4 Tips for Setting and Achieving Goals - Thriving and Inspiring Blog

Do you struggle setting and achieving goals, or making progress toward your goals? Does it feel like you want to work toward something, and you’re all gung ho in the beginning, then you fizzle out without really even noticing. New Year’s resolutions, anyone?

Of all people, I know that feeling all too well. But… I’ve slowly been chipping away at this conundrum in my personal life, and want to share these oh-so-special four tips with you! Are you ready?

You’ll learn 4 tips to set and work toward goals with intention- and that, my friend, will allow you to make actual progress while feeling motivated and stomping discouragement right out of the equation!

Mini sidebar here: Feel free to grab your fave pen and a little notepad if you want to follow along with these tips in real time! You won’t regret following along, and if you do, you’ll come out with a solid plan to work toward something you want! So why not?!

neat desk with goals planner and office supplies

Table of Contents hide

1) Addressing Discouragement and a Lack of Motivation Surrounding Goals

2) Setting Goals: How to do it Intentionally

3) Achieving Goals: How to Actually Reach Those Amazing Goals You Just Set

4) Let’s bring it home

Addressing Discouragement and a Lack of Motivation Surrounding Goals

Alright, so there’s an elephant in the room. Let’s just address it. With the whole setting and achieving goals conversation comes the struggles of motivation and discouragement.

It’s no secret that everyone on earth has struggled with motivation at some point. Am I right? So let’s normalize it right here and now. It’s okay if you don’t feel totally motivated every second of every day (that would be kind of crazy).

But, I do have something to add to this discussion about motivation regarding goals. I’d be willing to bet that you’d have a boost in motivation if you knew feelings of accomplishment were right around the corner.

How can you feel accomplished? When you structure your goals a certain way and you have a well-defined process of working toward them. Don’t you think you’d feel motivated if you just had to tend to and accomplish one minor task each day, that was outlined ahead of time? (I do!)

Before we dive into exactly how to set, structure, and work toward your goals, I want to have a little heart-to-heart with you about discouragement.

It’s totally common to feel defeated after you set a goal, only to watch it go nowhere. I want to tell you that those feelings are okay. But it’s up to you to do something about them. That’s why setting appropriate, attainable goals is so crucial.

By the end of this, discouragement will have no place within you because you’ll feel accomplished every step of the way toward achieving your goals!

notebook with rainbow text that reads "wish for it, hope for it, dream of it, but by all means, do it."

Setting Goals: How to do it Intentionally

1. Make sure your goal is specific and detailed.

A goal is something you want and that you’re working toward, like running an 8-minute mile or saving more money. These are fine goals, but they lack detail, and they’re not specific enough. This, my friend, is likely what has tripped you up in the past and caused your goals to fall by the wayside. Outline your goals and make them clear. The key here is intentional planning. You can plan your goals intentionally by asking yourself:

How exactly will I accomplish it?

What resources or supplies will I need?

How long will it take?

I encourage you to make your goals specific and full of as much detail as possible.

Two years ago, I set a goal of taking life at a slower pace, and low and behold, didn’t make any headway with it because I didn’t have any sort of plan on how I was to accomplish it. So, how about I infuse more detail into that goal, while you jot down the answers to the three questions above surrounding a goal you want to start working on. Go for it, actually write something down if you want!

2. Make sure your goal is within your reach.

Not only should your goals be specific and detailed, but they should be achievable. Now, I’m not telling you to think small, but rather to set appropriate and doable goals that are not overwhelming. (Believe me, I’m all about dreaming big!)

Running a 4 minute is probably not doable for the average Joe unless you’re a superstar athlete. “Doable” means that the goal isn’t so huge that you are hesitant to start working on it.

Answer the question:

This is doable because…

(Go ahead and jot something down, and take your time!)

3. Find your “why” and consider how you will feel when it’s accomplished because this will give you motivation.

Detailed, achievable, and lastly… meaningful! Set goals that, in your mind, are so completely worth achieving. You should be excited about the end result and it should fuel you. Knowing your “why” will help you deliberately work toward your goals with reckless abandon and intention.

Working toward goals that are meaningful to you will help you step into the best version of yourself.

Ask yourself:

Why am I even shooting for this?

Jot down your answers on your notepad if you’d like.

Side note: Your WHY should be meaningful to YOU. Don’t worry about what your friends are doing- the goals they’re setting and achieving. Minding your own business when it comes to setting goals is super helpful because you ensure that you’re working on what matters to you, not what matters to your friend or an influencer.

Achieving Goals: How to Actually Reach Those Amazing Goals You Just Set

Here’s the last of the four tips:

4. Tackle the goal piece by piece. Break it up into bite-sized chunks because this will help you see progress and in turn combat discouragement.

One word, friend: chunking. No matter the size of the goal, it can be broken down into smaller parts, AKA chunks.

Chunking goals allows you to intentionally work on one small part of a goal at a time. Another way to look at it is to break a long-term goal into multiple short-term goals. When you are purposeful about consistently achieving small victories that lead you in the direction of a bigger goal, your accomplishment is visible! Your progress is measurable and tangible. Those feelings of accomplishment will fuel you and motivate you to continue trucking along. It’s a domino effect of success!

Here’s a real-world example: I know someone who wants to make a career move but is unsure of which career path to pursue. That’s a big goal that could be scary to tackle if she just left at that. So I encouraged her to outline it in detail, and write down her goal in chunks.

Here’s what she came up with:

Do some casual research on a few industries that pique her interest.

Narrow her interests down to one industry.

Research specific positions within her selected industry.

Narrow interests down to a handful of ideal positions.

Research the preparation needed for her desired position.

Apply for schooling to gain credentials for her desired position.

And so on…

This is what I mean by chunking a goal. These chunks are worked on in a succession, in order, one after the next. Each chunk feels doable in and of itself, and only one chunk is worked on at a time. See, not so scary right? You can totally do that.

Kinda like spring cleaning by going one room at a time!

Want to try this? You know what I’m going to say- scribble some steps down on that trusty notepad of yours. You’ll be happy you did.

sign that reads "turn ideas into reality"

Let’s get personal for a sec.

Can I tell you a little story? Hopefully, it’s one that inspires you. In 2010, I set a goal to run an 8-minute mile. I set that goal at the beginning of the year and worked at it the entire year. By year-end, I could run a mile in 8 minutes and 30 seconds! It wasn’t until 10 years later, that I actually accomplished my goal. TEN years later! Granted, I stopped running in the “in-between” years. But when I resumed working toward the goal, I didn’t let the time that passed get me down.

Bonus tip! This story highlights the importance of persistence. The above 4 tips are stellar and will be even more helpful to you if you intentionally just keep moving toward what you want and persist even when it’s hard and it feels like things are taking forever and a day. Imperfect action is better than no action and any progress is progress! Just keep making small strides toward setting and achieving goals.

Let’s bring it home

Setting and achieving goals, and staying persistent and motivated is simpler when you create a specific, detailed, attainable goal, understand your “why”, and chunk your goal so you can easily notice progress and feel a sense of accomplishment along the way to the big result. If you followed along with me and were writing as you read, look down at your page and recognize that you’ve just done the preliminary work! Whatever your goal is, you are beyond prepared to start in on the work. It won’t always be easy, but you can rest assured that you have a solid action plan to fall back on and refer back to.

Congrats on the progress you made today! Recognize that you showed up for yourself. You should be proud of yourself for that!

Now with your newfound momentum, I’d love for you to keep the growth rolling and read on here.

Want to keep the tips and encouragement coming?! I gotcha covered, click here.