Evaluating Goals - Is It Time to Refocus?
Anne Sayles, Boon Coach
Checking in On Your Goals
Whether your goals were to get healthier, to find a new job, to pay off debt or to reconnect with loved ones, it might be time to check in with your goals and see how you're doing. Perhaps it's time to evaluate your progress, refocus your approach or even adjust the timeline.
Revisiting goals could be a touchy subject for some people. Perhaps you haven't made progress in the way that you've wanted, and that raises some self-doubt and maybe a little bit of shame. Instead, let's look at how revisiting goals can set you up for success.
Get in Touch with your “Why”
Remind yourself what was the motivation behind your goal in the first place - this is your why. What was the main reason you wanted to get healthier this year - was it to be able to hike all day without getting tired? Was it to feel better in your clothes? Is this why even relevant anymore?
Once we get back in touch with our why, we can look and see if it is still relevant. Check in with yourself and see if this reason still resonates with you. Maybe it's time to become clearer with yourself as to what the why is?
Assess your Progress
Which goals have you made progress on? Perhaps there are goals that you are struggling with? Do you have built-in milestones within your goals where you can track your progress? Goals can benefit from having regular check-ins with yourself, this gives you time to evaluate how things are going on a shorter timeline. Your goal could benefit from a weekly check-in. If it's a longer-term goal, that would benefit from a monthly check-in.
Is there something that you're just struggling with, and you haven't made any progress? Take a deeper look at why you've made the choice to not further that goal. Know that whatever you do, or don't do, you're always making a choice. Creating a habit is making a choice every day. What is the reasoning behind your choices? Are you coming from a place of habit or are you intentionally choosing to maximize your goals?
What Works and What Doesn't Work
Sometimes we have very lofty goals and we set ourselves up for failure. Does this sound familiar? Do you need to modify what you are doing? If so, what? Maybe you've made a goal to workout five times a week, but you only can make it to the gym three days. When you look at your progress at this goal you only see the failure. With your schedule, it's only reasonable to get to the gym three times a week. Redefining your goal to be healthy may look like only going to the gym three times a week and going out for a walk on the other two days.
If you're looking to get a new job this year, how many times are you checking postings? Do you have criteria of how many jobs a week you want to apply for? Maybe you have a daily quota of looking at new job listings? How are you tracking how many interviews you've been called back for? Keeping track of the things that you accomplish will help you craft the progress of your goal. This will in turn help you achieve your goal.
Get into the Mechanics
Look at the things that are going well - what has set you up for success? Is it preparation? Is it a conscious choice?
What do you need to do each week to move you towards your goal? What do you need to do each day to move you towards your goal? Getting specific with choices and actions that you need to take to move you towards your goal will help stay accountable.
What's the Timeline?
Adjusting your goals as you go and adjusting your timeline incrementally is the most effective way to educate yourself about how you accomplish your goals. Keeping track of success on a daily or weekly basis will motivate you to stay on track. Give yourself some grace - even having a shorter-term goal will help you build on success. Instead of looking at a year-long goal, break it down into smaller chunks.
Start with 30-day goals then see what works for you and what doesn't. This allows you to adjust on a much shorter timeline. You can track your progress day to day or weekly. If something isn't working out for you, it's easy to correct it in a much faster way.
If you're struggling with setting goals and staying accountable, speaking with a Boon coach can be just the guidance you need to be successful.
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