To achieve the set goal, limited resource is realized now. What becomes handy to achieve the goal with such limited resource?

Goal setting. It’s something that everyone tries to do, but only a few people can actually make it work. The challenge most people face is committing them to the desired outcome they like to have. As soon the journey begins, obstacles and hurdles come up, and this is where most people end up quitting. Goal setting doesn’t have to be that way. With a few simple tips and tricks, you can make goal setting work for you.

Brian Tracy wrote a great overview on goal setting in his book Flight Plan. He uses an analogy of a flight to explain the process of goal setting for personal success. Most flights will be off-course but they all reach their destination. Along the way the pilot has to deal with turbulence, crosswinds, storms, and lightning, which force him to make adjustments throughout the journey. That’s exactly how in real life goal setting works. You know your destination and you work towards it, but inevitably you have to make adjustments along the way.

This is where time management comes in. Your time management skills will determine how well you adjust and thus how fast you will reach your goals. Remember, productivity is the time you spend working towards your goals. When you make adjustments, are they aligned with your goals? For most people, knowing the destination is not the problem. What holds most people back is charting the destination, making the right adjustments, and sticking to it?

Here are some simple tips and tricks to make sure you reach your goals. In fact, you can break it down in five simple steps.

1.      Determine what you want to achieve.

2.      Break down how you will get there.

3.      Write it down.

4.      Make it stick.

5.      Do one thing every day that brings you closer to your goals.

1. Determine what you want to achieve

This is the easiest part of goal setting. Just ask yourself, “What is it that I would like to achieve within one year?” One year is enough time to make a big goal a reality. To make it easy for yourself, stick to one big goal. If you have no clue where to start, pick one goal in one of the following areas of life:

§  Health

§  Wealth

§  Relationships

§  Happiness

2. Break down how you will get there

After you have determined what you would like to achieve, it gets more challenging. This is also the step where most people fall off the bandwagon. How are you planning to make your goal a reality? You need concrete steps to get to your destination. To fly from point A to B, you need to know the route. The same idea applies to goal setting.

A lot of people have the goal of becoming “a millionaire”, but then have no clue how to become one. Or someone wants to have a body like Zeus, but is clueless on what to do. That’s why new years resolutions do not work, because it is just wishful thinking. You need clarity (one of the essential productivity mind-sets) by having the steps outlined.

Figure out your game plan. Start with the end in mind and break down backwards the steps it takes to reach your goal.

3. Write it down

To go from wishful thinking to actually achieving your goals, you need to write down your commitments. You have to tell your brain that you are serious about this endeavour by making it think there is an investment level. As humans, once we have invested into something, we hate losing our investment and we will do anything to keep it. By writing down your goals and steps, you have clarity but also you’re telling your brain “Hey, see, this is important to me and I’m investing in it so let’s not drop the ball on this.”

From my experience, writing it down on paper or on a whiteboard gives a stronger effect than typing it. So write down your goals and steps.

4. Make it stick

The destination is known, the map is clear, and the route is defined. All you have to do now is stick to the game plan. Unfortunately, this is another hurdle for most people that end up quitting on achieving their goals. The big key here is to keep reminding yourself of the goals you want to achieve. That statement is worth repeating.

Keep reminding yourself of the goals you want to achieve.

This is the process you want to keep up because it gives you momentum to keep going. Motivation is a limited resource but it can be fabricated to help you stay on your path. Reminding yourself every day helps with this process. In fact, make it inevitable so you get reminded every day of your goal and you can do that by setting up your environment. Here are five tips to help you making it stick.

§  Setup motivation pages. Look at these every day. If you want to be a real Efficient, you make it part of your morning ritual.

§  Surround yourself with the right people that align with your goals. The closest people to you have a major impact on your productivity. Make sure they are conducive to you.

§  Create your ecosystem that is aligned with your goals. Your environment, besides the people, also help making it stick. See #8 of our 10 essential productivity mind-sets.

§  Create a desktop background on your laptop or computer with the desired outcomes.

§  On your whiteboard (if you don’t have one, you should get one), write down your big goals.

Setup your environment so that it is inevitable that you will never lose your eye on the prize. This does not take a lot of effort but will dramatically increase your chances of succeeding.

5. Do one thing every day that brings you closer to your goals

How do you make sure that you will reach your goals? Work on your them every single day. Yes, every single day. No matter if it is only ten minutes or two hours. Work on your goals every single day so it is inevitable you will get what you want. Use the compound effect in your favour; the earlier you start, the bigger the changes become as time goes by. And the more time you spend working towards your goals, the faster you will achieve them. If you want to be an Efficient Asian, you make them your most important tasks.

That is really it to goal setting. Implement these 5 simple steps and you will get what you desire. Let me ask you this, what are some of your goals you want to achieve? Leave a comment behind and we will help you achieve them.

I agree with Mr. Khalid's answer. I'd like to add that I never accept a goal as it is without having the required resources first to achieve it. If those goals are given from upper management, I negotiate them till we come up with a win-win deal where the goal is modified to suit the resources I have or the goal is postponed till I get the resources that I require or I get all the resources I need now as a condition to pursue this goal.

Agreeing to goals that you can't achieve or that you don't have enough resources for is setting yourself up for failure. 

Thanks for invitation

I amagreeing with my colleague’s answer Mr Khalid Ghaffar

Thanks

Mr. Khalid gave a great answer and I support his answer

In such situation you should do the following:

1. Set your  most priorities

2. Use Technology and innovation to substitute shortage

3. Get help by top skilled people

4. Use alternatives if possible

Thank You

Thanks for the invite I agree with the experts answers

Acknowledge Mr. Khalid Ghaffar perception of  the argument.Thanks

agree with mr. Khalid Ghaffar 

When management set goal and realised limited resources, the leader is left with the resource to generate innovative ideas. Innovative ideas are the additional resources created within the available resource to achieve the goal set for the leader.