It’s that time of the year again where many of us have had a relaxing break over Christmas and are slowly staggering back to work throughout the month of January. I normally set my goals (both professional and personal) in the lead up to the New Year, but I think like most people this year, a really good break was in order before I could get the clarity to put pen to paper for what I want to achieve in 2021.
This is a task on my to do list for this weekend! Goal setting helps me to be clear about what I want to achieve and provides a benchmark so I can see how I am tracking.
Goal setting is an important step in the process, but you have to stick to the hard work to get results. You can achieve what you put your mind to. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to look back and see that you have achieved what you set out to do for the year.
Here are some tips that I always find helpful when I go to set my goals:
- Set goals that are realistic and things that are important to you. If it’s important to you, the likelihood that you will work hard to strive to achieve it is high.
- Put your goals in writing
- Setting SMART goals i.e.;
- Specific – clear goals
- Measurable – e.g. Exact dates of when you want to achieve by
- Attainable – realistic goals that you will be motivated to achieve
- Relevant – this is really important for what you are wanting to achieve on a personal and professional basis
- Time – put deadlines on it to create that ‘sense of urgency’
Measure and track your goals. This is so important! There’s no point writing down the goals if you aren’t going to measure how you are tracking against them.
We have an online tool at Optimum Consulting called My Employee Life (MEL), which we use weekly to track our actual achievements compared to budgets, KPI’s and all the goals we have set. I also use this system for my personal goals and track them. It’s so quick and easy and that’s really what you need to keep yourself accountable. Contact us if you want to know more about My Employee Life.
I hope these tips will help you with what you are going to achieve in 2021!
Love reading this Oblog? Make sure to check out our previous Oblog, “3 Reasons Why I’m Optimistic About 2021”.
Marianne Savas
Divisional Manager