Especially if your goal is a difficult or complicated one, you must be fully committed to it. You are less likely to achieve a goal that is only somewhat important to you. If your aren’t sure you are committed enough to follow through on a goal or goals, it probably isn’t realistic. This means you should either revise your goal or create a new one you are more committed to. Let’s stick with the example of becoming a professional cellist. You might decide that moving to another city is something you can’t commit to. If there isn’t a professional orchestra in your town, you’ll need to revise your career goal. If you have multiple goals on your list, it is a good idea to rank them in order of how important to you they are. Trying to achieve too many goals at once can make it harder to achieve any of them. Go for the ones you are most committed to first.
Limitations come in many forms. They can be monetary, for example. They can also be physical. While some can be overcome, others might present too much of challenge. In such cases, you may wish to revise or reconsider one of your goals. Let’s stick with the career as a cellist as an example. If you’ve been in a car accident and don’t have full use of your hands, this will make achieving this goal much more difficult. You might be able to overcome this through intensive physical therapy and years of training. Certainly though, it will make the goal much harder, and might make it impossible. You should keep this in mind while assessing whether your goal is realistic. Write your limitations down. This will help you develop a more complete picture of the challenges you face.
For example, think about the music school you want to attend for cello training. How difficult is it to get accepted to that school? How likely are you to be accepted? What if you aren’t accepted? What other options are open to you? You won’t be able to anticipate every obstacle that might arise, but try to brainstorm as many as you can, writing them down as you go. This will help you develop a sense of how realistic your goal is. This can also be helpful later if you do decide to pursue your goal. Trying to anticipate obstacles in advance helps you develop ideas for dealing with them when they arise. [5] X Research source
If you decide your goal isn’t realistic, you have two options. You can try to revise the goal to make it more achievable. Or, you can let it go in favor of creating a new goal. For example, imagine you’ve decided that a career as a professional cellist isn’t realistic for you. If your big-picture goal is a more fulfilling career, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Think about some other careers that would also make you happy. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean you need to give up on the cello. If you love music and the cello, you can also revise your goal. You can aim to learn the cello and play it as a hobby. This goal would be less challenging and might be more realistic for you and your current circumstances.
A good place to start is defining your terms. If you want to be happier, think about what happiness means to you. What does a happy life look like? What would you need to do to be happy?[7] X Research source Fischhoff, B. , Slovic, P. , & Lichtenstein, S. (1988). Knowing what you want: Measuring labile values. Decision Making: Descriptive, Normative and Prescriptive Interactions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 398-421. (Chapter 18) It’s okay to be general at this stage. You might decide happiness, for example, means having a fulfilling career. Your general goal might be to get a job you find personally satisfying. You may have several goals at this stage, some long-term some short term. It’s a good idea to write them down.
Your task at this stage is to take your general ideas and get as specific as you possibly can. [9] X Expert Source Sydney AxelrodCertified Life Coach Expert Interview. 30 June 2020. For example, imagine you goal is to start a new, more satisfying career. At this stage, you need to decide what career would be most satisfying to you. You might decide you’d like to become a professional musician. That’s a great start, but you can get more specific. What style or styles of music do you want to play? What instrument or instruments do you want to play? Do you want to be a solo artist, or play in a band or orchestra?
What skills will you need to learn? What lifestyle changes will you need to make? How much will it cost? How long will it take?
Breaking your goal down into subgoals will also help you make a plan for achieving it later on. [12] X Expert Source Sydney AxelrodCertified Life Coach Expert Interview. 30 June 2020. It’s a good idea to write the steps down as you go. For example, imagine your goal is to become a professional cello player with a classical orchestra. In general terms, this goal breaks down into several steps. You’ll need to buy a cello, if you don’t have one. You’ll need to get very good at playing it. This will probably require taking lessons. You probably will even want to attend a conservatory or other music school or college. Along the way, you’ll probably need to learn some musical theory. Then, you’ll need to get a job playing for an orchestra. This will mean at least one (and probably several) auditions. Depending on where you live, this might require moving to a town with a professional orchestra.
This should be fairly easy at this point. You have already written down the steps and potential obstacles you might face. The main parts of your plan are already developed. You may need to get a little more specific with your steps. For example, if you are applying to a music school, you’ll want to include the details of the application process in your plan. You might need to get letters of recommendation. There might be an essay to write, a form to fill out, and/or an audition. Completing all of these should be in your plan. [13] X Expert Source Sydney AxelrodCertified Life Coach Expert Interview. 30 June 2020. The steps should be defined specifically enough that it will be clear when you have achieved each one. [14] X Research source It’s also a good idea to develop contingency plans for the obstacles you anticipated. [15] X Research source If you aren’t accepted to your first choice school, will you apply to other schools? Or wait and apply to your first choice again after strengthening your application? Come up with a goal/sub-goal statement which is measurable and time bound. For example: “I will save 20% of my weekly pay for the next 12 months and will purchase my cello on June 1st 2016. "
For example, you might aim to have money saved for a cello in six months. You might start lessons the following month. You might aim to have mastered the basics by the end of the year, and so on.
Picking a date that’s at least a few days in the future can help you build anticipation and motivation as the date approaches. [17] X Research source
Tracking your progress helps keep you accountable to the deadlines you’ve set. [18] X Trustworthy Source Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Nonprofit organization providing innovative, effective educational resources for educators designed to support student achievement Go to source It also helps you see the progress you’ve made as you move through the process. This can help you stay motivated to keep making progress.
