When I was a young kid, my mother would send me to the corner store to get her some items after school. Generally, these consisted of the usual groceries and some ingredients she needed to cook what she had planned for that day. Almost every single time I went, I would return home, having missed an item or two and I would walk back to the corner store to grab it. And trust me my mum would let it be known that I had missed something. The store clerk always had a good laugh about it, “I see you’re back, what did you forget?” and he’d chuckle innocently. Those were the good old days but that little exercise sparked an idea in me. Am I forgetful, or was I just not organizing my tasks and priorities well? I completely ended this poor habit of forgetfulness, by writing down my mother’s requests on a paper. And later, I began writing them in the note’s app on my phone.

Later as time went by and the years piled up, my days of youth were behind me, and my professional career was in front of me. Yet even though I was technically working towards something, my progress felt stagnant, and I had no idea where I was going. Towards the end of my degree, I got really into the self-improvement side of things, I shed off bad habits like excessive gaming and poor sleeping patterns. I started to read more books, and almost every single self-help or money-making book emphasized goal setting. That was the era when the internet became over saturated with fake guru’s trying to sell schemes to impressionable young people. In the sea of garbage on YouTube a few gem creators stood out and many authentic ones doubled down on the importance of goal setting. At the time I did end my years and start new years with a “resolution”. A summary of goals I wanted to tackle that year and look back on my achievements. But is it really practical to sit down and set goals for the next 365 days all in writing one night? Short answer is not entirely.

Goal setting is a great reflection tool and needs to be realistic but allow you to pave a roadmap for yourself. It gives you something to work for short and long term if you do it correctly. There should be multiple categories of goals for your life, and it opens the door for you to celebrate small wins just as much as the big ones.

If I could get started from scratch again, no degree, no work experience, no skin in the game, here is how I would start setting my goals and working towards them. This is my step by step guide to goal setting, that if you stick to, you will elevate faster than you could’ve imagined.

Look in the Mirror

Reflection is the initiation of your trajectory upwards. Look in the mirror and truthfully outline on a paper, who do you see? I always advise my friends who go through a tough time in life to look inwards before looking outwards. Ever heard of the saying “Know thy self”? The concept is critical in self-improvement and achieving your true potential. Write down on a paper your strengths and your weaknesses. Be truthful with yourself, be honest and transparent. This activity is important because we want to leverage our strengths, and work on our weaknesses. If you do not know who you are and your capacity for growth, you cannot set goals and start working towards them. Whether your goals are related to sport, career, relationship, social, financial, or anything else, self-reflection is the first big step. I always loved the concept of trying to envision who you want to be rather than what you want to be doing or what you want to have in the future.

The Breakdown

New year’s resolutions are not entirely bad, some people find it to be a helpful exercise. But even though it is a semi-decent start, we need a more thorough approach to truly make progress. Don’t get me wrong, I am not perfect, but I have found some methods that helped me. And I want to share it with anyone who might find it helpful too. Here’s how I would set goals with the knowledge I have now, it is practically setting large goals then chipping away at them and breaking them down.

Yearly Goals

What do you want to achieve this year, try to be realistic and have a limit of around 10 major goals.

Set your priorities

What is more important to you this year. Do your financial goals mean more to you this year than your creative side. Or do you have your eyes set on an athletic endeavor or certain physical aspirations you are dying to achieve. Everyone is different and circumstances are flexible. Prioritize your goals based on their important and urgency to you, and what ultimately aligns with who you want to be once the year ends.

Action Plan

After you set your yearly goals up, you don’t throw the paper into your desk drawer and forget about it for 2 months. You want to develop a detailed action plan for each goal, outlining what you think are the specific steps you need to take to achieve them. You can Include deadlines and milestones to keep yourself accountable and on track but try not overwhelm yourself.

Monthly Goals

Take each goal you aspire to achieve this year and list a set of monthly goals you feel are manageable and can slowly help you reach that end yearly goal. You do not have to list a goal for every one of the 12 months. But at least plan the month that is coming up, so next month you are a step closer. Trying to achieve a yearly goal without setting up a monthly plan is just setting yourself up for failure.

Weekly Goals

What are you going to do every week of said month that is coming up, to achieve the monthly goal. The idea behind this task is to set a small realistic goal that you know you will achieve, to make the most of the week and ultimately be one step closer to your aspirations.

Daily Goals

Daily can be a bit tricky, but you want to organize your day in a way where you are working towards your weekly goals while also engaging in a healthy routine. This is the standard stuff like work, exercise, reading and the lot. The key is to increase the intensity of these daily tasks week after work as you get into the rhythm of progress and really start to feel like you are moving towards your perceived end goal.

Stay flexible and motivated

The road to the top isn’t smooth and roadblocks will occur. Be flexible in your approach to your goals and make sure to give yourself the space to chill and slow down when you need to. Motivation is not maintainable 24/7 and everyone goes through dips and slumps along the way. The key is to stay disciplined and understand yourself so you can gauge when you want to slow down and when it is time to ramp it up.

Review and adjust

Retrospectives in the real world keep projects on track to success. Lessons learned as we like to call them consider past experiences in a project whether recent or a long time ago, to teach you what to improve on in the next iteration. And the most important project is yourself. Sit down and reflect every couple months on your progress, adjust it if you are performing well or under performing to suit your needs. If you have bit more than you can chew, maybe push some goals till later, if you are doing much better than you envisioned maybe it is time to go harder.

Everyone is different and no one dreams, and goal sets the same. Review your plans and stay true to yourself and adjust your life and goals accordingly. Remember not to compare yourself to others, your path is your path and this is your unique journey and no one else. If you find that you do not fulfilled, a retrospective may be the time you cross out one of your goals if it isn’t serving your purpose anymore and there is noting wrong with that. People change so be kind to yourself and always trust your intuition. And as one of my instructors in my postgraduate studies used to say “No matter what happens, keep moving forward”.

All the Best.

H