Seven steps to creating and reaching your TRUE goal!

The idea of setting goals is not a new concept. I’m sure as women in business, you’ve been barraged with suggestions for how to structure a goal and measure your progress. A common denominator of most goal-setting methods is to set a clearly defined target. However, I find it fascinating that despite the documented evidence pointing to this most important aspect of goal setting, most women are still failing to embrace it.

Without setting a clear structure for your goals, you may find your pathway blocked by obstacles such as reduced confidence, increased feelings of failure, missed opportunities, miscommunication and unmet expectations. Key relationships might be damaged, and you might also lose time and money from reactive, instead of proactive, behavior. Overall, you end up working harder than needed on the wrong things.

If you find yourself facing such obstacles, don’t get discouraged. I would like to offer seven steps to help you discover and reach your true goal. A true goal is not an easy peripheral goal, but the one that draws you in, inspires you and drives you to action. It’s something you get excited about. It’s also something you really want and not something you think you “should” want, which depletes your energy and motivation.

Step 1: Have a written vision of success, or a personal mission statement. Writing your goal down helps you know where to go next and gives you strength to make it through difficult times. Having a solid personal vision also enables you to take risks and better focus on the areas you want to work on.

Step 2: Identify the specific details necessary to accurately target your goal. This is probably one of the most important steps and also one of the most often neglected. It’s a myth to think that just because you want something you will be able to do it. To reach your true goal, you must set a specific and detailed plan of action. Avoid broad statements; instead, create specific action steps you can use to keep you on track and measure your progress.

Step 3: Increase your ability to sustain your goals through clear measurements of success. This involves both outer and inner measurements. For the outer, consider what accomplishing this goal would look like. For the inner, ask yourself how achieving the goal would make you feel.

Step four: Ask yourself what might be getting you off course when you’re striving for a goal you thought was achievable. Consider whether your action steps have enough details to make them reachable. If not, your goal may be too broad in which case you’ll need to be more specific. After narrowing your focus, check your progress. Careful thought at this stage will help you identify any obstacles preventing you from reaching your goal. It will also help build solutions into your plan.

Step five: Find ways to gather the support and resources you’ll need to accomplish your goal. Ask yourself how reasonable it is it to achieve this now. Consider current situations. If your goal feels overwhelming or relies too much on others, it may be too large. In that case, make it more specific then measure your progress again.

Step six: Establish realistic time-lines. To increase your chances of hitting your goal, you must first know where to aim and then fire. Writing your goal down and breaking it into measurable action steps allows you to create clear focus by making your goal possible one step at a time. This is the most important part of the goal achievement process!

Step seven: Celebrate your successes. This will increase your energy, motivation and ability to follow through. Self-acknowledgment and validation is important to build confidence and increase your willingness to take new risks. As a professional woman, you can sometimes be so focused on the next result that you fail to make time to celebrate what you achieved.

Setting and achieving goals can be an arduous process, but there’s almost nothing as rewarding as hitting a desired milestone. By following these steps, you can experience the success of reaching your true goal for yourself.

>> Want to accelerate reaching your True passionate goals? Pick up a copy of my book and get my proven 10-Step process to create a Focus Action Plan for any area of your life. Or reserve a coaching module and work directly with me to create a strategic plan that will motivate you into action!