How to set personal goals 2022 and 2023 with the smart goal method

Goals have been a matter of course in the sports world for many years. The reason is simple, goal setting works. When you have a business or work and want to perform, it is therefore a great idea to set goals. Here's a guide to how to succeed.

Planning your goals is a great strategy, it’s like giving yourself a blueprint of what you want to achieve and how. With the help of your goal setting, you have the opportunity to influence what you want to happen tomorrow, in a year or in ten years. If you don't have a goal, there is a big risk that your success and the path of getting there becomes coincidental.

The smart goals method

The SMART goal framework is a useful framework for planning, structuring and executing work towards a specific goal. It is a user-friendly methodology, in that it instructs which aspects of a goal and associated milestones should be included, and how these should be formulated to have best effect. This combination makes the SMART framework very powerful and significantly increases the chances of the goal at hand actually being reached.
What it stands for:

• S: Specific
• M: Measurable
• A: Achievable
• R: Realistic
• T: Time-bound

Who needs goal setting?

Regardless of whether you work in sales, are starting your own business, run your own business, are a manager or want to lose weight; setting a goal makes it easier.

Between 1979 and 1989, a group of researchers from Harvard decided to conduct a comprehensive study on goal setting. They interviewed a group of graduates from the MBA program and asked the following question:

”Have you set clear written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”.

The results of the study were that 3% of graduates had a clear and written down goal, 10% had a goal in mind, 60% had dreams and desires and 27% had no idea what they wanted in life. 20 years later, the students were followed up and the results were as follows:

The 3% who had clear and written down goals had more wealth than the other 97% combined. Similar surveys have been done over and over again with similar results.

Now, of course money is not the primary success indicator, but this principle can be applied to anything you want to achieve.

What is the main reason people don’t set goals?

Many people skip setting goals, and the most common reasons behind this is:

• You don’t realize how important it is.
• You’re afraid to fail.
• You don’t know how to do it.
• You’re afraid to stand out from the crowd.

Examples and categories of goal setting

A goal can be just about anything, but it must be something that you really want to happen and that you are willing to go the extra mile to achieve. Here are some common categories of goal setting and a good option is to choose one long term goal in each area.

Personal, and character goals: Who do you want to be? ”Your ideal self". You probably have someone you look up to. Write down the person's positive qualities. Read and watch film clips. Think about how the person would have acted in the situation you are in. This will give you a good indication of how you could define goals on your own character.

Family/friends – One category that many people find important settings goals within is for family and friends. Do you want to spend more time with your family? Is it important for you that you and your friends travel at least once a year? Make sure to define these goals in order to be that positive force within the group. An important factor of goal setting is accountability. Simply by sharing your goals with your friends and family - you make sure that you have people around you who can help getting on the right track - whether you’ve already started of and lost the thread, or just to get started.

Things you want to learn and experience - Do you want to travel to a certain country, learn a language, play the piano, or become the village's best carpenter? Write it down as your goal.

Financial/material goals – It could be a monthly salary you want, a sum of money saved in the bank, a car, a house, etc.

Visualizing and anchoring your goals

After you’ve got your list of goals written down - now immediately put your plan into action and go full force with the attitude that this will work out. Think in pictures, just like the sports elite do. When Stefan Holm and Kajsa Bergqvist high jumped, they painted positive images in their heads when they jumped over the bar. They visualized floating in the air and how the crowd cheered when they landed.

Before Usain Bolt in 2009 ran the fastest 100m in history, he clearly had visualized how the race would feel. The start, accelerating past his opponents, and finally looking at that sign to see a new world record has been set, and how the crowd cheered at that exact moment.

You can do the same, and it will strengthen your focus and increase the chances of reaching the goal.

The path towards your goals aren’t straight

You will encounter downfalls and problems along the way, but remember that temporary failure is necessary for success. You have never failed until you accept it yourself and a temporary defeat is just an experience richer.