I mentioned in my most recent monthly goals post that I was thinking about writing a piece about all the things I’ve learned from goal-setting. A few of you seemed to like the idea, so today I’m going to do exactly that. If you’re a goal-setter as well, hopefully you’ll be able to relate to some of these points. And if you’re not a goal-setter, hopefully this will be informative.

To give you a bit of background information, I started goal-setting at the beginning of last year. One of my new year’s resolutions for 2017 was to become more organized and plan-oriented. I was a moderately organized person before. But I wanted to take it to a different level this year.

Goal-setting is one of those things you always read about successful people doing. (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen motivational quotes about goal-setting from CEOs and celebrities on Pinterest…) Looking back, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing when I first decided to give it a try. But now that I have a year’s worth of experience under my belt, I can tell you that it really has made a huge difference in my overall productivity.

I honestly don’t know where my blog would be if it weren’t for this past year of goal-setting. Making plans and seeing them through has been very important to my blogging habits.

So, without further ado, here are some things goal-setting has taught me!

Following through takes practice

To me, the most important thing I’ve realized about goal-setting is that actually following through with a plan requires practice and persistence. That sounds super corny, but it’s true. When you first initially develop a goal or plan, you have to whole-heartedly commit to it. If you don’t, it’ll be all too easy for you to abandon the aforementioned goal, or even completely forget about it.

Goal-setting needs to become a habit before it can actually work. You need to get yourself doing it on a consistent basis over a long period of time. Once you’ve turned the practice into a full-fledged habit, it’ll feel like clockwork. You’ll set your goals, and, well, actually follow through with them.

The first few months that I started goal-setting, I wasn’t sure how well it was going to work out for me. I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to keep setting goals. But in a short while, I realized that doing it had helped me achieve what I wanted to do. It’s important to give goal-setting a fair chance before totally giving up on it.

Being practical is important 

Another lesson I’ve discovered through goal-setting is that it’s important to be practical with your expectations. I’m not saying you shouldn’t push yourself or set high standards, but I think there’s a massive difference between setting yourself up for a challenge and setting yourself up for failure. Demanding unrealistic levels of perfection from yourself won’t cause you to suddenly achieve them. In fact, when you inevitably cannot achieve them, it might end up turning you off to goal-setting.

It’s good to be practical when you set goals for yourself. Take things step-by-step rather than all at once. Remind yourself that a goal is made up of a string of smaller goals. That it’s all part of a process. You won’t suddenly gain thousands of followers overnight or improve your content in a day. This has been a valuable lesson for me and has honestly made me a more patient person.

Expecting some goals to fall through

Not every goal you set will be achieved when you want it to be. Some things will take longer than others, even if you are putting in the effort.

Not everything in life can be controlled, and it’s important to remember that in goal-setting. One way I like to remind myself of this is by making sure my goals are all things I have control over. For example, when I set goals for my blog, I focus on things like writing more posts rather than gaining more followers. For me personally, it’s better to have goals that I can obtain myself.

Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow.

Are you a goal-setter? 

Sincerely,

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