Knowing how to plan goals is one of the most essential elements to achieve success not only in your professional career but also in your personal life. Yet, oftentimes no matter how hard we try, we fall short of achieving our aspirations.

Is there a way to plan and execute your goals effectively?

While planning goals is significant, it is also important that we have a clear understanding of what goal-setting looks like.

Following are the objectives you should keep in mind when setting out to work on your goals:

1. Defining Your Goals.
2. Planning And Executing Your Goals.
3. Practice the application of various techniques to stay motivated and achieve goals.

Here are 3 Effective Ways To Plan Goals:

1. Define Your Goals

The first step towards achieving your goals is defining them. Most people are often confused between achieving goals and attaining success.

It is crucial to understand that success is a state of mind while goals are means or tasks you accomplish in order to be successful. You have to fulfill your goals to feel as if you have attained success.

Let’s look at the characteristics of goals and state to further understand the difference between the two to give you more clarity in goal-setting.

Goals are:

• Tangible.
• Has an element of time which is required to achieve it.
• There are steps and a series of actions.
• It is an outcome that is quantifiable and measurable.
• They are stated for self only.

Now that we understand our goals, let’s see what is a state of mind.

State is:

• Usually unclear.
• Can be achieved anytime.
• There are no steps to achieve a state.
• It is infinite, boundless and not measurable.
• States are stated for self as well as others, e.g., being happy for someone else

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Does The Stated Outcome Fufill The SMART Criteria?

The SMART Criteria is a well-known guide that helps to establish objectives and is quite monumental to achieve the desired outcome of an activity.

1. S – Specific & Simple – Be specific while planning your goals. For e.g., Desigining cars vs just designing.
2. M – Measurable – Define ways or metrics to measure that will help you achieve your goals.
3. A – Attainable – Define how will you rate the level of certainty on achieving your goal on a scale of 0 to 10.
4. R – Relevant – It is crucial that your goals meet your immediate and long term plans. They must be reasonable.
5. T – Timed – All outcomes need to have some form of time frame associated to them.

“Towards” Or “Away From”

While planning your goals, you have to figure out what is motivating you towards achieving your goals and what is pulling you away from them.

This can be further termed as ‘tractions’ and ‘distractions’.

Actions or activities that move you towards your goals can be named as ‘tractions’ while the activities that pull you away from your goals can be named as ‘distractions’.

At the end of the day, you can list down all the things you did to work towards your goals. After that, you can segregate them by assessing which ones among those distract you or attract you in terms of your goals.

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2. Planning Your Goals

After defining your goals, the next step is effective planning for the same. The planning can be done once you know how to factually back the outcomes of your goals.

Evidence criteria towards planning your goals:

While in the process of planning your goals, try asking yourself the following questions:

1. How will you know when you have achieved your goals?
2. What will you see when you have achieved your goals?
3. What will you hear when you have achieved them?
4. What will you do when you have achieved them?
5. What will you feel when you have achieved your goals?
6. Where are you now with respect to the outcome you want?

Once you have answered each of the above-mentioned questions, you will be able to lay down a clear plan and a list of things you need to do to achieve your goals.

The number one factor that motivates you towards planning your goals is ‘passion’.

When you are passionate about your goals and aspirations, it becomes the driving factor to push you forward to achieve them. Hence, your outcomes have to be something that generates passion.

Is the stated outcome a responsible one?

Another factor that you need to consider while planning your goals, is to know whether the stated outcome is responsible. This requires a tremendous amount of research and introspection. Following are the aspects you must consider to find the same:

• Safe for you.

You have to introspect whether the goal is safe for your mental as well physical well-being. It also tells you to assess what exactly is at stake while pursuing this goal.

• Safe for others and the planet.

Another introspection that you need to do is to check whether the outcome is safe other everyone around you as well as the planet.

• Common sense and common courtesy has been applied.

It is crucial that your goals may not cause offense to anyone. You have to be courteous and apply realistic sense while pursuing them.

“Activity Without Purpose is The Drain of Your Life”

Tony Robbins

3. Techniques And Resources To Plan Goals

Consequences Quadrant Chart

The Consequence Quadrant helps you map your goals step by step and figure out desired outcomes for the same. It also maps out the motivations to achieve these goals. For example, if the goal is to become an Image Consultant.

Here’s how the quadrants are divided:

1. Quadrant 1

What will happen when the goal is achieved?

This quadrant specifies the consequences of achieving the goals including future rewards that we will end up getting. For e.g., You will receive certifications.

2. Quadrant 2

What will happen if the goal is not achieved?

This quadrant specifies the consequence if you fail the achieve the goals. This will include future pains. For e.g., You will be disappointed.

3. Quadrant 3

What will not happen if the goal is not achieved?

This quadrant specifies the current consequences of not being able to achieve your goals. It can be termed as current pains. For e.g., Frustrations for not making any progress.

4. Quadrant 4

When the goal is achieved something will stop happening?

This quadrant specifies the consequences that won’t materialize once you achieve your goals. It can be termed Secondary Gains. For e.g., Getting rid of insecurities.

After using this tool to map your plan of goals, it becomes easier for you to prepare yourself to execute them in a much better way.

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Final Resources To Execute Your Goals

The final set of analysis that you need to achieve your goals is the resources you would need to fulfill them. Here is a list of questions you must ask yourself to identify those resources:

1. What do you have now and what do you need to get for you to achieve your outcomes?
2. What resources do you need?
3. Have you ever done this before?
4. Do you know anyone who has done this before?
5. If you could be that person for a day (who has achieved this) what would be the first thing they would do in order to achieve your outcome?

“A goal without a plan in only a dream.”

Brian Tracy

There you go! Unique and effective ways to plan goals, execute and achieve your goals. If you have more suggestions to plan goals, let us know in the comments section!

If you wish to know more about planning your goals and executing them, watch the Knowledge Happy Hour video given below: