6 Steps of Effective Goal Setting

You started off the year with a positive attitude. You desire this year to better than the years prior. You know the last 2 years have been some challenging years, not only for you, but for many others. You have decided 2022 is going to be different. 2022 is going to be the year you make the changes you thought about in 2020, because frankly, you had A LOT of time to think in 2020. You are READY for that change! No, you NEED that change!

So where do you start? How do you make this year different than any other year? How do you not repeat the same patterns you have done in the past? One tool that has been effective for me is “Goal Setting”, but to be clearer, “EFFECTIVE GOAL SETTING”. Effective goal setting has helped me to achieve the success I have had not only in my career, but also, in my life.

Alright, I know, you have heard of goal setting, and have probably done some of it in the past, but how EFFECTIVE has your goal setting been? You see as of 2008, only 14% of the population define goals, and only 3% of that population actually write them down. In addition, according to INC.com in 2022, only 8% of people actually achieve their goals. These are ALARMING statistics.

Think about it:

What have you done with the goals you defined in 4th quarter of 2021, or even in January of 2022?
What progress are you making on those goals?
Did you write your goals down, or are they only in your head?

We are already into February of 2022 when this was written, so you still have time if you are not where you want to be thus far. And, if you are crushing your goals, congratulations! Keep doing what you are doing, and don’t stray away from the success you are currently achieving.

However, for the majority (92% according to INC.com), you may be struggling. Here are some tips I have learned to keep you on track on achieving your goals. I must say, this isn’t rocket science, and you probably know a lot of this, but sometimes you need a friendly reminder to keep you focused, and grounded. As a martial artist, I have to stay grounded and cored at all times in order to be effective with my movements, and I leverage that concept in all that I do. ☺️🥷🏽

TIP 1: Write Down Your Goals: Statistically, only 3% of the population write down their goals, and those who do are 3 times more successful than those who don’t. You may wonder why this is? You see, when you write down your goals a few things happen:

THE GOAL BECOMES REAL: You can actually see what you want to achieve.
BRING MORE FOCUSED ACTION: It’s not just something in your head, or thoughts any more. It’s something you can see in front of you that you can do something with.
BRINGS CLARITY: There are a lot of thoughts in this brain of ours and sometimes it can get cloudy. Getting out of the clouds and onto paper brings a sense of clarity.

Hopefully you see the value of writing down your goals by these few examples. ☺️

Now when you write your goals, make sure they are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, realistic and time-bound). Make sure your goals are not generic, that will make it really hard to measure your progress on them, or worse yet, achieve them. Also, one last thing, make sure your goals are YOUR goals. Not your mother’s goals. Not your father’s goals. Not your best friends goals. Not your 3rd cousin 15 times removed. You get my point, right? These goals need to be yours and mean something to you.

Okay moving, right along.

TIP 2: Define the “WHY” for each goal: This is KEY!!!! It’s one thing to define goals, but understanding the WHY behind each goal takes it to another level. Just saying something, or writing it down, is not enough. When you WHY is BIG enough that gives you the motivation, and encouragement, to achieve.

For example, let’s say you have a goal to open up your own restaurant. That sounds like a great goal and it’s doable. You are excited to do it until you start working on it and realize how much time, energy, resources, and money it is going to take. You start to get discouraged and you want to give up. But then you go back to your why. Your why is that you want to share your culture, and recipes, with others to carry on your grandparents legacy of being restaurant owners. Some of the greatest moments in your childhood was when you were with them in the restaurant cooking, and watching how everyone loved their food, and them. The joy they brought to others always made you proud. You want to provide that same feeling for your children, and hopefully carry on the tradition. Now, this is just an example of how your WHY can motivate you to continue on, even when you feel like giving up.

TIP 3: BE Realistic on the Amount of Goals You Can Achieve at a Given Time: There is nothing wrong with writing down ALL of your goals; however, you don’t want to take on more goals than you can realistically achieve. This is a HUGE mistake many of my clients have made in the past. You need to plan out your goals, just like you plan other things. Determine which goals you want to achieve in a year. Then determine what goals you want to achieve in 90, 60, 30, and 7 days, and even daily. When you see progress, that motives you to keep making progress. If you are overwhelmed, and not achieving anything, that can discourage you, and that is NOT what you want.

TIP 4: Eliminate/Lessen Distractions: I get it! Life is busy! You have other priorities you feel take precedence over what you want to achieve. You have other commitments that appear to be more important at the time, but I want you to take a moment to think back on the times you wanted to focus on your goals and didn’t. Okay, you there?

What were those things you allowed to distract you?
Where those things really that important?
Was it worth putting your goals on the back burner for them?
Do you have regrets that you did?

Now please, don’t get me wrong! There are times when we do need to put other things in front of our own desires. Some of us have had to take care of sick parents, spouses or even our children. Some of us have had our own health challenges. Those are not the events I am talking about here. The events I am talking about here are those things that we allow to distract us to either (1) avoid focusing on ourselves for whatever reason we can come up, (2) allow us to procrastinate because we just don’t want to work on the goals because they are too hard, or will take time, or (3) feed into our limiting beliefs of what we are capable of doing. At some point, you will be forced to focus on you, whether you want to or not. So, wouldn’t you rather do it on your own terms, and in your own time, opposed to being forced? Stop allowing other people or things, to distract you from what you know you want, and have to achieve. Stop making excuses and start achieving your heart’s desire. Yes, it make take some work, but aren’t you WORTH IT? If you answered “no” to that question, then you really need to start doing some introspection and self-worth evaluation. Don’t worry that’s another topic coming this year I will be talking about. I got you!!!! 😉

TIP 5: Hold Yourself Accountable: Now, this tip is so important. You have done all of this work to define your goals, you wrote them down, defined the “WHY” behind them, organized them, and figured out your distractions and how you are not going to allow those distractions to stop you, right? Okay, so hold yourself ACCOUNTABLE! Why do all of this work if you aren’t going to execute? It’s time to stop the madness of repeating the same patterns every year of not achieving your goals (if you struggle with this). Make this year different, and find someone to hold you accountable.

I have a client right now that told me that he always writes down his goal every year, but the actual execution of them is where he struggles. He has great intentions, but then depending on the type of day he is having, his thoughts start to deter him from doing what he knows he needs to be doing. Then, as his accountability partner, I come along and provide him his goal tracking report every other week, and when he starts to see that “red” he knows he needs to do something different, because he doesn’t want to let me down, but more importantly he doesn’t want to let his family, or himself, down. When someone is in your face, or ear, pushing and encouraging you that makes a world of difference.

As Betty Ford said, “You can make it, but it’s easier if you don’t have to do it alone”.

So let others help you. If you need accountability, I am happy to help you. I have attached a flyer about a program I have that will hold you accountable if interested. You can find it here. Again, I got you!!!! 👊🏾

I did digress a little bit, so let me get back on track. ☺️

TIP 6: Celebrate Your Progress: Its’s important to track your progress and to celebrate every win along the way. There is no win too small to celebrate. We sometimes think we should only celebrate the BIG wins, but a win is a win. So, make sure to celebrate them.

Also, be honest and transparent with yourself when you don’t achieve your goals. No one is perfect and when you don’t meet a goal that doesn’t mean you are failure. That just means you need to reevaluate why you missed your goal, and your next steps. Just DON’T GIVE UP!!! You CAN’T GIVE UP!! We need to experience the greatness you bring to this world through your gifts and talents. So, there are many people depending on your gifts, not just you. REMEMBER THAT!!!

In conclusion, I know it’s hard to work on yourself sometimes. But when, do you get sick and tired of saying you want to change, and then not do it? When do you sick and tired of writing your goals every year and not achieving some, or all, of them. I truly believe 2022 is a year of TRANSITION and ELEVATION for many. This is the year to achieve those goals you have put on the back burner for so long. This is the year to eliminate unnecessary distractions so you can be the “BEST YOU IN ‘22”. This is the year for CHANGE! So, let’s make the changes taking baby steps. Let’s first set EFFECTIVE GOALS and hold ourselves accountable to achieve them. WE GOT THIS!!!!

WE GOT WORK TO DO IN ’22!!!

Until next time,

The BA Martial Artist is signing off

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Biography: Paula Bell is a Certified Business Analyst, Master Life Coach, Certified Diversity & Inclusion Manager Coach and Career Development Coach, with over 20 years of experience working in corporate America in varied project roles and industries. In addition, for the last 20 years Paula has been successful in running a consulting business that focuses on mind, body, soul for the last 20 years. She has a passion to inspire, motivate and encourage others holistically, leveraging martial arts concepts, hence the alias of “The BA Martial Artist”.