Most people have trouble setting and achieving their goals. Most people as in me. I can either set goals that are too lofty or unrealistic, which can lead to disappointment and a feeling of failure, or not set any at all. Any and all advice I can find on how to make life easier, and success smoother — I am all ears. So here are some awesome tips I’ve found for setting and achieving realistic goals.
1. What are goal setting techniques
2. How to use goal-setting techniques to achieve your goals
3. How goal setting can help you stay motivated
4. Set SMART goals
5. Huberman’s 9 Tools for staying on track with your goals
What are goal-setting techniques?
The key to setting and achieving realistic goals is to have a clear understanding of goal-setting techniques. These are the steps you can take to set your goals, break them down into manageable steps, and ensure that you stay motivated throughout the process. Some of the most popular goal-setting techniques include brainstorming objectives, focusing on what you want to achieve, setting SMART goals, and creating a goal-setting action plan.
How to use goal-setting techniques to achieve your goals
The first step in goal setting is to brainstorm what is reasonable for you. When you’re thinking about what’s important, make sure that it resonates with your values and beliefs- this will help guide future decisions made towards achieving those long-term objectives!
How goal setting can help you stay motivated
Empower yourself with goals that matter: Oftentimes, we doubt ourselves and feel like any goal is too big for us to reach–but the more focused our energy becomes; the easier each step towards achieving these larger aspirations seems now. Think small first by celebrating the small wins so there are no overwhelming feelings later.
Set SMART goals
SMART goal setting is a popular goal-setting technique that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. When setting SMART goals, you’ll need to make sure that your goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to you and your life or work situation, and time-bound.
Once you’ve set SMART goals, you should create a plan to help you achieve your goals. You may want to break down the big goal into smaller tasks, set deadlines for these individual steps, and track them so that when it’s time to evaluate whether or not they’ve been completed successfully – if all goes according to plan.
If SMART goals pique your interest and you are in recovery, check out our article on Smart Recovery. This program has tons of essential tools to help people reach their goal of removing the cycle of addiction from their lives.
Huberman Lab’s Tools for staying on track
I absolutely love the Huberman Lab podcast and found some golden tools you can use to stay on track with your goal. Here’s what Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, shares in his Huberman Lab podcast episode, the Science of Setting and Achieving Goals.
Listen: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
- 00:01:56 Tool 1: Learn Fast(er) by the 85% Rule
It would be best if you strived to learn something new with an 85% success rate. Anything lower or higher can put you off from pursuing that goal which is why we want moderate goals-not too easy or hard.
- 00:51:55 Tool 2: Use Focal Vision to Initiate Goal Pursuit
Visualizing the goal line has been shown to be effective at improving performance. Research suggests it can help you achieve your objective more easily because of its ability to increase cognitive attention and focus which improves performance.
- 00:54:40 Tool 3: Use Aged Self-Images to Self-Motivate
- 00:59:33 Tool 4: Visualization of Goals is Only Helpful at the Start
Research shows that our blood pressure increases during visualization but quickly returns to normal. It becomes difficult for us to rely on visualizations alone when trying to achieve long-term goals because they do not provide enough motivation or guidance in taking action towards the result.
- 01:02:05 Tool 5: Visualizing Failure is the Best Ongoing Motivator
Visualizing failure is one of the most effective ways to ensure you will not fail. The research shows that when people routinely visualize foreshadowing their failures, they have nearly double the odds of reaching a goal than those who don’t do this kind of exercise regularly or never.
- 01:07:26 Tool 6: Make Goals Moderately Lofty
- 01:13:05 Tool 7: Avoid Goal Distraction; Focus on 1-2 Major Goals Per Year
Take steps to manage your stress and avoid distractions that might interfere with your goal.
- 01:15:57 Tool 8: Ensure Specificity of Goals, Weekly Assessment
- 01:39:50 Tool 9: Space-Time Bridging
Full Podcast Here:
Overall, goal setting is an important part of achieving success in life and work. By practicing techniques to set realistic goals and taking the time to create a goal-setting action plan, you’ll be on your way to achieving them. And don’t forget to celebrate any and all successes along the way. Celebrating all your progress along the way is truly the way to go!
