Reach Success in 2018

Review the previous year and your previous goals and objectives.

Make sure your goal setting is SMART.

• Specific – What is your goal? Is it specific enough or is it too broad? What needs to be done for you to achieve your goal? Why do you want to reach your goal?
• Measurable – How can you measure your progress? How will you know if you’re on track?
• Attainable – Can your goal actually be achieved?
• Realistic/relevant – Can you achieve your goal? Is the goal worth it?
• Time – What’s your time frame for reaching your goal?    

  Write down your 2018 goals and objectives.

  Writing down your goals for 2018 is a very important part of goal setting.
  Completing this step can help you remember your goal and why you want to achieve it. Whenever I don’t write something down or have it in front of me on a regular basis, I tend to forget about it.
  If you can’t remember your goal, it would be very hard to reach it. I suggest that you think about:
  • Making a vision board.
  • Putting post-its around your home that list your yearly goals.
  • Placing reminders on your phone, calendar, or whatever else you use for your to-do list.

  Create a plan to reach your life goals.

  If you want to stay motivated with your goals, then one of the first things you should do is to create a plan on how you will reach your goal.
  A plan can help you focus on the steps it will take to reach your goal, instead of feeling like you are all over the place.
  Your plan should detail the steps you need in order to reach your goal, what will happen as you reach each step, when and how you will track your progress, and more. Being detailed with your plan will help you reach your goal and become successful. 

  Break your goal apart into smaller goals.

  Having a full year to reach your goal is a long time, and you may forget about your goal or just become overwhelmed by it.
  What I recommend doing is creating 12 goals for your overall goal, one for each month of the year. Basically, each month would be a step that gets you closer to your overall goal.
  This can be a great way to stay motivated and see the progress you are making towards your overall goal, and you'll know exactly what you need to do in order to be successful.
  For example. If your goal is to become a blogger in one year, your monthly goals may be something such as:
  • • January – Think of a blog idea and a name.
    • February – Start a blog and create a blogging plan.
    • March – Create an editorial calendar.
    • April – Find ways to monetize a blog.
    • May – Reach X amount of page views.
    • June – Attend a blogging conference.
    • July – Guest post on 10 websites.
    • August – Grow your email list 
    • September – Build an emergency fund 
    • October – Reach X in blogging income.
    • November – Grow a social media account to X.
    • December – Become a blogger!

Keep track of your goal setting progress and make changes (if needed).

Find small ways to stick to your goal.

• If you are trying to eat in more, do a batch freezer cooking session to stay on top of preparing meals ahead of time. This way you will have a meal to turn to on the days when you don’t feel like cooking.
• If you’re not feeling like working out, then do something small instead. Try to fit in some squats, lunges, jumping jacks, or whatever else you can while you are cooking a meal, watching TV, or getting ready.
• If you are trying to reach financial goals but are feeling overwhelmed, you may want to start automating as much as you can, and so on. This can make reaching your financial goals a little easier. 

  Find ways to motivate yourself when setting goals.

  Motivation is what keeps you going so that you do not quit and this will help you to reach your goal for 2018. However, finding motivation can be a hard task for anyone.  But it’s so important to find what motivates you because it will help you continue to work towards your goal, even when it seems impossible.
  Here are a few ways to motivate yourself so that you can learn how to get back on track and not give up on your goals:
  • Create a vision board and keep it somewhere that you will see on a daily basis.
  • Make it a friendly competition 
  • Find ways to reward yourself as you get closer to your goal. 

    Make reaching your goal a friendly competition.

    One great way to stay on track with your goals for 2018 is to turn your goal setting into a competition between you and someone else.
    Finding an accountability partner can make reaching your goals more fun and potentially easier.
    This is because you won’t be going at it alone, you’ll have someone to talk to who is going through a similar process as you, you’ll have someone else pushing you to succeed, and more.
    There are many ways to find an accountability partner. An accountability partner can be someone you know, such as a friend, family member, coworker, and so on. They can even be a stranger, such as someone you met online who has a similar goal. 
  • What goals are you hoping to reach in 2018? What goal setting tips do you have to share?