This Is the Secret to Setting and Achieving Big, Scary Goals

With the year coming to a close it’s easy to reflect back on 2020 and think about all those coulda, shoulda, wouldas. The fact is, if you’re sitting here in December and you’ve made it through this horrific ride of a year feeling somewhat together, you did phenomenally well.

However, goals are synonymous with new years and fresh starts so if you’d like to set some for yourself in 2021, that’s totally fair enough.

But how does one set a goal that’s actually achievable? That is the question.

I sought out the advice of a couple of experts, Patrick Dixon, a Registered Psychologist with The Indigo Project and Rebecca Klodinsky, owner of Aussie business IIXIIST.

They shared their advice from a health and business perspective, on how to set realistic goals.

Here’s what I learnt from them both.

Be specific, and tailor your goal to you:

It’s all well and good to say you want to be a best-selling novelist next year, but if you have no idea what kind of book you’d like to write and have never written more than an email you might need to drill down a little further.

If you want to avoid being “on the back foot right from the start” Dixon told me over email.

“When creating goals, be clear and specific, write down what your goals are, how they will improve your life, identify any potential obstacles to accomplishing the goal, and solutions to overcome those obstacles.”

Similarly, Klodinsky shared that “to make a goal turn into an accomplishment” your goals “need to be well-thought-out and defined to a tee with a game-plan on how you’re going to get there.”

Klodinsky is also a fan of a pen and paper, sharing that you should write down your goals and plan in detail how you will get to the endpoint.

Be honest about your challenges, and visualise your success:

Klodinsky shared that if you want to break bad habits on your way to achieving new goals, it’s important that you think clearly about why it is you want to make this change. Be “completely transparent and honest” and perhaps journal your problems out.

Then, allow yourself to see the end result. Where will you be once you achieve this goal? Dixon said that visualisation is paramount for this.

“Unpack this with as much detail as possible at different time intervals,” he said.

Picture your journey “6 months, 12 months, 2 years, 10 years’ time from now. How will achieving these goals and keeping up with these actions create the life that you want?” he said.

Research your goal:

There’s no point setting a goal if you’re not going to put in the work required to achieve it. “An idea is just an idea,” Klodinsky said.

“…put in the time and effort to make sure what you want to do it going to work.”

Have faith in yourself:

You’ve got this, friend! Don’t make the process more difficult by questioning your ability every step of the way.

Dixon said:

“…Self-belief is a great ally to accomplishment.”

Take some time to reflect “on past accomplishments with a focus on how you overcame any obstacles and [remember] the feeling you had when you had reached your goals.”

In the end, we all face tricky times and there will be occasions where you will not achieve what you had hoped to. That’s okay. It’s all a part of learning. You can take each of those speed bumps and use them to help further yourself the next time you attempt something. Back yourself. You never know how far you can go if you just plan your goals effectively.