The Secret To Accomplishing Your Goals

In the New Year, think about some New Goals.

The New Year is upon us, so you know what means. Its time for a new set of goals.

“But Josh, don’t you mean new resolutions?”  No. I don’t make resolutions.  I set goals.  There’s a difference between the two, and it can be summed up like this: resolutions fail, goals are achieved.

Resolutions are usually course corrections, trying to alter the path of something (usually you).  This means that resolutions are inherently negative in their assumption; resolutions assume that something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

Goal setting is slightly different.  Its positive in its assumption, assuming proactive action and work towards a desired result.  Rather than correcting who you were in the past, goal setting believes in your capacity to be better in the future.

Resolution making and goal setting are two sides of the same coin-making effort towards specific results in the future. it just so happens that one side is negative in its origination and the other is positive.


I prefer to go with positive.  I prefer to go with goal setting.  And I think you should too.  This blog post shows your how.

Step 1: Brainstorm and Select

The first thing you must do is brainstorm some goals you might like to achieve in 2013.  A year is a long time, so feel free to brainstorm a lot of goals.  Remember, these are goals for 2013, not goals to begin on January 1st of 2013, you will have time.

Once you have a list of potential goals written down, select the ones you feel most passionate about.  I don’t limit myself to a certain number, rather, I choose any and all goals that get me excited.

Step 2: Make your goals SMART

Once I’ve chosen my list of goals for the year, I begin to make them SMART.  SMART is a mnemonic device used to help make your goals effective.  It stands for SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, RELEVANT, and TIME-BOUND

Making a goal SPECIFIC means making it clear and defined.  A specific goal has all the w-questions answered, such as ‘What do I want to accomplish’ and ‘Where will it take place’, so there will be nothing vague or ambiguous about it.

A MEASURABLE goal means the goal can be quantified and tracked.  A goal that is measurable is a goal you can determine whether or not you are making progress on it.  A measurable goal has specific answers for ‘how much’ and ‘how often’

It is also important your goal is ATTAINABLE.  Your goal should be possible and achievable, realistic for the world you live in.  You can achieve more than you think you can; this step encourages stretch goals to be made, not extreme goals.

A goal must also be RELEVANT to you.  The goal you make should speak to you and be something that you want to accomplish. Don’t make goals you think you should make, make goals you want to make.

Finally, all goals must be TIME-BOUND.  An appropriate amount of time must be allocated towards your goal and your goal must be achievable based on the actions that you undertake over time.

For each and every goal, I move through the SMART criteria to ensure that all my goals are well written.  A well written goal is an achievable goal.  Here are some examples of the goals I’ve made for 2013 that are SMART:

Meditate at least 10 minutes a day, everyday. 

Practice yoga at least 15 minutes day, 5 days a week. 

Meet or Skype with one new and interesting person ever two weeks for the purpose of learning and networking. 

Attend Dean's wedding in Tuscany.

Step 3: Time and Money

Creating goals is only half the battle.  For most goals the real effort made towards achievement is rarely the act of doing-rather the difficulty is marshaling the resources to invest in it.  Those resources fall into two categories-time and money.

Being financially upfront with your goals is critical to achieving them because quite often when we make a goal, we are actually making a goal to save money to achieve that goal.  A late realization of the amount of money a goal costs is extremely discouraging.

The best way to view this is to estimate the cost of your goal and then divide it by 12. That would be your monthly savings towards achieving that goal.  If you follow a monthly budget, roll the additional monthly goal cost into your budget.

If you do not follow a monthly budget there is still value in seeing what 1/12th of the cost of your goal is.  It makes the goal more immediate in the need to be actionable in saving for it and more reasonable in the amount of money needed.

Doing a quick analysis of time commitment is also necessary preparation for each of your goals.  I like year long goals because it a reasonable amount of time to mentally prepare and execute goals, but also allows the ability to shift our focus to and from and back to the goal, all while still staying within deadline.  But, how much time are you actually asking from yourself when you are setting a goal?

Some goals take no extra time at all because you already make time for it.  An example of this would be cooking one new recipe a week for the person who already cooks often at home.  Other goals, for the sake of initial planning, take no extra time because the goal itself involves taking time off.  An example of this would be going on a vacation to Thailand.

However, many goals are focused on forming new habits.  You are not in the habit of the routine so you are not in the habit of making time for the routine.  In general, if you are not in the habit of acting on the goal in question and it takes more than 20 minute, it makes sense to schedule it into your day.  For more information on successfully scheduling in all that you want to accomplish in your day, check out THIS POST.

Here is how I analyze the same goals as above for Time and Money.

Meditate at least 10 minutes a day, everyday.
-cost: nothing
-time: to be scheduled into day 

Practice yoga at least 15 minutes day, 5 days a week.
-cost: minimal. Already paying $18/month for yogaglo membership
-time: to be scheduled into day 

Meet or Skype with one new and interesting person ever two weeks for the purpose of learning and networking.
-cost: nothing
-time: 30-60 minutes, once every two weeks. 

Attend Dean's wedding in Tuscany.
-cost: estimate about $2200, including airfare (~$183/month)
-time: request time off, estimate about 5-7 days

Following these steps, brainstorming and selecting goals, making them SMART, and analyzing the time and money commitment they require, is the best way you can set yourself up for success as you prepare to execute your new goals in 2013.

How do you plan your goals?  What are your goals for 2013?