5 Tips to Setting Goals That You’ll Actually Achieve (Free Printable Included)

Earlier this year I published a post about my personal goals and I received a lot of lovely feedback about my willingness to place my goals in public. Before I give you my 5 tips to setting goals that you’ll actually achieve, here’s a quick update on my goals.

• Be back to my pre-pregnancy weight by December 31, 2016.
  – I am 6 months pregnant currently and packing on pounds, so this goal hasn’t even started yet. However, my husband and I did recently get a gym membership, so I am trying to stay fit.
• Be featured on three other blogs by July 4, 2016.
  – This one is a work in progress. I am a regular contributor at His Endless Love where I write for them twice a month. I am now in talks of regularly featured on another blog that I am super stoked about. (I’ll be sure to keep you informed.)
• Begin a Bible Study that I can share with my readers.
  – My husband and I start a class this week at our church called ‘Newly Married’, the class discusses God’s purpose for marriage and how to lead a better Christ-centered marriage.
• Pay off our medical bills by December 31, 2016.
  – I talked briefly in my previous post about having $1,400 in medical bills from a scare we had early on in my pregnancy. Since December, we have paid off $1,000 of that debt and only have $400 remaining.
• Have at a minimum $3,000 in my savings by June 1, 2016.
  – As of February 2016, I currently have $1,200 in savings. My action goal in to be halfway there by the end of this month. (You’ll learn more about action goals later in this post!)
• Pay off my two credit cards by June 1, 2016
  – This goal is, unfortunately, the one I’ve been slacking at the most. Since my post I have only paid off $100, but I have not added any new debt, so that’s a win.

5 Tips to Setting Goals That You’ll Actually Achieve

Keep your goals in a place where you’ll see and review them.

Everyone has heard the phrase “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”, right? I am a big believer in this saying. If I don’t see it, I don’t actively remember it. I had a friend a couple of years ago who had one critical goal for the year. She wanted to write a check for $5,000 to an animal organization that was near and dear to her heart. So, you know what she did? She literally wrote a check to that animal charity for $5,000 and wrote the date on it for when she wanted to achieve the goal by. She then taped the check to the mirror in her bathroom where she saw it every day before work. By the time, the goal date had arrived she was able to take that same check and give it to the charity. She was successful because she saw that goal daily and was able to think actively about it handing the check over to the charity.

Create Action Steps

Action steps are smaller goals that are set up to achieve the bigger goal. I gave you an example earlier, my action goal for this month is to be halfway to $3,000 in my savings. I have to save $300 this month to achieve my action goal. It helps take a bigger, more daunting goal and give you something more tangible to focus on.

Let others know about your goals

Letting others know is a way for you to stay accountable. If your goals are a secret, and there is no chance for anyone to ask you about how they’re coming along would you be less apt to want to achieve them? Heck yes. I know once my husband or father know about my goals they’ll ask me about how they’re progressing. They keep me accountable by knowing.

Write down the reason behind your goal

There is a reason you want to achieve this objective. A lot of my goals and reasons why are focused around Baby Shuman. I want to be in a better, more stable place financially. I want to have a stronger marriage before her arrival. Write down the whys’ to your goals so you remember why it is you set it in the first place and what makes it important.

Give your goal a definite end date

If you had a goal to lose 50 pounds or a goal to lose 50 pounds in four months which do you think you would you be more likely to achieve? 50 pounds in 4 months, right? That’s because it had a definite end date for completion. If your goal has an end date, you can’t procrastinate forever – simple as that.

I have attached a free printable for you to start working towards your own goals. Remember to post these goals where you’ll see them every day and don’t let them be a secret. What’s your advice on setting and achieving goals?

Download the free printable!