Activities for Goal Setting

Did you know that less than 10% of people actually reach their goals?

You’ve got to ask, what’s the point in setting goals if you’re not even going to commit to reaching them?

Now in all seriousness and with a touch of reality – life gets busy.

Distraction happens. Goals get set (eagerly in the New Year) and forgotten about by the end of January. It’s too easy to slip off the bandwagon.

But perhaps you’re one of the 8% who actually wants to reach your goals? Like, really?

No matter what life throws at you?

Or how much willpower you need to dig into, or how much effort and perseverance needs to be summoned?

If so, you need to dig into the ideal activities for goal setting explained below, which will ensure you reach your goal come what may.

These activities are things you do, actions you take to reach your goals.

Because no goal was ever met by doing nothing, right?

Your Baseline

First off, you must start right now from where you’re at! No point in waiting ’til you feel ready, because honestly, feeling ready is bulls*it.

No one successful ever feels “ready”. They just hunker down and get on with what needs to be done.

So, set your baseline and figure out what your goal is as your first step.

Now your goal/s should be based on how you want to feel once you reach them. Read this post for a better explanation on this.

Your goal may be anything, such as earning more money, starting a new career, being more present and at peace from within, even improving your relationship with your partner, as examples.

Whatever your goal, no matter how crazy it may seem to you or how hard you think it is – write it down!

Go on, do it NOW! No, no – the dishes can wait! Go and write down your goal on paper.

Chunk it down

Seeing your goal on paper, you’ll feel resistance to it immediately.

The excuses and doubt will creep in, and you’ll likely default to your automatic way of thinking, such as:

“I’m not good enough! I can’t do this! I’m not worthy of this! I don’t deserve this! How am I ever going to get time to do this? This goal is impossible!”

To beat this, you need to recognise that there are two voices in your head.

The loud voice you can always hear is never ever gonna help you reach your goals!

She’s mean, negative, unhelpful, impatient, easily irritable and just a downright nuisance.

She’ll sabotage you to the bitter end.

You must buffer up your quieter, kinder voice, who knows what you’re capable of.

She’s your cheerleader when the going gets tough. Who loves you unconditionally. Who’s got your back no matter what! And who wants you to well and truly reach your goal!

She’s there, and yes, she’s quieter, but that’s why she needs a megaphone! So you can hear her! So listen in.

Believe In Yourself

Your quieter voice tells you, “I know you don’t believe you can reach your goal, so I’m gonna back you up and help you achieve it!”

She’s telling you to chunk your goal into smaller, bitesize chunks.

Chunking down your goal is essential to reaching it.

The reason that only 8% of people reach goals is because they don’t focus all their efforts on the end goal. They focus on the next tiny step they’ll take to reach that big goal!

And they keep taking tiny actions every day.

Again, you can chunk down your goal on that piece of paper you’ve got, or even better, get yourself a pretty journal such as this one and keep it all organised in one place.

Chunking down means you break your goal into the tiniest, minuscule steps you can imagine. Literally, so tiny that you’ll reach your goal without even realising it.

By doing so, you take off that tremendous pressure and self doubt, and the goal becomes that much more attainable.

What you want to think is, “How can I reach this goal realistically?” And “What do I need to do to get to it?” Write it all down.

Small Steps

As an example, if your goal is “I want to reach 5k months by the end of 2022”, chunking it down may involve smaller steps of;

– Reviewing where you’re at right now, finances, business, job status, etc.

– Setting quarterly targets for yourself. How much do you need to charge to reach X and Y by the date you choose?

– Creating a bucket list of ideas you have about how to reach your goal

– Starting a spreadsheet tracker of your plans and progress day by day, month by month.

– Booking a call with a coach to help you.

– Reading a book on the strategies you need to take.

– Posting your first social media post (if applicable).

– Holding a review session 3 months in to check how you’re doing.

Action-The Best Activity For Goal Setting

The thing is, only you can chunk down your goal, because it needs to fit with your lifestyle to make it achievable, but you don’t need to do this on your own! There are tons of resources out there to help you.

And the activity for goal setting is – you guessed it – to actually do those steps that you’ve laid out for yourself! Take action on them!

Help Yourself

After you’ve chunked down your goal and set smaller goals to reach the big goal, you need to keep your mind in the game and on your side so you keep taking action.

I advocate the use of affirmations, mantras, and wall posts with motivational words to keep you moving forward.

I also recommend creating a vision board full of pictures & words of your ideal goal outcome to keep you moving towards it.

The reason is, if you don’t support yourself to reach your goal, you’ll give up.

The problem is that giving up is too easy, and with all the technology, distractions, and noise outside, it’s hard to stay committed.

Which is why most people fail to reach their goals, BUT that’s not you!

You won’t fail! You’re going to reach your goal!

This is why the first step – your baseline – is SO important.

Your goal MUST be something you really, really want to achieve too, as the wanting will make it so much more real and ensure you remain committed.

I once heard this: “Winners never quit and quitters never win” and it’s stayed with me for life.

Do the work

This is the bit where the talk gets tougher.

Without doing the work and taking action on your chunked down steps, no goal will ever be achieved.

This is crucial to understand, and it’s clear that in these modern times, our mindsets have gone a bit towards the ‘entitled’ mindset, which is the “I don’t have to do this, it’s someone else’s job!” or “I don’t care, I’ll just do this instead because it’s all about me!”

It’s the “You owe me” attitude, and it’s one of the biggest killers of goals. As is the victim mindset, which is even worse!

So do the work. When it comes to reaching your goal, YOU must be the one to do this.

Take action and book that call with a coach. Read that book. Go for that run to help lose those extra kilos ec.

Whatever your goal is, take on the responsibility! Own it and it will be yours, but only when you take action.

Get Help From Others

Do not attempt to reach your goal on your own. That’s madness!

You need to enlist someone to help you, an accountability buddy or someone to give you a motivational kick when you’re not feeling it.

Being held accountable is certainly one of the most important elements of reaching any goal. If you’ve not got someone supporting you, then again, you’ll give up.

Ask someone to call you once a week to say “How’s things going?” Nudge them to ask, “What have you done this week to get closer to your goal?”

It’s important to be real and believe your goal is achievable if only you stay the course and stay committed! And accountability is key to this commitment.

Review Yourself

Set yourself up to once a week to review your progress toward your goal.

Which steps have you completed to get you closer? What can you tick off?

What went well that week?

And what went not so well that can be improved upon next week?

It’s so important to keep track of your goal progress, otherwise you’ll get distracted and busy with other things.

Bonus Activities for Goal Setting

The Ideal Day exercise – This is an exercise for goal setting where you write out your dream day from morning to night. Highly recommended for goal inspiration!

What makes me jealous? – Choosing the activities for goal setting which improve your life is key to seeing goals materialise. Journal on this and find some answers to what you actually want!

If I had 24 hours left? – Another great exercise to journal on!

In 5 years – Don’t think that setting goals needs to be achieved in a short time. Long term goals are equally, if not more effective! This exercise is great for setting goals for your future and setting you up for success.

Learn to Journal – Journaling will help keep you on track and motivate you when you’re not feeling it. Buy my e-book on journaling and see how it can help you.