Make your goals trackable.

In our previous posts about goals, we looked at the importance of goals as well as the power of utilising affirmations in goal setting. In this post, we will take another step towards achievable goals by making them trackable. I see many people in coaching who are excellent in the dreaming phase of goal setting. But when it comes to making them tangible enough to pursue a disconnect becomes apparent. People face two main challenges: struggling to take the first step and creating markers to track their goals.

Taking the first step:

Think of the common goal of saving money that soon becomes aspirational rather than tangible. The first problem with this goal is that it's not clearly articulated by including the outcome of the goal. Goals should lead somewhere, saving money for the sake of it is not clear enough, saving money for a trip, something you want to buy etc gives you a clear target. This is particularly important because it will also help you to create tracking markers. Use the question, what would saving money give or do for me? Next start visualising how you could achieve your goal within your daily life. The visualisation exercise will help you to identify actions you can take to align your lifestyle with your goal as well as identify possible places where you can trip yourself up in achieving your goal. Ask yourself, what would help me move or make progress with my goal? A useful tip is to write everything down that you can think of without disqualifying any actions, after you have exhausted your list, prioritise your actions according to your commitment level.

A useful tip is to write everything down that you can think of without disqualifying any actions, after you have exhausted your list, prioritise your actions according to your commitment level.

Create markers to track your progress:

There is a well-known adage in the business world that says we do what we track. The reason being that our focus is on the unique steps and their markers making it easier for us to focus and work towards. Without clear markers that can be tracked, our goals become aspirations that are never fully implemented.  Ask yourself ‘How will I know I am making progress with my goal?’ 

Ask yourself ‘How will I know I am making progress with my goal?’ 

The trick is to be as specific as possible and avoid using emotional states as tracking markers, i.e. I will know I am making progress when I feel proud or not so stressed. Emotion is not fixed enough to be tracking markers, a better example of a tracking marker would be, I know I am making progress with my goal when I have saved a specific amount, bought a book about saving strategies, or made an appointment with a financial advisor. The possibilities are endless, the point is that they are tangible. The last step in tracking your goals is to create rewards for every milestone you reach.

The last step in tracking your goals is to create rewards for every milestone you reach.

The rewards you choose should be intentional and deliberate. When we skip this step, we end up working without reward, and the possibility of giving up becomes much greater if we do not set rewards for our tracking markers.

Coach U

To assist you in overcoming the challenges when achieving your goals, take some time to answer the following questions:

·        What does achieving this goal give me?

·        What will help me to make progress with my goal?

·        How will I know I am making progress with my goal?

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