Personal development: goal setting

Whether it’s targeting a promotion, achieving a new skill, or simply wanting to improve your work-life balance, setting clear goals is an incredibly important part of a successful career.

Uncovering how you can reach your potential by identifying what you want to achieve and creating a plan to reach it isn’t always easy, especially when life’s busy, and it feels like there’s no time to focus. But there are approaches you can take to make sure you stay on target, and thankfully it’s simple to break down the steps.

Automotive charity Ben outlines the ways you can set the goals you want to reach, and most importantly, how to make sure you don’t miss them.

Reflect on the previous year

See what went well and what didn’t go so well and if there was anything you could have done differently. What did you particularly enjoy last year? What did you achieve? What went wrong? What would you have done differently? If you find yourself in any similar situations this year, this will help you to be better equipped to deal with it.

Make your goals specific

Instead of setting a resolution to run more regularly, specify how far you want to run and how often. Having a goal of running 5K twice a week makes it much more measurable and clear if you’ve achieved it.

Write down the steps needed to achieve your goals

Although ambitious goals can inspire us to dream big, they can also be daunting and sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. When you jot down your goals, alongside them, write all the steps you’ll need to take to reach them. This will break down your goal into manageable chunks, making it feel much more realistic and easier to achieve. Make sure you celebrate and congratulate yourself when you take each step so you can appreciate the progress you’re making and make the journey as enjoyable as the end goal.    

Plan for when things go wrong

Have a think about whether there’s anything that might get in the way of you reaching your goal and how you’ll overcome this. Things will go wrong that will be out of your control – maybe your boiler breaks and you have to pay to have it fixed which throws you off your savings goal temporarily. But don’t be discouraged, keep going, stick with it and you’ll soon see you’re making progress.

Create a support system

Do any of your family or friends have a similar goal to you? Working towards the same goal together can help keep you motivated, accountable and also make the journey more fun! Or, join a group aligned with your goal - maybe that’s a sports club, a book club or a hiking group. Being around like-minded people working towards the same goal makes it more likely that you’ll keep your resolutions.

Ask for help if you need it

If it’s proving more difficult than you thought it would be, don’t be afraid to ask for support. What would help you move forward? Coaching, lessons, an online tutorial; everyone needs help from time to time and there’s no shame in asking for it.

Find out how Ben could help you achieve your targets with its life coaching support.