038 | How to Set Better Goals for Success

We all know that goals help guide us and move us forward in life. Some of us, though, struggle to make the progress we want, even as we set goals.

If that’s you, this episode provides 8 tips to help you set better, more actionable goals to achieve the success you’re looking for in whatever area of your life.

Lightly edited transcript appears after the show notes.

 Topics Discussed

• 8 tips to set better goals to achieve success in the areas you’re working on in your life

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Resources mentioned

Lifestyle Freedom Starter Guide

Episode 29: What to Do When You Struggle to Reach Your Goals

Press release about the goal setting study from Dominican University of California (the text of the study’s findings appears to no longer be available)

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Lightly Edited Transcript

Hey friend. Happy Friday!

Welcome to the weekend. How’s it going?

I hope you have had an amazing week. And before we jump in today, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for being here with me. You guys tell me that you take me along on your walks and on your drives and all the things, and I’m just honored to be able to serve you. And I appreciate your support. So thank you.

Today I want to talk about goal setting. We know that setting goals is important. So, we know that if we want to reach success, then we need to know what we’re aiming for, right?

You need a roadmap for anywhere you’re trying to go and your goals provide that roadmap. They can be your guide. They act as kind of a guardrail to keep you on track.

They provide the long term vision for your life or whatever area of your life that you’re setting the goal for. And they also allow you to like measure your progress and achieve the success that you’re looking for.

And so if you’re not setting goals, then I encourage you to do so.

And I’ve got a few tips to help you set good actionable goals, more than a few it’s eight tips.

So the first one is to narrow your focus. You know we are in this hustle and bustle society, always trying to do all the things.

And I think lawyers especially think that we’re really good at multitasking but we’re not. So, when you are trying to spread yourself so thin, you only make a little bit of progress on each thing that you’re trying to accomplish.

I’ve told you before about the book essentialism by Greg McKeown. It’s one of my favorites. But in it he said something to the effect of, like, what if you could make 40% progress on the one thing that matters. Instead of 4% progress on 10 different things.

And I think the same is true when we are looking at setting goals. So rather than trying to accomplish all of these goals all at once I think prioritize them tackle the one that is most important to you at that time.

So for example, in the context of my money story like my husband and I decided that we would only contribute about 3% to retirement to get the match, and we would focus on paying off our debt and doing that has allowed us to make so much progress on our debt because that is our focus.

And that’s not to say that we are completely neglecting everything else. Like I said, we didn’t completely stop contributing to retirement. We still, you know will put money aside for our kids college, that kind of thing. But the bulk of our money, and our focus is on paying off our debt. And then once we do that we can shift to another goal.

I think when we focus in that way, you really accelerate your progress because all of your efforts are going to this one thing and so you accomplish this first goal faster which allows you to get to the second goal faster, as opposed to taking all the time and all of your goals kind of dragging out.

The second tip is to know your why. I think a lot of times we set goals without considering why we actually want to achieve them.

Sometimes it’s just that we think that we should do it right but when you know why you want to achieve a particular goal, then it is going to help you push through any setbacks, or any, you know lagging motivation when you don’t want to do it.

It will just help you stay on track, right? You’ll get back on, or get back in the zone, even if you fall off for a little bit.

When you have your why in mind, nothing is going to stop you. If it’s a significant enough why right it will push you to keep going.

And even when it seems like it’s going to take forever to accomplish your goal, just remembering that ultimate reason why you want to do it will keep you focused so that forever doesn’t feel like so long.

The third tip is to set realistic goals. I think sometimes we try to go, you know, zero to 100 or zero to Beyonce, as I mentioned in I think it was Episode 29 about starting where you are.

You want to make sure you’re not setting yourself up for failure. So if you are setting unrealistic goals, not taking into consideration your starting point, then you’re going to be much less likely to achieve them.

So think about what you can comfortably do, right, set your goal maybe a little beyond that and think about where you’re starting from because the point is to make progress on your goal.

And if you can build momentum, so you’re starting with a smaller step toward the goal that you can build upon and you can get that evidence in your mind that you can do it, which will encourage you to keep going.

Even though it seems like you know this whatever the smaller step is isn’t big enough. It’s exactly what you need to do so that your mind can see how you can achieve this smaller part and then build up to get to the goal that you ultimately want to achieve.

That’s similar to my next step which is to break your goals into smaller pieces. So sometimes it might feel like your ultimate goal is so far out of reach, right.

But when you break it into smaller pieces, then you can see how it’s doable. So, similar to the previous tip about making sure that you’re starting where you are, break it into pieces that feel more doable for you.

And as you break them into those more manageable pieces you take it one step at a time. And before you know it, you will have accomplished the goal.

So don’t overwhelm yourself by looking at the ultimate goal from the outset, right. Take your time. Look at the smaller kind of mini goals within the ultimate goal.

Accomplish those. And then as you accomplish those, you will ultimately accomplish the larger goal.

The next tip is to write your goals down. Do not underestimate the power of committing your goals to paper.

I mentioned reading my Bible in the morning. The Bible says write the vision make it plain.

There was actually a study that was conducted on goal setting back in 2015, and it concluded that we are 42% more likely to achieve our goals when we write them down, as opposed to just thinking about them.

I think that writing also forces us to clarify our goals because when you only have a vague sense of what you want to accomplish, you’re not going to get anywhere.

And that ties into the next tip, which is to make your goals specific and measurable and give yourself a deadline. And this is part of the SMART goals framework.

But when you have a general goal, you don’t have a deadline, something like, “I’m going to save more,” or “I’m going to lose weight.”

That doesn’t help you because you don’t know when you’ve accomplished the goal. What is the frame of reference for what qualifies as more?

If you save $1 is that okay? That’s more right? If you lose two pounds is that enough?

How long are you going to save more or lose weight? How will you know when you’ve accomplished this goal?

A better way to frame it would be to set a specific amount of money you want to save and a specific timeframe that you want to do it, or to set a specific amount of weight that you want to lose, and the timeframe that you’re going to do it.

So “I’m going to save $10,000 by the end of the year,” or “I’m going to lose 10 pounds in the next three months.”

By making your goal specific and measurable then you know exactly what you’re aiming to save or what you’re aiming to lose. And you can easily tell when you’ve reached the goal.

And then, also by giving yourself a deadline, then you can make your plan, which goes back to the tip about breaking your goals into smaller pieces.

The next tip is to share your goals with a friend. So the study that I referenced before also showed that over 70% of participants who shared their goals with their friend who like actually reported their progress, they accomplished or made significant steps toward accomplishing their goals while only 35% of those who kept their goals to themselves did the same.

So telling other people what you’re trying to accomplish gives you that accountability. And so it will make you do it right? It will help you to stay on track.

It might be tough because you don’t want people to know if you fail. But, sharing your goal will motivate you to work harder, so that you make it happen. And if you keep your goals to yourself it’s a lot easier to make excuses, or to put things off.

And this is where coaching comes in for some people because a coach can be that accountability for you. So if you are looking for a coach you need accountability and reaching your money goals in particular…hello, I can help you.

You can head to rhothomas.com/coaching and we can set up a call and talk about how I can help you stay on track with your money goals.

So the final tip is to celebrate your small wins. You will not accomplish your goals overnight, but you’ve got to celebrate your small wins on the journey to accomplishing the ultimate goal.

And if you are anything like me, I think most lawyers are probably like this, where you hit a goal, and you’re immediately on to the next thing.

You accomplish this task, and you’re immediately on to the next thing. But you’ve got to take a second to recognize the accomplishment that you’ve made.

Take a second and acknowledge your achievement because that will help you to keep going.

When you are setting a big goal and we talked about breaking it out into small pieces, smaller chunks. As you accomplish those smaller chunks, that’s a great time to celebrate.

And you can look back and see how far you’ve come when it feels like your goal is taking forever. So definitely take time to celebrate your wins, even if they seem insignificant or they’re not as large as you would like them to be because that is going to be great motivation for you to keep going.

Okay friends so let’s recap those tips.

1. Narrow your focus. Pick one goal, and direct your efforts there.
2. Know your why. Knowing the ultimate reason why you want to achieve a goal will push you to keep going, even when you don’t want to.
3. Set realistic goals. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting a goal that’s too large for where you are now.
4. Break your goals into smaller pieces. So as you accomplish, each of those chunks, you will ultimately push yourself closer and closer to the final goal.
5. Write your goals down. You are 42% more likely to achieve your goal if you write it down.
6. Make your goals specific and measurable and give yourself a deadline. If you have a general goal with no specifics, then you don’t have a frame of reference for when you have accomplished your goal.
7. Share your goals with a friend or a coach, someone who will help you to stay accountable. Sharing your goal will motivate you to work harder, and you will ultimately accomplish the goal.
8. Celebrate your small wins. You won’t accomplish your goal overnight, but celebrating your small wins is more motivation for you to keep going.

Okay, that’s it for this week’s episode. Join me over in our private Facebook community, The Wealthyesque Community, and let’s talk more about goal setting. You can find us at rhothomas.com/community.

If you got value from today’s episode, just think of a friend or two who you think might also benefit and share it with them. And if you share on social media, my handle is @iamrhothomas, and I’m most active on Instagram.

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Okay friend as we close out, I pray that you will take a second and identify the goal that you want to accomplish.

I pray that you will take steps to achieve that goal, using these tips.

And as always I pray that you will continue to take steps to regain control of your time, build wealth and live the life of freedom and choice you deserve.

Talk to you later.