Everyone has certain goals they want to reach. It might be weight loss or finances in your personal life, or specific business growth goals in your career. Regardless of what milestones you want to achieve, you won’t get there if all you have is the end result in mind. Setting goals is just one part of the equation. Knowing how to get there is the piece of the puzzle that so many people leave out, which leads them to flounder, procrastinate and veer off course until one day they realize they’re completely off base and have wasted a lot of time and effort.
There are four easy steps you can take to ensure your goals are met. It’s a process that allows you to map out where you want to be and take steps to get there with ease.
Step 1 – Know Your End Result
This is the bottom line of everything that you’re attempting to do. Many people aim for something without ever knowing what they want the end result to be. The problem with not knowing your end goal is that you won’t realize it once you’ve reached it – if you even reach it at all.
Knowing the end result is imperative for whatever it is that you want in life. You need to know this to be able to work your process. This might mean that you figure out different end results for different areas of your life.
It’s okay to have one for the personal side of your life for relationships and things like that while having another one for your professional goals. Don’t just say, “I want to be happier.” What would make you happier, specifically? Visualize that end goal that you want.
Step 2 – Craft Mini Goals
Encouragement is a by-product of having goals. Whenever you have a setback, goals can encourage you to keep going. By seeing how far you’ve already come, you realize that you’ve already made some strides forward.
Most success-minded people will focus on short-term goals over long-term goals because these are easier to make come true. Living in a results-oriented world causes people to lean toward short-term goals more often. The best combination is to set mini goals so they lead us to a bigger goal;
For example, if you needed the mini goals to build a list, you might search for “steps to build a list” and see what came up. You are looking for the details for these steps:
- Define your target audience
- Create a viable opt in offer
- Sign up with an email system
- Set up the list responders
- Create a squeeze page
- Promote your opt in offer
Step 3 – Brainstorm Action Steps
Some people refer to brainstorming as creatively solving a problem before it happens or while it’s ongoing. Without brainstorming, most people come up with between two and four ways that they can reach their goals.
Brainstorming action steps is easy to do. You need a notebook or a writing program on your computer. You start by thinking about the steps that you need to take and you just write down whatever thoughts pop into your mind. Don’t be afraid to network with others and ask for their best practices, too.
Step 4 – Implement Changes
Most people are resistant to change. Just know that it’s normal and don’t let it throw you off course.
Create motivation as you start making changes. You have to be your own biggest fan when it comes to what you’re doing. Celebrate all of your small milestones. It doesn’t have to be expensive or huge – just recognize your efforts and honor your accomplishments. As you implement change, make sure that you monitor what happens. You want to be alert to head off any negative situations or obstacles that arise from implementing your action steps.
One thing you shouldn’t do, though, is allow yourself to get distracted by too many good possibilities to the point that you’re forever chasing a shiny new object and never following through on the action steps you’ve mapped out to reach one milestone in your personal or professional life.