Ever set yourself some personal or business goals only to forget all about them until the moment you realised you never met them? Here are 5 steps using the Goalology Method, designed exclusively for Athena London, that will guide you through the secrets of setting goals that change your life.
Achieving your objectives is simple using smart goal techniques and progress trackers for both your short and long term personal goals.
1.) Identify Your Ideal: Personal & Life Goals
Think about what you’d like to achieve over the next 6-12 months. Got it? Great. Now we are going to make that happen in 3 months. Here’s how we are going to do it. Grab a notebook or google docs page and let’s get started.
Example: My vision is to be wealthy.
If you need a little guidance with this step, you can download 34 Journal Prompts for Personal Growth from our Resource Library for free.
2.) Create an Outcome Goal
Turn your vision into a precise goal with a quantifiable measure. You need to clarify exactly what you want to happen, by how much and by when.
Example: Have a total of £100,000 in savings & investments by the end of Q4. Current balance is £71,500: Goal for Q4 is to add additional £28,500 (£9,500 p\m).
3.) Create a Process Goal
How are you going to make the Outcome Goal happen? Answer these questions to explore your options. Our favourite method is to grab a big sheet of paper and create a MindMap of your ideas.
What are the conventional ways to reach this goal?
Ask for a raise or promotion, Find a new job with higher pay, Work overtime, Get a second job, Have a clear out and sell unwanted items, Reduce expenses (e.g. change energy providers, eat out less).
What are some unconventional ways to reach it?
Start a side hustle, Invest savings, Monetise social media following/blog, Rent out a spare room, create a digital product or course and sell online, buy and flip items for a profit,
What resources, knowledge or support do you need?
Personal finance management, knowledge of basic investment skills, friends and family understanding that I’m trying to save money,
Who can help you reach this goal?
My partner, my friends and family.
Where can you find someone who has already achieved something similar?
Online support groups, social media, my uncle.
What guidance or advice could you ask them for? What can you learn from them and any mistakes they’ve made?
Advice for best way to invest, mistakes to avoid, what mindsets or self sabotage to work on overcoming, most lucrative income sources.
Which tasks can you outsource or delegate to someone else?
Financial planning, investment, Financial admin and bookkeeping.
How can you change your environment or workspace to support reaching this goal?
Vision board featuring the things I will do, own and feel when I reach my savings goal. Screenshot of a bank with £100k in it. Remove distractions from my workspace so I’m not tempted. Unsubscribe to email newsletters/social media accounts of companies that encourage me to buy things I don’t need. Tidy my space so the things I already own feel nicer. Make a nice dining table set up so I will enjoy eating in more. Invest in some nice cookware.
What do you need to eliminate or do less of?
Eating out, shopping for clothes and unnecessary items.
What skills do you need to acquire or improve?
Self control, delayed gratification, money management, investments, resilience.
Example: Increase income to £15,000 per month by exploring other income sources. Work on my own mindset and money beliefs to overcome any blocks I might have. Reduce regular expenses as much as possible.
4.) Create an Action Goal
Now that you know what you need to do and what path to take to get there, what actions or daily steps need to be taken? What do you need to do and how often do you need to do it? Create daily habits and systems that support these actions.
Example: Spend a minimum of 1 hour each day working on increasing my main income, building passive income and reducing expenses. Work on completing an online course in the evenings to boost my qualifications and qualify for a raise at work.
You can check out the blog post 4 Simple Steps That Make It Easy To Build Healthy Habits for some more ideas on making sure you complete these action goals every day.
To check how clear you are on your intentions, check out the blog post How To Tell If You Will Fail: 10 Questions That Will Help You To Determine If You Will Achieve Your Goals and put your goals to the test!
5.) Create a Tracker: Know your Targets
Now that you have a clear intention, the next step is to create a tracker to record your progress. While it might seem a little like redundant busywork, it’s actually the key to retaining motivation and analysing your results on the go. Create a habit tracker to ensure you’re doing your daily tasks. You can also create a tracker for an overall result, in the case of our example, a savings balance tracker.
You can download The 8 Week Habit Builder and The Monthly Financial Planning Budget Sheet for free from our Resource Library.
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