5 simple steps to set your goals and achieve them in 2018 (+Examples)

05.01.2018 romanroams Successful life

If you want to make sure that this year is better than the previous one, you should set some particular goals and do everything to achieve them.

In 5 easy steps, I will tell you how to set your goals and achieve them to be successful in all spheres of life.

What Right Goals Can Do for You

I’ve been learning a lot of theory about self-development, goal setting, time management and similar topics for many years. I know that there are different techniques to set goals, separate them into different categories and prioritize them.

Now, I’m 21, I’m a digital marketing specialist, I own and write for 2 travel blogs I’ve created myself, I used to write some programs and games in Java, C++ and Python, I learned about stocks investment, I fluently speak 6 languages.

You think I’m just a nerd sitting at my laptop all the time? No way! I love to go out, meet my friends and get to know new people, I used to do a lot of sports and want to continue doing some of them soon. I also travel once or twice a month.

I’m a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which means that there are links, by clicking which, I might get some commission at no cost for you. All my recommendations are unbiased and only represent my opinion.

How do I do it? Mostly, thanks to goal setting and prioritization.

Have the life you want starting with these three books (third one is my favorite)

Here, I will tell you about the five easy steps to set your goals for 2018. You will see that it is not difficult, but can result in big achievements.

Set what you need to improve and directions of improvement

Think of the spheres of life that you need to improve, something you are not fully successful in (there is always space for improvement).

Examples: Family, money, health, joy of life…

What exactly in the abovementioned spheres of life you could improve, and in what direction you need to move to improve them.

Examples: ‘I need to learn Spanish to find the job easier (job)’, ‘I need to start doing sports regularly to improve health (health)’, ‘I need to prioritize tasks in my job to travel more (travel or joy of life)’ and much more.

Set your SMART goals and ways to achieve them

SMART is a famous term used for defining goals to make it easier and more realistic from the beginning to achieve them. SMART stands for Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-Bound. All these words need to be characteristic to all the goals you set.

Examples: ‘Start earning $10000 monthly by December’ (if you earn 7 or 8k now), ‘Visit 5 new countries in 2018’ (If you have more than just a week of vacations per year), ‘Spend 1 full day with your family every week during the year’ (if you don’t work 7 days a week).

Tell others about your goals

You can just tell your friend, or even post on your social media what you are planning to achieve this year (or in life). There is a great tool that will help you to stay motivated on the way to your goals.

This tool is called PromiseorPay and you can get its idea from the name: you promise to achieve some goal and pay if you didn’t achieve it. You can also share this promise to be sure that you won’t cheat, and will definitely pay in the end. Money will be transferred to a charitable organization of your choice.

Think of activities to reach your goals

You need to do the right things to achieve your goals. Not to waste your time, think of the activities that will get you closer to your goals.

Examples: work harder and more efficient or ask your boss for promotion in case of ‘Start earning $10000 monthly by December’, plan your trips throughout the year (for a weekend, for holidays, for vacations) in case of ‘Visit 5 new countries in 2018’, and plan family activities in advance in case of ‘Spend 1 full day with your family every week during the year’.

Set measures to track the progress

Success of most of the goals can be tracked in time using the same measures that you used in your goals (if they are M – measurable). So, in most of the cases, you don’t need to think twice, you’ve already chosen your measures.

Examples: money for ‘Start earning $10000 monthly by December’, number of countries visited for ‘Visit 5 new countries in 2018’, and number of weeks without such days for ‘Spend 1 full day with your family every week during the year’.

And, finally, enjoy your results, and make some corrections for the next year. If you want to be more successful, follow my blog on social media to keep track of all similar goal setting and self-development articles that I will post 1-2 times per month. Also, check some of my travel articles to visualize your goals: Norway fjords road trip or Madrid travel guide.