7 Easy Steps to Achieve Your Goals

Dr. Leonaura Rhodes
Mar 8, 2024
6 min read

Updated: Jun 19

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things” – ALBERT EINSTEIN

Have you ever wondered WHY some people are successful in life? The answer…They SET GOALS! It is that simple.

Get started today with 7 easy goal-setting steps!

I have a question for you. Are you living the life you REALLY want to be living? If the answer is “no,” you are not alone; most people answer “no.” But some people answer “yes”.

One thing that distinguishes the YES people from the NO people is that the YES people are often really good at setting and achieving goals. According to research from the Dominican University of California, people who set goals, write them down, and get external accountability are significantly more likely to achieve them and live their best life, according to research from the Dominican University of California. (https://www.dominican.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/gailmatthews-harvard-goals-researchsummary.pdf) .

Why is goal setting important?

The American Psychological Association (https://dictionary.apa.org/goal) defines a goal as “the end state toward which a human or nonhuman animal is striving: the purpose of an activity or endeavor.”. Did you know?

45% of our everyday activities are habits:

So, if we want to change our life, we need to change our habits.

Setting goals is beneficial from an anti-aging perspective:

As we age, we sometimes struggle with the change, and we lose our sense of purpose. For some, empty nest syndrome sets in, and we have a hard time connecting to who we used to be. Sound familiar? By setting goals we reap these benefits:

Continue with a sense of purpose, finding your WHY to achieve your goal.
Stay challenged so we look and feel amazing and learn the art of planning.
Desire to learn new things, improving memory capacity.
Enter a growth mindset which creates a sense of progress, success, accomplishment, and fulfillment.
Motivates us to be our best self, find your dream life.
Reduces stress and anxiety by breaking things down into manageable steps and avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Stimulates our brain, our mind and cognitive functioning.
Encourages you to get social – to get support, stay connected.

Setting goals connects you back to Your True Self

As we age, we not only inherit bad habits, but we fill our lives with other people's passions, values and interests. Take a step back and think back in your life. When you were the happiest? Connect to your values, your passions and fill your life with what you love to do. Create a sense of independence and a strong vision of who you want to be if you have wavered from your true self.

Implementing goal setting is a great way to take control of your life’s direction. It focuses and helps you make decisions that bring you closer to achieving your desires.

Goals act like a beacon guiding you to your destination. They help you make decisions and take actions that lead to achievement and success.

Show Me The Research….

Dr. Gail Matthews of Dominican University, individuals who document their goals in writing and kept a written log of the progress, were on average 33% more successful in accomplishing their goals that those who did not.

Edwin A. Locke, an industrial-organizational psychologist and professor of leadership and motivation (emeritus) of the school of Business at University of Maryland says “People who choose their goals by copying other people’s goals, will never be happy. When you do so, you don’t have control over your life anymore”. He is also the pioneer behind goal-setting theory in 1982. His research showed that there are five factors that influence goal-setting success. These include:

goal specificity,
goal difficult(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20445911.2014.982128)
goal importance
level of personal commitment or drive (self-efficacy)
external feedback (accountability).

7 Easy Steps To Achieve your Goals

Your life and your goals are too important to leave to chance. This step-by-step plan for goal setting will help increase your chances of success, happiness and fulfillment.

Step 1. Evaluate your life

Before setting specific goals, you want to take stock of your life today. This can be done as a list or on a coaching tool called the wheel of life. Consider how content you are with areas of your life, and then consider where you’d like to be in the next three months. Areas of life include:

• Physical health

• Emotional health or mental health

• Spiritual health

• Relationships may need to be split into subcategories dependent on your situation: For example, intimate relationships, children, family, friends, and colleagues.

• Financial health

• Contribution beyond yourself

• Career, business, or professional

• Environment

• Personal growth

Step 2. Set SMART goals – This will increase your chances of success

The term “SMART goals” was described in a 1981 article by George Doran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management goals and objectives”.

Specific:

A goal should not be vague; it should be as detailed as possible: What, who, why, where, and when?

Measurable:

What metrics will you use to measure and assess your progress and goal achievement to know that you are on the right track?

Actionable:

+ Is it likely that you could achieve the goal?

+ Do you have the power to achieve this goal.

Relevant:

Is the goal relevant to your life and the big vision you have for it?

Timed or Time-bound:

+ When would you like to achieve the goal?

+ What can realistically be accomplished in days, weeks, months, years? It is important to be realistic. Do not set yourself up for failure.

Step 3. Tap into your WHY

I tell my clients frequently, “your time, energy, and attention are precious resources”. If you spend your precious resources working on a goal, you need to know why. In his best-selling book “Start With Why” (? affiliate link), Simon Sinek explains that to be successful, people and businesses must identify their why or purpose. Dig deep to discover why you want to achieve your goal. Uncovering your why will provide you with motivation and drive to do the hard work ahead.

Step 4. Make a plan and take action.

It’s wise to start the planning stage with a freethinking brainstorming session.

What are all the actions you could take to achieve this goal?
Write down everything you can think of. No idea is stupid.
Then armed with this comprehensive list, prioritize the actions

Use The 5-point scale.

1 = urgent and important

2 = important but can wait a while

3 = moderate importance and not urgent

4 = low importance, do if you have lots of time

5 = not worth my time, take off the list.

Give each action item a date by which you’d like to accomplish itSet reminders for yourself.With bigger projects creating a timeline can help you visually break the work into small manageable milestones or baby steps.

Step 5. Use Resources Wisely

Think about the resources you will need to reach your goal. You’ll need some inner resources such as resilience, bravery, and commitment. You may need external resources like people to help or do some of the work, tangible things, money, or information you currently do not have.

Step 6. Get support and Be Accountable

You don’t have to struggle towards your goals alone. Most people love to help; in fact they might get more pleasure from helping you, than from being helped. It’s a win-win! You may have close family or friends who can help and support. You may also need to go outside your immediate circle to a group, a coach, or a professional (such as a doctor, lawyer, or psychologist) to get the proper support.

Step 7. Review & Reward your Progress.

The final step, which is often missed when it comes to goal setting, is to review your progress. Schedule a time to review your progress. Review your level of success. Tony Robbins says, “success leaves clues,” and I like to add “… and so does failure”. Take note of what went well and what did not. What did you learn from the experience so far? If your level of success is lower than you’d hoped, be honest with yourself about what prevented you from reaching your goal. It’s also important to check that the goal is still important to you. Sometimes your situation changes, and a goal is no longer a priority, or something more urgent has come up, and that’s OK. They are your goals, and you are allowed to change your mind. Make a note of any wisdom you gain from the journey so far. Repeat the six steps above before continuing with your efforts to achieve each goal.