A good archer is known not by his arrows but by his aim.

                                             - Thomas Fuller

A life without purpose is a life without direction. And a life without direction won’t have anywhere worthwhile to finish.

There are many reasons that might make you feel like they have no direction. But the main reason always comes down to this; you haven’t spent enough time thinking about why you are here and where you are going.

And that’s where setting personal goals comes in.

Why is Setting Personal Goals Important?

Setting Personal Goals is an extremely important process in self-development because if you can focus in on your specific path, you will be far more able to decide how you will move through your life.

Too many people forget the importance of planning in their self-growth. But sometimes it’s just as important just to take a step back and decide if the direction you’re going in is the right direction as it is to grab the bull by the horns.

And that’s what this post is all about. How you, today, can ensure your short-term steps will take you towards long-term satisfaction and accomplishment. Your one life success.

Related Reading: Setting Goals & Taking Action

Top Tips for Setting Personal Goals…

Life’s up and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine your values and goals. Think of using all obstacles, as stepping-stones to build the life you want.

- Marsha Sinetar

Whether you’re an athlete, businessman or writer setting the right personal goals will set you the right vision and motivations. If you can set the right goals, you can achieve the right things, and feel truly fulfilled by what your doing with your life.

So here are my top tips for helping you make the most of your mindset, time and energy.

1) Have A Vision…

Before you set your personal goals, ensure you have a clear idea of the big picture and an understanding of who you are, what really matters to you and where you want to be in the future. In having a clear vision, and ensuring your goals match up to this vision, you can be sure that you won’t put your time into the wrong task or loose sight of the big dream.

2) Be S.M.A.R.T

To ensure your personal goals are the right sort by following self-developing checklist S.M.A.R.T.

* Be specific and know exactly what that goal involves; if your able to understand the task at hand, your more likely to achieve it and know when your going off track.

* Ensure your goal is measurable; if you are able to track your progress easily, you’ll be much more able to keep ahead of deadlines.

* Make the goal attainable; if a goal is overly far fetched, then failure will result in a crush of confidence and motivation. Similarly, a goal that isn’t too easy or too hard will boost that confidence. And make your more prepared to go on to bigger tasks in the future.

* Be realistic, again this relates to ideas of the goal matching your vision; why save up to go to a lecture about Science if you want to be an artist? Put all of your resources and what’s good about you, into the work that you do. Chances are you’ll be more likely, that way, to feel fulfilment when the task at hand is done.

* And finally, make sure the goal is time-related; in having a deadline for your goal, you will be more motivated towards achieving it. So always set deadlines, within deadlines to access your process and fuel your motivation. If it helps, have someone else set you a deadline. That way your not just letting down yourself.

3) Prioritise

Once you have a list of S.M.A.R.T goals in hand you’ll need to take steps towards your vision, so decide what you can achieve right now in present time and rearrange the list in order of this relevance.

In terms of personal goals, immediate obstacles are the best to tackle first and then it’s up to you to use these to build up to the larger ones. In terms of a short-term to-do list however priorities usually work best in the opposite way.

Get the trickier, more time consuming tasks out of the way first. That way you won’t have so much to do at the end of the day.

4) Write Them Down

Once your personal goals are S.M.A.R.T and prioritized, it’s important that you make a record of them so that they are easily accessible, approachable and understandable. For this, Apprentice finalist and businesswoman Saira Khan suggests post-it notes.

Write down on a separate Post-it each task you need to complete and stick it on your fridge door, your car dashboard, and your desk at work – anywhere you’ll see it regularly. This will help remind you what you have to do… Once you’ve completed the task, trip up the note and move onto the next one.

Any proactive method that suits you is a good one. Just ensure that they are phrased in a positive form and always close at hand because chances are if they are close by, they’ll be constantly reminding you of the tasks at hand.

5) Consistently Track Your Progress

Always be thinking about how you can achieve the personal goals you have set. There is no point setting a deadline or a goal if you aren’t going to be proactive about that goal. So always ensure you’re checking over your plans, adjusting them to your life changes and sticking to the method of achieving them.

In terms of short-term tasks, setting reminders or alarms that remind you of the task at hand, and that you should be half way or completing that task are a good method of tracking progress. But in terms of long-term progress a reliable friend or self review is always useful.

6) Welcome Failure

Failure is fundamental to the self-developer because every failure, just like every success, is a learning curve and step towards your golden future. If you go wrong in achieving your goal.

If it’s not as satisfying as you thought it would be. Or it took to long to be completed… always be asking why that is. And learn from what you come up with. Persistence is the greatest gift a success-driven individual can bare. So never think that failure can’t lead to success.

7) Welcome Success

If you complete a goal, celebrate because feeling fulfilment for your successes is as important as working. To find meaning in what you’re aiming for, will bring passion to your work. And what better way to keep sight of your vision and keep hold of this passion than celebrating the rewards your hard work has brought to you.

To Sum It Up…

Success is all about striving for the life you want and becoming the best that you can be. So the best way to measure your success is in the happiness you feel when you successfully take a step towards it. And this is the most vital consideration I have for you in the activity setting of setting personal goals.

To find more top tips, click here, or if you’d prefer to find out more about Saira Khan and her self-growing book P.U.S.H for Success click here.

Wrote by Aimee Hall