Making Your Dreams Come True: How To Set and Achieve Your Goals
What do you dream about? A luxury vacation? A castle-sized house? A sizable savings to fall back on? How do you determine what is a goal and what is a dream? Is there a difference? Do you ever think, "Wow, that would be nice one day, keep dreaming!" or do you think, "Wow, that would be nice, this is how I will get it." A dream is simply a goal that you're afraid to work for... So, how do you make it come true? Here are seven steps to setting and accomplishing your goals and making your dreams come true.
Set measurable goals. Make sure you have a way to track your successes, etc. You can't just say, "I want to go to Bermuda" you need to have a plan of action, broken down by month (savings goals, deadlines, etc.)
Make sure your goal is meaningful. Sure, Bermuda sounds great right now while it's a little chilly outside but is that something that will mean something to you once it actually happens? Or would it mean more to take your children to Disney World before they get too old?
Pick goals that are attainable. I'm all for the castle-sized house but I'm not expecting to achieve everything necessary to purchase that this year... I can however, make it a goal to save $10k for the next 10 years for a down payment of $100k (or more!) on something further down the road.
Your goals must be relevant. Do they have meaning to you? There's no sense in working to achieve something that you don't even really care about.
Monitor your process! You have to know how you're doing, what you need to reevaluate, if anything, etc. Have a tracking system and use it.
Be open minded. Always have a different approach to achieving your goal.
Do it again. If it didn't work, that's ok. Think about it, re-write your plan of action and have another go! If it did work, do it again! :)
Share your tips with us! Do you use a certain spreadsheet or goal tracking planner? Are you part of a local group that helps you stay accountable? Tell us about it on our Facebook page here!