Setting goals helps to give you clarity what what direction you need to take. Regardless if it is an long-term goal or short term goal, a personal goal or a business goal, the goals that you set needs to be realistic and achievable.
Goal setting is an important part of getting success in your professional and personal life.
But what does it mean to set realistic goals?
In this article we will break down the steps in setting any goals so that you can start setting realistic goals at work or business.
What Does Setting Realistic Goals Means?
An realistic goal is one goal that you can actually realize. These are set of goals that are achievable and attainable, when given the reasonable resources such as time, skill and effort by the individual.
The types of realistic goals may vary, they can be small goals, or big goals. Limited by the skills, experience, resources and many other variable of the person pursuing the goal, these realistic goals varies between individuals.
Why Is It Important To Set Realistic Goals
Setting unrealistic goals or goals that is basically not achievable can be detrimental to the mental health of the person pursuing the goal. It can lead to disappointment, discouragement, and ultimately, failure.
While goals should challenging goals that make it worth while for the individual to work towards their goal, it should always be realistic, something you want to achieve.
Realistic goals makes realizing the goal much more meaningful and beneficial:
- Provide direction and focus,
- Increase motivation and productivity,
- Build self-confidence and self-esteem.
They help individuals set priorities, make progress, and ultimately achieve their desired outcomes.
In this context, it is crucial to understand the importance of setting realistic goals and how doing so can lead to a fulfilling and successful life.
Benefits of Setting Realistic Goals
Setting realistic goals can have a wide range of benefits that can positively change and transform an individual’s personal and professional life.
Here are some of the benefits of learning how to set realistic goals:
1. Provides Direction and Focus
Setting realistic goals help individuals to understand their priorities and focus their efforts on what matters most.
When goals are set into a right direction, it leads to high level of focus making the journey of reaching the goal so much easier.
A realistic goal can help provide a clear sense of direction and helps individuals stay on track.
2. Increases Motivation and Productivity
Realistic goals can increase motivation and productivity by giving individuals hope and and practical insight in what are the steps required to achieve the goal.
When individuals have a goal that is challenging but achievable, they are more likely to be motivated to work towards that goal, leading to higher levels of productivity and achievement.
3. Builds Self-confidence and Self-esteem
Achieving a goal, no matter how small, or insignificant can boost an individual’s self-confidence and self-esteem, which are essential to achieving your dreams.
Each time the individuals set an achievable goals and work towards them and reach them, they can experience a sense of accomplishment and pride in their work.
This can lead to an positive feedback, where it helps to increase their self-confidence and gain a more positive self-image, leading them to pursue a bigger goal.
4. Provides a Sense of Accomplishment
Achieving an goal however big or small often lead to a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.
When individuals set goals and achieve them, they can look back on their progress and feel proud of what they have accomplished.
This sense of accomplishment can motivate individuals to set and achieve more ambitious goals in the future leading to a greater success in their personal and professional lives.
Characteristics of Realistic Goals
Realistic goals have some unique characterized that makes them good long-term and short-term goals to work towards. Here are the characteristics of achievable goals.
1. Realistic Goals Are Specific Goals
Realistic goals should be specific and clearly defined. Meaning, the goal should be well-defined and not vague or general. Goals that is too vague can lead to confusion on what exactly the goal you are actually pursuing.
A specific goal provides clarity on what needs to be achieved,
- Specific goals tells us why it is important.
- A goal that can show us how it will be accomplished.
For example, instead of setting a goal to “get in shape,” a more specific goal would be to “run a 5k race within six months.”
2. Realistic Goal Are Measurable And Qualifiable
Realistic goals should be measurable, meaning the progress you’ve made towards the goal can be tracked and quantified.
This is important as it helps you to stay motivated and provides a clear sense of progress, knowing where you were in the past, where you are now, and where you will be in the future.
A measurable goal has a quantifiable outcome, such as “increase sales by 20% in the next quarter” or “lose 10 pounds within three months.”
3. Realistic Goals Are Achievable
Realistic goals should attainable within the normal means. Don’t set goals that rely on luck, or chances, but instead it should be determined by the given resources, time, and effort available to the individual.
You need to set your goals that make sense.
This means that the goal need to be challenging but not impossible. It need to be something that you genuinely want to achieve.
A realistic goal takes into account an individual’s abilities, resources, and limitations.
4. Realistic Goals Needs To Be Time-bound
Realistic goals should be time-bound, it need to have a specific deadline or timeline for completion.
Having set a specific time where you need to achieve a certain milestone or the goal helps individuals stay focused and motivated, helping you avoiding procrastination and provides a clear sense of urgency.
A time-bound goal has a specific deadline, such as “complete a project within two weeks” or “achieve a savings goal within six months.”
How To Set Realistic Goals Step By Step
When we are talking about setting goals at work or goals for your business it is important to set realistic goals that you can actually achieve.
Having down to earth goal where you can work towards to a vital component of success in both personal and professional realms.
Setting smaller goals that you are most likely to achieve can help you be more confidence of yourself and actually achieve a bigger goal.
Setting realistic goals requires a deliberate and thoughtful process.
Here are the steps involved in setting realistic goals:
- Identify what you want to achieve: When setting realistic goals, it always start with identifying what you want to achieve. Having a clear understanding of your desired results and understanding why it is important to you is critical to your success. Simply ask yourself what you want to achieve , why it matters to you, and what you hope to gain by achieving it.
- Break down your goal down into smaller, manageable steps: Next, you’ll break your goals down into smaller, more manageable goals. Having smaller bite size pieces of goals helps to make the goal less overwhelming and more achievable. Start by listing down the specific actions you need to take to achieve your goal, and then break those actions down into smaller manageable steps.
- Set a realistic timeline: Setting a realistic timeline is probably the most important steps in achieving your goals. How long do you need to achieve your goal? When do you need to achieve your goal? Push yourself to have a challenging timeline, while ensuring that the timeline is realistic. When setting a timeline, consider any challenges that may arise and allow for extra time to overcome them. You’ll need to revise your goals or the timeline when things changes.
- Measure your progress: Measuring your progress is what differentiate a goal that is never realized and a goal that progresses. When we talk about measuring your goal, it means regularly tracking your progress and making adjustment your plan as needed. Making progress means to set milestones or checkpoints along the way to monitor your progress and celebrate small successes.
- Review your goals when neccessary: While setting goals is important, are you’ve set your goals, your predetermined goals doesn’t means it is always the best way forward. Goals are just a way to achieve what you want, and when the things you want changes, you should adjust your goal accordingly.
Good goals are realistic and achievable, regardless if you are setting multiple goals, or one big goal, writing down your goals makes your goals real and sharing your goals with people whom you respect make you more likely to achieve your goals.
Challenges to Setting Realistic Goals
Setting any goal is deciding the direction where you want to go in the future, it is setting yourself up for success.
While these goals should be manageable, it is be challenging enough to be called a goal, there is a fine balance between unrealistic goals and manageable goals.
These are several common challenges that can hinder the process of setting realistic goals.
1. Lack of Clarity or Direction
A defined goals often lead to success in achieving your goals. Goals that are too vague or undefined lacks the clarity and direction you’ll need to take to work toward your goal.
When the person don’t have a clear understanding what they are working towards, the person will not know what are the steps to take to achieve it, leading to failure to achieve their goal.
Without a clear direction, the person may set goals that do not align with their overall priority and personal value.
2. Unrealistic Expectations and Over commitment
Expectations are the things that we want to achieve in the future, but having unrealistic expectation will often lead to setting goals that are too challenging making you fail to achieve what you initially intended to achieve.
Goals that are too challenging will often lead to the feeling of being overwhelmed, discouraged, lack of motivation and eventually feeling the sense of failure.
Thus, when setting goals, it’s important to set goals that are challenging but at the same time, it is achievable, with the given resources such as time, and effort.
3. Lack of Motivation or Self-Discipline
One of the biggest obstacle is the lack of motivation, the tendency of procrastinate and setting things aside for later. When you lack motivation you will fail to take any action towards your goal, making it hard to progress or reaching success.
Like what’s mentioned in the book “Start Small, Dream Big“, break you big goal down into smaller pieces into small tiny goals. Having manageable goals makes achieving goals possible.
Don’t forget to celebrating small successes along the way.
4. Unforeseen Obstacles
Life is filled with surprises, many unpredictable, and unforeseen obstacles can arise while you are pursing your goal. While you might have set a realistic goal that you initially think that you can achieve, things may change, and you need to adapt to the changes.
Make appropriate adjustment to your strategy and develop new ways to overcome your obstacles. People set goals to guide them, but you can also make changes to improve them.
5. Lack of support
Having the right support enable you to create miracles. Many goals fails because they do not have the right support. All the different moving parts of a goal need to be in place in order to realize the goal.
Basic support such as the required resources is essential to make it possible to create success for the goal.
Interpersonal support such as having the support from your friends, family, or colleagues are crucial and without these support, most people fail to reach their goal.
Lack of support or encouragement from the people you love, or people whom is a critical piece of the puzzle can make it difficult to stay motivated and keep your goal on track.
Always get the right support from others before you start setting any goals.
Strategies for Achieving Realistic & Achievable Goals
Setting realistic and achievable goals is a must if you want to reach success, but it is always the most difficult to set. But there are some strategies that can help you to develop the right actions towards your desired outcome.
1. Create a Plan and Stick To It
Probably a non-brainer that you need to stick to your plan. The main reason why only 3% of people actually set and achieve their goals, is because either most of them don’t set goals or they set goals but keep changing it.
If you want to set a goal and stick to it, it is good if you can:
- Break your goal down to smaller goals.
- Break it down further into manageable steps.
- Set specific timeline in reaching each of your list of goals.
People don’t stick to their plan for their goal mainly because the goal are too vague. Creating a goal where you will stick to the plan means the goal needs to be as specific as possible. Set smart goals or similar methodology are great way to ensure you stick to your plan.
2. Visualize Your Success
Visualization is a powerful tool that have helped many people in gaining success.
By simply imagining yourself of reaching your goal and experiencing the feeling of being where you want to be can help you increase your motivation and keep you focus on your goal.
Visualization can have a few benefits such as:
- Overcoming self-doubt and anxiety.
- Improve your overall performance before actually doing the things itself.
Visualization is an important concept written in one of the best books on achieving success, and it is a secret weapon not used by many.
3. Celebrate Your Accomplishments
Celebrating small successes can greatly increase your chances of realizing your goal. Achievement of your goal is not limited to only your overall goal but the small wins you get along the way.
Getting to celebrate each small success can help you become more motivated in moving forward and help you gain the momentum required in achieving your goal.
The rewards can be as simple as an ice cream, a cup of your favorite coffee or anything that you enjoy but don’t often get. The rewards need to be small but significant enough to be considered as a reward.
Biggest Take Away in Setting Realistic And Achievable Goals
Setting realistic goals are often the hardest, but it is a critical step towards achieving success in any area of life.
A goal provide direction you want to take, and an realistic goal provide the motivation required to push you towards your goal.
Maybe your goals are to become the lead of your team, the manager of your department, or the CEO of the company, regardless what is your goal, it needs to be realistic and achievable.
Understand what is required to reach your goal, and get the required resources, skills, experience and connection to help you reach your goal.
Setting achievable business goals are just the same, but it involves more planning and probably several goals are need to be achieved in order to reach your true main goal for your business.
While there are always challenges when setting goals, using the right goal setting techniques and strategies can help skyrocket your chances of success.
Of the many goal setting techniques these are some the most popular amount high achievers:
Goal setting is a powerful tool anyone can use for both their personal life as well as professional life. By taking the time to set and write down meaningful and realistic goals, anyone can create a future where they will be proud of.
By using the strategies as mentioned in this article, you can turn your dreams into reality.
Read Also:
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- Management By Objectives (MBO) Goal Setting Model (Examples and Templates)
- OKR Framework: Ultimate Guide to Achieving Key Result & Goals (with Templates + Examples)
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