I like to speak from my own experiences and what has helped me achieve my little wins. This year, I made a major move that changed my life for real, which was setting goals and taking actionable steps to achieve those goals.
I really don’t want to sound like an “aspire to perspire” person right now, but this secret I am about to expose to you is life-changing. But note that you must have the right mindset to use this and apply it in your life.
My Story
I remember in 2019, I did not know how to set SMART goals but I heard a lot of people talk about new year resolutions, new year goals, and all sorts, but I never bothered about any of it.
I told myself I will be a badass Digital marketing person by the end of 2019 and I put all my efforts into achieving this. By mid-year, a company already reached out to me to join their team, and many more came towards the end of the year. I had just one goal in 2019, and I achieved it. This is not to brag but to explain to you the importance of having a goal in mind.
In 2020, my story was different. I had a theme for the year, which was “Leaving my comfort zone and breaking limits and boundaries”. With this theme, I set really smart goals for myself. I am happy to say that I went over and beyond the goals, I set for myself. Yes, Covid-19 happened, and my timelines changed for some goals. But still, I was unstoppable.
How To Set Smart Goals
To give more context to this, you need to set SMART goals for yourself in 2021, not only that but have an action plan towards achieving each of your goals. I was reading a book a few days back, and something caught my attention, it says, “Don’t ever be too impressed with goal setting. Be impressed with goal getting” — John Maxwell. Emphasis on goal getting.
Realistically, it is one thing to set goals, and it’s another thing to take actionable steps to achieve those goals. For you to have the right action plan, your goals must be SMART — a little breakdown of what SMART Means. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time-bound.
An example of a vague goal will be to “grow my followers on Instagram” or “I want to have a shop”.
These are really vague goals. A SMART goal will be — “To grow my IG followers to 2000 before the end of July,” or “I want to have a coffee shop in Lagos before the end of December”. Then the next thing you think of is how you intend to achieve this.
Action Plan for the IG Followers Growth will be:
- Post 5 times a week
- Give a freebie content at the end of each month
- Do a giveaway
This is how you differentiate a SMART goal from a vague goal.
This move I made this year was a game-changer for me. You can apply this too in your life. Let’s do this together!
Goal Setting Template For You!
I created this template this year for myself, and it worked like magic. I have decided to share it with you, so you can use it to set your goals for 2021, and I want us to share our progress together. Don’t forget to show snippets of these templates on your IG stories and tag me @imade_eseosa.
Let’s Smash our goals in 2021! See you on the other side! Follow me on IG and get your free goal setting template now!
