It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through the year! Since June is upon us, we thought it would be an excellent time to revisit and refresh our goals.

We continually set goals in life: some we achieve, some we abandon, and others we kinda sorta attempt and kinda sorta get results. If you want to make serious changes in your life, build confidence, and grow as a person, you need to have a plan. The only way to get there is through goal setting. Without a clear endpoint in mind, you are wandering aimlessly; a plan allows you to proactively create your destiny.

Did you set any goals back in January? Did you write them down? Take a look at your list; how are you doing? Below are my goals for 2018.

In this post we not only revisit our goals, but we also measure our progress and see where we can revise and pivot. We’ve even created a Goal Revision Worksheet to guide you through your process.

Didn’t create a list this year? No worries! Grab a piece of paper and start fresh with us! 

What Is A Goal?

Let’s start with the basics and define a “goal.” A goal is something that we are trying to do or achieve, something that is important to us and within our control. The emphasis being within our control. When something is within our control, the outcome is dependent on our choices. If it is not within our control then it is just a wish, like winning the lottery. We’d all love to win the lottery, but the outcome is out of our hands and not dependent on our effort. Hard work pays off, and when it comes to goals, effort is everything.

Life changes because we make small changes in our daily habits.

Why Goal Setting Is Important

Goal setting gives us clarity and a laser focus on where we should spend our energy. It’s important to not only define our goals but to also write them down and place them somewhere visible—to keep our eye on the prize. Goals can be set for any aspect of life that we want to enhance or change: personal development, career, health, finances, relationships. Writing them down is the first step to bringing our dreams to fruition. By creating a list of goals, we plant a seed; what happens to that seed depends on what we do.

What you focus on grows.

To help manifest our goal into reality, we then need to create a roadmap. A roadmap is essentially a list of tasks that we need to complete to arrive to our destination. These tasks should be broken down into small pieces: daily, weekly, and monthly. By breaking our roadmap into manageable bits, we can easily channel our energy towards productive tasks. This technique also helps us concentrate on the day-to-day so that we do not get overwhelmed and anxious when we think about the big picture.  

Setting Goals

A few tips for setting the right kind of goals:

• Think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to pay off debt? Change careers? Move abroad? Run a marathon? Get healthy? Be a better partner? Start a blog? Focus on what you actually want, not what you think you should want or what others project onto you.
• Brain dump all of the goals you want to achieve. This list is just for you, write without fear or judgement. From the most ridiculous to the most achievable goal and everything in between. Brainstorm and write them all down.
• Choose a few of the most important goals from your list. Author Jim Collins once said, “If you have more than three priorities, you have no priorities.” Trying to work towards more than three goals divides your energy and attention into too many directions, setting you up for failure. By focusing on three goals or fewer, you are more likely to succeed in committing to and ultimately achieving what you set out to do. As you can see from my list I have more than three goals, some could be considered habits, in any case, I should pick no more than three goals to focus on at time. 
• Make sure your goals are realistic. You should pick goals that are achievable, as these are the goals you are mostly likely to stick to. However, do not mistake this for aiming low. You should definitely think big—big enough to get a little uncomfortable, but realistic enough that through hard work you can achieve it.
• Create your roadmap. This is where the real magic of goal setting comes in. Outline the necessary steps to achieve your goal. Break these steps down into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. In doing so, you make the work manageable by focusing on small actionable tasks instead of the big picture, which can feel overwhelming. Creating a roadmap also helps you avoid procrastinating.
• Consider obstacles. Time, money, and ability, among other things, can all get in the way of reaching your goal. It’s important to acknowledge what bumps in the road you may encounter so you know how to plan for them. Don’t let an obstacle discourage you. Get creative, talk it out, and find a way around your roadblock.
• Set a deadline. Setting a firm deadline allows you to plan properly and places a sense of urgency on your goal. A deadline forces you to act!

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.  

Revisiting Your Goals

If you set goals at the beginning of the year, it’s important to revisit them regularly. Are you on track to reach them? If not, that’s okay. Sometimes we need to temporarily (or permanently) abandon our goals. Just remember that every day is a great day to try again. Pick up where you left off or rework your timeline.

In March, She Hit Refresh hosted a goal setting meet-up in Madrid. Since it was such a success, we met again to revisit our goals and check in on our progress halfway through the year. It was an empowering event! Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it because we’ve created exercise for you to follow along! The first step is to grab your list and read it over. Then, click here for our goal setting PDF which will help you refocus, measure your progress, and see where you need to adjust.

Don’t forget to download your FREE Goal Revision Worksheet HERE!