The Secret Code to Setting Personal Goals

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Setting Personal Goals

Sometimes we feel stress, but don’t know why.  For example, I recently spent a few weeks in Guam and planned to do a million things while I was there.  I wanted to get in two workouts a day, write a daily blog post, study for my test to become a Certified Personal Trainer, tape videos for my blog from all over the Island, be a tourist, go to the movies and work a full-time job.  I spent a lot of time setting personal goals.

When Setting Personal Goals Can Set You Up For Failure

By the end of the trip, I had not finished most of the goals I set and I felt like a failure. I did not even come close to meeting the expectations I had set for myself. Most of the time it rained. The lesson I leaned for setting personal goals was that you have to be flexible. If you set too many goals without scheduling them, you’re destined to fail.

The Lesson I Learned on Setting Personal Goals

When working on setting personal goals, I should have set smaller more obtainable goals and wrote them down on a schedule. I would have realized that accomplishing all of my goals while working around a 0730 to 1600 job (I ended up working later than that a few times) was not going to happen.  Each one of the activities I wanted to get done required a sizable time commitment.

This is a great lesson about proper planning and goal setting.  It is great to have goals, but if you overload yourself, you are setting yourself up for failure.  When you schedule your time, it is easy to see what you can accomplish and when.

The New Plan for Setting Personal Goals

My new plan for setting personal goals is to work on small steps.  I will sit down on Sunday with my planner and set my course for the week. When I am at home, my schedule is fairly regular.  Besides my day job and managing the kids, I have my two hours on the train and an hour and a half after the kids go to bed.  I now realize why I was so stressed an feeling like I was not doing enough.  I have a three and a half hour window that I tried to fit too much into.  By scheduling, I can take the uncertainty and overloading out of the mix.

If something is important, you will find time to do it, but you have to make sure you prioritize.  You can do that by studying your schedule and planning your week.

For more great tips, Check out my other posts.