What’s the Best Way to Achieve Goals?

Considering the best way to achieve goals is important, because reaching goals, being productive and having a sense of achievement are crucial for our well-being. Working in HR has given me the opportunity to be involved with goal achievement from various angles including both the personal and team level.

Furthermore, I have researched this topic a lot and tried out several approaches. Some of the things I’ve set goals for include:

• learning a new language
• getting an advanced degree in another country
• performance targets at work
• paying off debt, saving and investing

Just like anyone I have succeeded in some areas and experienced set-backs in others. In any case, I’ve learned a lot and believe the following twelve factors are crucial for setting and achieving goals.

My 12-factor booster set accounts not only for the goals themselves, but also for the environment in which the goals are carried out.

We often fail to reach our goals because we don’t consider pertinent environmental factors. These may include:

• potential distractors
• how much time we can actually allocate
• what support we have
• motivational factors such as rewards and alternative pathways should something unexpected happen

1. Set Goals That Are Meaningful

Goals should matter to you. You can frame goals to align with your core values, world view, important relationships, fundamental beliefs, attitudes, or identity. Having such goals increases commitment, motivation and thereby the probability of success.

2. Best Way to Achieve Goals – Set Goals That Are Ambitious

Goals should be set in such a way that they help you to develop. Ambitious goals push you outside of your comfort zone and cause you to go beyond what you thought was possible. When you have ambitious goals, you may not reach them 100%. This is ok! By going beyond, you will truly be able to grow personally and professionally, innovate and discover new approaches. This is the real success.

3. Define Subgoals

Some goals seem hard to approach and even insurmountable. Try breaking down the large goal into smaller subgoals. By doing this, your goal suddenly becomes more manageable. Before you were stressed even at the thought of trying, but now you are motivated to proceed just one step at a time.

4. Identify Needed Resources

I believe many people fail at goal achievement, because they do not take enough time to consider what resources are needed. Doing this can save you a lot of hassle in the future. If you build a house, you need to plan how much material your need. It is the same with goal achievement. Do you need a certain amount of money? Do you need to acquire new skills? To reach this goal, how much time do you realistically need?

5. How Do You Know if Your Goals are Met?

Not all goals are measurable, but you should still know once you have met your goal. Without an anchor, it is easy to float around aimlessly. A critical question is, “how do I know if I am making progress?”

6. Best Way to Achieve Goals – Work with Deadlines

I advocate working with deadlines. This creates positive pressure and helps keep you on track. Knowing when things need to be done will help you manage your time more effectively. I don’t think iron clad deadlines are always beneficial – it’s ok to adjust the timeline as needed. However, if you don’t make regular progress, your motivation will eventually dive.

7. Identify Your Support Network

We don’t live in a vacuum. We interact with people and our environment. Identify those who can support you in reaching your goals. They can also give you valuable feedback which is crucial for motivation.

8. Best Way to Achieve Goals – Consider Your Environment

Consider the environment in which goal setting takes place. This includes eliminating distractions. For example, if you need to work in a concentrated way, put away your phone so that you’re not tempted to check your messages too often. If you have a colleague that often interrupts with small talk find a way to set a healthy boundary.

Are there competing goals that make it unlikely for you to succeed? For example, if you would like to take on more responsibility at work, but at the same time don’t want to sacrifice family time, you could run into a big problem. In this case, you would have to carefully consider if it’s possible to rearrange your schedule so that both pursuits are reconcilable.

Considering the enviornment also includes making your environment work for you, not against you. For example, you can keep an organized space so that you feel less stressed and can quickly find things that you need. You can also write down your goals and put them in a spot that is highly visible. In this way you’re constantly reminded of your goals and are motivated to work towards them.

9. Best Way to Achieve Goals – Identify Alternative Pathways

When setting goals, we often assume from the outset that everything will go well. We should not fundamentally believe that problems will arise, but we should be prepared. What are potential problems or challenges? In the event of these happening, what would you do? What are alternative ways that you could go about reaching your goal?

10. Make Your Goals Transparent

Some goals should remain private, but in most cases making your goals public can be extremely helpful. This keeps you accountable by generating a positive social pressure. Furthermore, making your goals public invites the help of others who would like to support you in your endeavors.

11. Best Way to Achieve Goals – Revisit Your Goals Regularly

Even things that are important to us may become dim in our consciousness, especially when there is so much to do. Because our schedules are so packed, the goals we have may end up in the land of forgetfulness. It is important to regularly revisit your goals. Read your written goals regularly. Another tip that is extremely effective is to visualize yourself attaining your goals (end-result) and successfully completing every step necessary to get there (process).

12. Reward Yourself

If someone wanted to do something nice for you, what would it be? It is important to reward yourself for making progress. These can be small things like a nice bath or ordering your favorite meal. Doing this will help keep you motivated and add to the fun factor of goal pursuit.

Some More Things to Consider:

Asking what is the best way to reach goals is a good question, but misses a crucial matter. More fundamental to goal achievement is your mindset. Goal frameworks are helpful and numerous, but two different people can use the same framework and have very different degrees of success.

The point of my contribution is not to give you another checklist. Rather, by working with these top tips, you can become more confident in your ability to succeed and more skilled in mapping out various pathways to reach your goals.

This is crucial because when things don’t go as initially planned, you will keep at it and and if necessary find another way to reach your goal.

Another thing I would warmly recommend is to regulary write down your goals. Research show that by doing this you are 20 to 40% more likely to succeed.

This is not a magic trick, but a matter of focus. By keeping your goals mentally present and visualizating the end result you prime yourself to do the things that bring you closer to your goals. On the flip side, you are more likely to guard yourself against distractions or anything that hinders your success.

You are surely able to reach your goals and I wish you much success in doing so.