Mike Delgado

Goal planning is not just for a new year – it’s something you can do anytime.

The trouble with goal setting is that sometimes we lose focus or momentum because we haven’t armed ourselves with everything we need to make them a reality.

Here are five ways to help you reach your goals . . .

1. Make sure your goal is realistic (and recalibrate when necessary)
It’s important to set goals that will stretch and challenge you – but your goals should also be achievable. If you set a goal for yourself that is not realistic, you should adjust your deadline so that you will achieve it.  Audit your progress regularly so you can see if you’re on track – and re-set the deadline date if you fall too far behind.

2. Share your goal with someone who will keep you accountable.
Some people find it motivating to tell everyone about their goals – and that can help you stay focused when everyone is rooting for you. I don’t share most of my goals – except with a few trusted people that I know will keep me accountable. It’s important to bring others in on important goals so they can help guide and keep you focused on achieving them.

3. Keep focused on your goals by visualizing the outcome regularly.
Some people like to have a dream board to help them stay focused on goals. A dream board is simply a place where you can put pictures, notes, and items that remind you of the goal and outcome. You can create a dream board on Pinterest (or post these pictures up on your wall at home or work). The idea is that you regularly see this goal to remind you of what you’re aiming for. I don’t have a dream board yet, but I’m spending time thinking about the outcome of my goals and how I’m going to feel when I accomplish them.

4. Remind yourself of the why.
I was listening to Michael Hyatt tell the story of the problems he ran into when trying to publish his first book. Everything that could have gone wrong – pretty much did. He had many reasons to quit, but he kept pressing forward because he reminded himself of WHY he was doing it. When you create a goal, you have a good reason for doing it. And you probably had a lot of motivation when first starting out. To regain that momentum, you need to regularly remind yourself WHY you want to achieve it. You can do this with a dream board or by writing down your reasons and re-reading regularly.

5. Use the “snowball technique” to break up your big goals into many achievable projects.
A big goal can sometimes feel unreachable when you begin thinking about everything you need to do. And that can be devastating for your motivation. One key to getting back on track is to simply break up your big goal into small goals for yourself.

In personal finance, there is something called “the snowball effect” used by many people who want to pay off their debts. The concept is that you pay off each of your debts starting with the smallest debt first. And this strategy can work because you’re seeing credit card bills and debts disappear one by one, which is highly motivating. So use the “snowball technique” on big goals by breaking it up into mini projects you achieve one by one.

For example, I’m planning to write my first 10,000 word ebook in the next 3 months. This means I need to write roughly 111 words per day (which is realistic for me). In fact, my goal is to write +166 words per day so I can finish the ebook in 60 days and then have 30 days to edit, polish, and get formatted for Kindle. Thinking about writing 166 words per day is much more motivating than focusing on writing 10,000 words.

So what about you? How are you planning on reaching your goals?