In the last article, I talked to you about a great tool to help you when making or modifying your yearly goals: SMART goals
Here’s what each letter in SMART stood for, as a quick refresher:
S – specific. Are you specific about what goal you want to achieve?
M – measurable. Is the goal something you can track or quantify or measure?
A – achievable. Is the goal something you can accomplish realistically? Not too easy and not too hard?
R – relevant. Is this goal relevant to you and if so – in what way?
T – time-bound. Do you have a date or time frame by which you want to achieve a goal?
While it’s great to have goals, I have found that sometimes it’s way too easy to fall way off track and not stay on course with goals for all kinds of reasons:
– lack of accountability (self or others)
– loss of motivation
– “life” and unexpected events that derail us
– no system in place to revisit goals on a regular basis
Here are some tips that I believe could help you stay on track with your goals:
Consider keeping your goals list somewhere you can look at it on a regular basis as a visual cue in your environment as a reminder to work on the goals. Having my goals out of sight out of mind hasn’t worked for me in the past. Now, I keep them on my desk daily so I can reference them regularly.
Consider sharing your goals with someone – a friend, accountability partner, family member, mentor, or coach to help you stay on track. If it is a friend or accountability partner, perhaps you could set up periodic meetings to specifically check in with each other on goals. Who comes to mind?
Consider intentionally planning out a review NOW for every quarter of the year to see how you’re doing at progressing with your goals. Have a scheduler? Mark your personal goals list review NOW so you can stay on track!
Again, these tips may or may not work for you, but these are some ideas you may want to consider.
Have a thriving year ahead!
