When it comes to setting goals, the sky’s the limit, right? But there’s a difference between setting goals that sound good, and ones that are actually achievable.
If we set achievable goals, we’re much more likely to follow through and complete them. That’s not to say you can’t aim high – but you need to remember to be realistic at the same time. So what goes into setting achievable goals? Let’s take a look.
Are you willing to work for it?
This is probably the most important question to ask yourself. More often than not, achieving our goals requires us to put in a bit more effort than usual. If you’re not willing to do that, chances are you won’t reach your goal.
For example, if your goal is to get As for all your subjects, but you don’t want to do any more study than you do now, chances are your goal is not achievable.
Is it compatible?
For your goal to be achievable, it also needs to be compatible with other parts of your life, and any other goals you might have set. Think about whether you live in the right place, if you have enough money, or whether you have any other important commitments that might hinder your progress.
Is it realistic?
Of course, you need to make sure your goals are realistic. If you’re already 16 and have never played sport in your life, making it to the Olympics by the time you’re 20 is probably not realistic. While it’s important to dream big, you also want your goals to be realistic, or else you might end up feeling let down if you can’t achieve them.
Setting yourself up for success
If you’ve gone through the above questions and haven’t run into any problems, chances are you’ve set an achievable goal.
Remember, just because a goal doesn’t fit in with your life right now doesn’t mean you can’t go back and revisit it in the future. Or maybe you need to consider working on some smaller goals to make your way up to a big one – if you want to run a marathon in 2 months’ time but are very unfit, make your goal to run just 1k, then 5k, and so on, until you feel ready to achieve your big goal.
Find out more
We have heaps of other blogs on goal setting you might like to check out on our website here.