How and Why do you set your goals?

I've never been a fan of New Year's resolutions. They're so quickly made and then forgotten. And as the owner of a gym, I see many people come in to start their fitness related New Year's resolutions every year, and many of them just don't last the distance.

It's for this reason that I prefer to set goals all year round, or as I need them. It doesn't matter what the goal is; it can be financial, trying a new hobby, learning a new skill, travel or whatever takes my interest at the time.

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In the past couple of years my sole focus has been my business, and working to get the business functioning well. It's meant that all of my goals and targets have been associated with my business and I've had to ignore many aspects of my life that would normally need attention, ranging from my health right through to the simple things, such as buying new underwear.

I've also avoided things like professional development or finding new and fun hobbies for a long time. But recently I discovered the joys of Steemit and home-brewed beer. So I'm starting to have some fun outside of my business which is great.

So, after 2 years. Most things that I own are starting to get a little old. And I need some new stuff. The challenge though, is finding the funds to purchase these new things. Most of my money goes back into my business, and replacing things in the gym as they break. Stuff always breaks in gyms. I suppose it's a good sign that people are using the place.

So, what sort of goals am I setting you ask? Well one should probably be to buy new underwear. Maybe I'll set a goal to disgust my wife enough that she goes out and buys some for me.

As hard as it is, many of my goals will involve spending money. But thankfully, I have Steemit earnings to help with that. In this article I will list my goals along with some text around how I create my goals. Where there is a dollar value, this is the amount of money I plan to earn through Steemit to pay for that item or experience.

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I like to set goals using the following criteria:

Is it something that I really want or need?

If the goal isn't something that you actually want, then you're almost certain to fail. Some people set goals for things that they love the idea of but know deep down that they're unlikely to follow through with.

For example, you might want to improve your public speaking skills so your goal is to join a group who practice their public speaking once a week. You plan to go once a week, despite the fact that you hate public speaking, in an effort to enjoy improve your skills in this area.

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The thing is though, you hate public speaking. So practicing it once a week is going to be a chore. The only way that this goal is going to be achieved is if you REALLY need to improve your public speaking skills. Otherwise, you're never going to see this through, for the simple fact that you just won't enjoy it.

So set goals that you really want to achieve, you'll understand why you want or need to achieve the goal by asking yourself "why" you want to achieve that goal. If you can't explain why you want or need it then you probably won't achieve the goal.

My goal for something that I both want and need:

Goal	Target	Due Date	Why
Buy a new Macbook Pro	$3500	June 2018	Current laptop is past its use by date

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Does the goal excite you?

So, the next obvious requirement for the goal is that it excites you, and you feel passion about achieving it. You know that once you've achieved this goal you will feel amazing and have a huge sense of pride.

If you're excited about the goal, then you're likely to want to work on it consistently until you achieve it. It's really that simple.

My goal that I'm excited about

Goal	Target	Due Date	Why
Grow my Steemit account	$5000 account value	May 2018	Create reliable secondary income

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Is the goal reasonable/ realistic?

Sometimes the goals we set ourselves are just insane. I could say that I want to open 5 gyms this year because it sounds incredibly exciting and, if done right, could make me extremely wealthy. But how realistic is it? It's very obviously not realistic at all.

It's in our nature to challenge ourselves and have lofty targets. But let's make sure the goals are achievable and reasonable. There are a few things to consider;

• How much time can you spend working on your goal?
• How much money do you need to invest in your goal and do you have those funds available now?
• Will working on your goal take you away from friends and family - and how will this impact on them?

For example, I love spending as much time as possible on Steemit. I have some great goals for this platform and can see this as being a long term project for me. However, when I first discovered Steemit, I was incredibly excited about it and spend countless hours writing articles, reading other peoples work, commenting on articles that I liked, and building friendships on the platform. Naturally, my wife felt a little neglected during this time. So now I make sure that I allocate time to work on my Steemit account during her work day. This way I can spend my time with her after she finishes work.

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I also limit the amount of time that I spend on Steemit every day. I'm prone to obsess over things that excite me, so I have learned to use a little discipline and restrict my time on certain things if I know that they are likely to become obsessions. This ensures that I don't spend 12 hours a day on my Steemit account.

Is my Steemit account value reasonable and realistic? I think so. This goal can easily be smashed out of the water. My account is already at about $1500 in value so an increase of $3500 in 4 months is quite achievable.

And can I expect to have saved $3500 for a new laptop by June this year? Absolutely, this is plenty of time to save up that much money. And, if my business is performing well by this time, which I expect it will be, then I could potentially draw some funds from the business to aid in this purchase.

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Can you set a deadline on your goal

This is very simple so I won't spend too long on this criteria. You need a deadline to set for achieving your goal. Without a good deadline, you'll never feel pressured to achieve your goal.

There are two things to consider when setting a deadline:

• Is it too short?
  A deadline that is too tight, will place undue pressure on you to achieve it and make you feel too stressed. You need to feel pressure to achieve your deadline by the due date, but cannot place too much pressure on yourself if the deadline is unrealistic.
• Is the deadline too long?
  And conversely, if the deadline is too long. You're not going to feel any pressure to achieve your goal and will leave it until the last minute to work on. And then you'll feel stressed because you have left it too long and have to achieve your goal within a short timeframe or completely fail at achieving it.

So the simple lesson is, set a reasonable deadline, one that gives you enough pressure to get working immediately, and to give you the best chance to achieve your goal.

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What the hell is a stretch target?

I love stretch targets. I set these targets all the time as part of my goal setting. A stretch target is simply a target that we set ourselves beyond our already established goals. For example, I want to grow my Steemit account to a value of $5000 by May 2018. I could set a stretch target of $6000 value by this date. So rather than work towards the $5000 value, I focus on the $6000. This means that I won't be surprised when I surpass the $5000 value but will be incredibly excited when I smash past the $6000 value.

The $5000 account value target is a realistic goal, the $6000 account value is a challenge. If I achieve the $5000 then fantastic, but I'll be stoked if I hit the $6000 stretch target.

_{Machu Picchu - the end of the Inca Trail}

Later this year, my wife and I are completing the Inca trail in Peru. Naturally, I have to save some money for this holiday. So this is my travel goal with a stretch target attached:

Goal	Target	Due Date	Why	Stretch Target
Trip to Peru	$4000	November 2018	Need adventure	$6000

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So there you have it, my entire strategy for setting goals and stretch targets. I generally just have my goals in the back of my mind rather than documenting them however putting them down on "paper" gives them greater focus and clarity.

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So now all I need to do is set about planning what needs to be done to achieve them!

I'll document my progress periodically as we progress through the year.

What goals have you set yourself recently? How do you track your progress?

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