small details. This is exactly what will give a positive effect, since you will know that to achieve your goal you only have two or three steps (number of blocks), made up of many small steps. And due to the fact that you will overcome these steps easily, each time crossing out the point you have already passed, all this will motivate you to move on with small but confident steps.

Statement of purpose

Goals are a force that requires you to focus on what you want to achieve in life. Without a clear plan for the outcome, it will not be possible to achieve not only quick execution, but no execution at all.

You need to understand what you want to achieve in your life, both in the short term and for the longer term. To do this, you can create a vision of an ideal day in 10 years and decide to realize it. This will be your big goal.

Everyone knows how to formulate goals in words. But, in addition to scoring, you also need to know how to record them and how to achieve them. For many, this is a completely different challenge. To which special techniques can be applied.

Read useful tips on how to formulate goals that will change your life. Step-by-step instructions on how to set a goal in life.

❷

What to do if you fail to create goals

Perhaps some of you have reached the fifth step and discovered that you have nothing further to work with. Don’t worry, one day you will just sit on your butt, waiting for a miracle, until suddenly you are overwhelmed with such an endless desire to achieve something that you, with your pants full of joy, will again rush to look for recommendations on the topic “how to achieve your goal.” No, we all understand perfectly well that such a day never comes . What then to do with goals?

Let's go from the opposite. If any activity is boring for you and nothing warms you up at all, then sitting on your butt is not the solution. Therefore, you take any idea from your head, anything: laying tiles, cooking, counting, writing books. Then continue working on this idea from the second step of the instructions.

What does this give? Even if you made a huge mistake with your choice, you can only get this information by going through everything from your own experience. Over time, you will form a holistic opinion about what you do not like at all, and in contrast, ideas will appear about things that may be very cool and interesting to you.

Never give up

The path to success is not always smooth.

There are many happy and unhappy moments in life. Not all tasks can be solved quickly.

It has been established that a person is considered successful if he does not get upset about every failure, but moves on with enthusiasm. At the same time, correctly analyze the situation in order to take into account mistakes made in the future.

A person must have confidence that everything will work out

It is important to understand that there will be no instant success, and to achieve it you need to work long and hard. You need to constantly believe in success

Inner concentration and a strong belief in achieving your goal help you feel successful.

To succeed in life, it is important to eliminate the myth of luck. Having failed, a person who is not ready to accept success in the future decides for himself that he was simply unlucky

Luck, defined as a happy coincidence of circumstances, is not luck, but the result of perseverance and concentration of will to achieve a goal.

Sometimes one failure is enough to give up. Of course, it’s difficult not to get upset and pull yourself together, but you need to explain to yourself that negative emotions are just a reaction to what happened. It is possible to return the original emotional fervor at any stage if you perceive defeat as another hint on how to achieve success faster.

7 rules not to give up:

Don't expect quick results;
Believe in yourself;
Change, don't live in the past;
Don't be afraid to change things;
Don't feel sorry for yourself;
Don't be afraid of defeat;
Forget about being tired.

Target

First you need a goal. Purpose should ignite a fire within you. You must want to achieve it. If everything happens this way, then you will certainly be “on horseback”. If the goal does not ignite or motivate you, then think about whether it is really yours? Isn't it imposed on you from the outside? Relatives, friends, loved ones? Think about it. Sometimes such things are not entirely obvious.

Let's say that you have found a goal for which you are ready to jump out of bed in the morning. It is yours and you strongly desire to achieve it. What to do next?

Proactivity skill

This quality should have been written first, because it is the basis. The core, without which there is no point in taking on the rest. It determines the behavior of a successful person, and all qualities for achieving success in life, one way or another, depend on it.

Proactivity is, in simple words, a person’s conscious desire to influence the events, phenomena, and processes that happen to him. Act based on your deepest values and life principles, regardless of conditions and circumstances.

It is also about taking responsibility for your life and the events that happen in it. This is perhaps the most important characteristic of a person who strives for success, regardless of whether he will become successful in the definition of most people.

Acting proactively is the highest aerobatics in a world that imposes on us: “Take now, pay later,” “Don’t think about the consequences,” “You have to try everything,” etc.

A proactive person does not fall for this crap. He chooses his own path and is not afraid to show it to the world.

A proactive person chooses responsibility over whining, action over regret. If you want to be successful, be ready from now on every day to take steps towards your proactivity: make decisions, take responsibility, take actions, get results, draw conclusions. There is no other way.

You can read about proactivity and other skills that you need to master in order to grow as a Personality in Stephen Covey’s brilliant book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” We are convinced that it is as useful as possible for absolutely everyone: from a housewife to a president.

Why you need to set goals

Goals need to be set in order to realize desires and build your life brick by brick. This seems to be clear to everyone. While you are still a nobody and are at the start, the goal allows you not to sour and hold your tail with a pistol. It is easier to overcome the distance when the cherished finish looms on the horizon and you know where you are running.

However, there are several other functions of goal setting that most people are not even aware of. Let's imagine two hypothetical millionaires. One earned his millions by working hard and improving, while the other inherited them from his parents. Which of them do you think will be more satisfied with life?

At first glance, there shouldn’t be much difference, because both can afford the same high standard of living. But still this is not so. The subjective level of happiness is determined not by external conditions, but by the amount of energy and vitality. And their level depends on special hormones that the brain secretes - serotonin, dopamine and endorphin. You can swim in money and at the same time vegetate in apathy, having no desires, no joy, no taste for life.

External well-being does not equal happiness.

Every person has access to the treasured hormones. The brain generously rewards successful and fruitful activity. This is exactly how the evolutionary mechanism responsible for the development of humanity works.

Roughly speaking, when you do something and receive positive feedback, your energy potential accumulates. You feel a surge of strength, inspiration and desire to conquer the next milestone, which increases with each new victory. Goals help your brain evaluate your progress and reward you for every achievement.

Purpose and its types

Setting life goals is the most important step towards success. It is not necessary to stop at one task and try to implement it. In theory, there are several types of goals in life. Depending on the sphere of society, there are three categories:

Higher goals. They are focused on the person and his environment. Responsible for personal development and helping society.
Basic goals. Aimed at self-realization of the individual and his relationship with other people.
Supporting goals. These include all the material desires of a person, be it a car, a house or a vacation trip.

Based on these three categories, a person realizes himself and improves himself. If at least one target category is missing, he will no longer be happy and successful

That’s why it’s so important to have several goals at the same time in order to develop in all directions.

Formulate your goals correctly. Clearly formulated goals in a person’s life provide 60% of the success of achieving them. It is better to immediately indicate an approximate time frame. Otherwise, the goal of your whole life may remain an unattainable dream.

Conclusions and experience

For the technique to be as effective as possible, it is necessary to use the principle of feedback. In practice it looks like this:

upon achieving a certain result, evaluate how the technique contributed or hindered the achievement of the result;
draw appropriate conclusions;
next time you can make a plan based on your experience.

Now you know how to achieve your goal in life, the next step is to try the technique in practice and make sure of its effectiveness. Do you want to live in such a way “that you won’t experience excruciating pain later on for the years spent aimlessly”?

Set up regular checks

When you set out to do something new, you get a rush of adrenaline and a feeling of excitement.

But, it is enough to move a couple of steps forward and this feeling begins to disappear. This is the reason why so many New Year's resolutions are never implemented or are pushed back to February.

Any goal worth achieving is not realized in an instant. It takes time. To achieve results, it is important to regularly check progress, each time to make sure that you or your team are on track.

The possibility of feedback from the world, the presence of repeated reminders, will allow you to be motivated to achieve your goal. This is very important for large tasks that take months or years to complete.

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Monitoring and assessing the achievement of the set goal

One plan is not enough to achieve the goal. It is also necessary to ensure proper control over the execution of tasks.

First, determine how often you will monitor. This could be a day, a week, a month - choose a specific period of time that suits the situation.

You need to take into account the total time to complete the goal. If it is three months, then you need to check it every week. If it’s a week, then you will need to monitor the situation every day.

Main methods of achieving the goal:

Evaluate the quantity and quality of completed tasks
Compare actual results achieved with planned ones
Conduct analysis and draw conclusions
Adjust the overall path to achieving the goal (if necessary)

We work through our goals more deeply - we come up with a fairy tale

Writing a fairy tale gives a teenager a broader picture of the problem and solutions, as well as the opportunity to identify resources.

We redraw five characters in random order onto a separate sheet. Select the main one. We give all the symbols names - “revive”. We answer the questions: what are these characters thinking? What do they feel? What do they dream about? We find connections: who is friends with whom, who is not friends with whom.

Next, using image symbols and the priority way to achieve the goal for the child, you need to write a short fairy tale - a journey or a story in which all the heroes will participate. The author can add more characters, but the five main ones must be present.

This type of work can take up to twenty minutes. Some teenagers are at first “slow” and complain about the lack of imagination, but if you give them time, then work usually begins to boil for everyone.

The written fairy tale needs to be analyzed, perhaps together with someone, for example, in a group of teenagers.

What is a SMART goal?

SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable (or Actionable), Relevant, and Time-Based. SMART goals meet all five of these criteria—and, as a result, are strategic, focused, and achievable.

Let's look at each characteristic in a little more detail.

Specificity: The goal must be very precise, without any possibility of misinterpretation.

Measurable: The goal should be quantifiable and progress should be easily tracked.

Achievable: The goal should be achievable—not prohibitive or unrealistic.

Relevance: The goal should contribute to the achievement of your broader, overarching goals.

Time bound: The goal must have a specific start and end date.

Setting a goal using the SMART system

This is the most popular approach to goal setting. From English “smart” is translated as “smart”. However, in this case it is an abbreviation. Each letter of this word means a specific characteristic of the goal. Try to evaluate your goal using the following criteria.

Specific - Specific

This criterion means clarity of purpose. The more specific and clear you formulate your goal, the higher the likelihood of its implementation.

For example, you are determined to buy a car

But you don’t need a well-worn and tired representative of the auto industry, no matter what country. Therefore, determine for yourself all the essential criteria

In this case, the correct goal might look like this:

Nissan Leaf car;
no older than 2015;
brought from Japan;
silver body color;
no more than 1.1 million rubles.

There may be even more specifics.

Measurable - Measurable

Here we are talking about measurable goal indicators. In the example of a car, such a criterion, in addition to price, is the source of income through which the car will be purchased. For example, you will save 70% of the cost of your “swallow” yourself, and take 30% on credit.

Or for example, you want to become a popular blogger. On social networks, popularity is measured by the number of subscribers. Therefore, the correct goal will sound something like this - 1 million subscribers on Instagram.

Attainable - Achievable

This sign means that the goal is realistic and can be achieved. It is unlikely that you will be able to move to live on Mars. However, it is quite possible to change your place of residence, limiting yourself to your native planet, for example, moving to another city or country.

Relevant

The goal should be yours, and not imposed. And you need to clearly understand why you passionately desire this. To do this, ask yourself the question: “Why do I need this?” And answer it honestly. Will you become happier? Will you find harmony with yourself? If not, then perhaps you should reconsider your goal.

Let's say you want to move to another city because your town is too small and your life is too slow. Or you can't find a decently paid job. Therefore, it seems to you that the only right way out is to move. But moving alone won't make you happy. Moreover, you may encounter unforeseen circumstances.

Therefore, think over everything carefully, weigh all the pros and cons in order to make the right decision - read how to do this on our website. Perhaps it’s enough to work on yourself a little, retrain for another, more in-demand profession. And no relocation is required. But you, having become happier and more successful in your hometown, will be able to travel more and visit other cities and countries.

Time-bound - Limited in time

Set a deadline - a date or period by which you must achieve your goal. This will help you correctly distribute your efforts towards achieving it. The goal itself must be written in the present tense and begin with the word “I”.

Using the example of buying a car, a correctly set goal according to the SMART system will sound something like this: “I am buying a silver Nissan Leaf, imported from Japan, no older than 2015, no more than 1.1 million rubles. by January 1, 2022, with money 70% of which I earned in my business selling help systems, and 30% from a bank loan.”

Popular SMART goal setting technology

Achieving a goal begins with planning. First of all, you need a high-quality, good aspiration that meets the SMART criteria.

Specific. First of all, specificity is important. You need to clearly understand why this particular dream is important to you. When the true reasons for desires are identified, you can move on to planning.
Measurable. The end result of efforts must have a specific criterion by which it can be determined that the desired has been achieved.
Agreed. It is necessary to understand that to achieve this goal you will need to involve other people. To simplify the task, it is necessary to improve the strategy in such a way as to eliminate or minimize the participation of outsiders.
Realistic. Undoubtedly, ambitions must be great, but at the same time it is important to balance them and correlate them with one’s own capabilities.
Timed (time limit). Set a clear deadline for the implementation of your plan. This will mobilize efforts and allow for the most efficient use of resources and energy.