Defining a goal is the first step toward achieving it. However, figuring out exactly what you want to pursue can be challenging: There are a lot of different good ideas out there, and some can prove more difficult than others to clearly identify.
So what are some good ways to better establish what you want? Below, members of Forbes Coaches Council discuss some of the ways leaders can more clearly define their goals and then reach them successfully.
** See my recommendation #11 on how to Get Started. **
1. Envision The Ideal Future
One of the best tools to gain clarity around goal setting is visioning. Investing time at the beginning of the planning process to envision the ideal future, in as much detail as possible, helps solidify goals and create momentum for follow-through. Approaching goal setting from this future vision perspective allows you to first discover where you are going and then solidify how you will get there. It creates your “why” and can provide motivation during times of challenge or stress. – Cheryl Czach, Cheryl Czach Coaching and Consulting, LLC
2. Map Your Goals
Goals are places to come from, not destinations to go to. They represent significant milestones deriving from your vision. First, develop your vivid vision. Let it be fueled by meaning, purpose and identity appeal. Then reverse engineer your vision to define your milestones. These will become your goals. Finally, map your goals, not just set goals, by answering critical questions that will allow you to script your way to success, such as, “What needs to be true about my time allocation? My structural environment? My social environment?” etc. – Frédéric Funck, CENTER FOR CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
3. Start Journaling Your Progress
It starts with knowing where you are, where you want to go, and seeing the space between the two. One step is to start writing and journaling to see the progress. I do this daily, weekly, monthly and yearly with an incredibly helpful tool called the Passion Planner. – Denise Russo, School of Thoughts
4. Distinguish Between Vision And Goals
Make sure you distinguish between vision and goals. Goals are the milestones one has to achieve in order to reach the vision. Identify your desire or a dream. Then work backward to create milestones that are SMART. Achieving each milestone brings about a sense of success and motivates working toward the vision. – Pritha Dubey, Success Vitamin
5. Assess How You Live Your Values
One way to define goals is to assess how fully a client is living their values. What do they care about? What is most important to them, and how are those priorities reflected in their daily actions? If, for example, a client indicates family time is most important, but typically works a 16-hour day, the client will experience dissonance, or a work/life misalignment. Setting goals that help the client realign actions relative to the priorities will move the client toward the life they desire. – Patricia Carl, Highland Performance Solutions, LLC
6. Self Reflect
Substantive self-reflection is a vital first step in understanding our gaps and establishing meaningful and worthwhile goals for improvement. We then need to set intermediate steps that can act as guideposts as we work towards accomplishing larger outcomes. – Jonathan Westover, Human Capital Innovations, LLC
7. Define Your Vision Then Pursue It
Start by asking what vision they want to experience and then help them name the resources necessary to experience that. Then define the specific actions that are required to secure those resources. Finally, establish commitment: Decide what the first step is in taking the needed action, and then write on the calendar when they’ll take that step. – Corey Castillo, Truth & Spears
8. Review Your Digital Footprint
Engaging in a yearly objective assessment of both your company’s digital footprint and personal digital footprint is key to assess how successful you’ve been over the past year aligning your personal and professional goals for growth, connections, and reach. Doing so will lead you to think about what kinds of adjustments to make to your digital strategy in order to reach your personal and professional goals. – Julie Fisher, Echo70
9. Keep Asking ‘Why’?
Clients can come with goals they think that they “should” or “need” to do as opposed to something they really want to do or feel excited about. Help them dig a little bit deeper and see what’s important to them, and then keep asking the followup question “And why is that important to you?” This process helps clients uncover what their true goal is. Once you tap into that, they’ll find genuine motivation. – Denise Csaky, The Firefly Moment LLC
10. Tap Into Emotions
Cultivate excitement in the end result of a desired dream or vision. Without an emotional and measurable desire for inner dreams to become tangible goals, the journey to success can be quite single minded and harder. Emotions are key to fuel the passion and the earnest desire for success. It adds meaning to the goal success and to a life worth living. Every goal matters when the voice has unshakable heartfelt passion behind it. – Charlotte D. Blignaut, EMOTION IN MOTION
11. Get Started
The single biggest reason why goals aren’t achieved is because they are never started. A framework to help leaders and their teams is to answer these six questions: 1. What do you want to do? 2. What is your desired outcome? 3. What specific steps will you take to reach that outcome? 4. What obstacles stand in your way? 5. What is the time frame associated with this goal? 6. How will you measure success? – Shelley Hammell, Sage Alliance, Inc.
SAGE Alliance, a Leadership Performance Company; provides executive coaching, team-building, industry leading assessments, workshops and speaking on topics including: building a high-performing team through coaching, developing and optimizing your top talent, delivering commanding communications, creating a lasting impression, making a greater impact through personal branding for executives and high-potentials – for both team and individual leaders.
Shelley Hammell, is the president, CEO and author of You Think You’re Coaching, But You’re Not! available HERE, and is available for book signings and speaking engagements.