Do you have a big goal that you are not reaching? If so, you need a goal setting worksheet. But don’t worry, you can build one yourself right now, just by opening your word processor and creating a box for each of the following segments.
Step 1: What is my goal? It must be specific, challenging, and achievable.
Many people set their goals but don’t achieve them because the goals are simply too vague, too small, or too big. For example, “I’m going to get in shape this year” is a very poor goal. What do you mean by that? How will you know if it has arrived? A better goal statement is “I’m going to lose 10 pounds, be able to do 50 pushups without a break, and run 3 miles in less than 25 minutes by my next birthday.” There is no room for maneuver there! You will know if you have succeeded or failed. And, assuming the goals are also appropriately challenging or meaningful, you’ll have a strong goal statement.
Step 2: Why do I want to achieve this goal? What are the benefits I seek.
This could be a very long list. Going back to the fitness goal, you may want to look better at the beach, beat a friend in a race, improve your heart health, or any other possibility. The purpose of this step is to identify your deepest motivations, put them on paper, and refer to them as you move toward your goal.
Step 3: What are the obstacles between me and my goal?
If there were no barriers, you would already be there! So why aren’t you? You may have to eat out a lot because of your job and it is difficult to eat healthy meals outside the home. Perhaps you were pushed into a sedentary lifestyle due to injury. Your schedule is probably such that it is very difficult to find time to exercise. Write down all the obstacles you can think of, big or small.
Step 4: What is the main constraint, the only barrier that, if removed, would immediately move me towards my goal?
Of all the barriers you identified in Step 3, choose the most significant. This will help you prioritize how you are going to achieve your goal.
Step 5: What sacrifices must I make to achieve this goal?
Any substantial goal requires sacrifice. The more significant the goal, the more substantial the sacrifice is likely to be. This is a reality check: are you prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to reach your goal?
Step 6: What information or skills do I need to achieve this goal?
Most big goals require us to grow personally in knowledge or skills. If you can figure out where the gaps are early on and start filling them in, you’ll be moving towards your goal very quickly.
Step 7: Who can help me achieve this goal?
This is a very important question and your answer is also very important. A missed goal generally means that we lack the self-discipline to go it alone. Therefore, we must rely on the discipline and responsibility of another person. In some cases, they may be partners moving toward a similar goal; in other cases, they are mentors who are guiding and preparing us to go where they have already gone. Either way, this person is often the difference between success and failure in goal setting.
Step 8: What are all the steps I need to take to reach this goal?
I like to just write these things as they come to mind, regardless of order or priority. Just get all the logical steps down so you can see exactly what is required. This is another reality check stage, but it can also be quite encouraging as your big goal has been reduced to small pieces.
Step 9: What are the three main steps I need to take to achieve this goal?
At this point, you simply synthesize all the points from the previous step into the three big logical steps that will get you to your destination. For example, going back to the fitness scene, the steps might be to establish a better routine for eating out, joining a gym, and working out three times a week.
Step 10: What habits (daily, weekly, monthly) do I need to establish to reach my goal?
Don’t miss out on the power of this step! Every big goal requires new habits if we are to get there, a new routine in some small or excellent way, usually on a daily and weekly basis. Our lives are actually simply the sum total of our habits. We change our lives mainly by changing our habits.
Step 11: How committed am I to achieving this goal?
Now that you’ve thought about it carefully, how passionate are you about going there? You can describe it in words or just rate yourself out of ten. If you’re not significantly committed to reaching a goal, consider quitting and developing one that turns you on, rather than feeling guilty for an extended period of time before quitting.
Step 12: What simple thing can I do now, at least today, to move towards my goal?
It doesn’t have to be something important, it just has to be something. The sooner you act, the sooner you will feel that sense of progress and the sooner you will reach your destination.
So there you have it, a goal setting template that you can use to make your own goal setting worksheet. Try this worksheet to set goals. It has been a great help to me and I know you will find that it gives you that little extra push to achieve your goals and achieve your dreams.
