TLDR: Goal Setting Made Simple: 6 Steps to Goals That Stick

In this TLDR bonus episode of Shift Happens, we break down practical goal-setting strategies to help you create goals that actually stick. We cover the importance of clarity, visualisation, identity, values, and breaking goals down into small, achievable steps to build momentum and confidence.

We also discuss preparing for setbacks, setting realistic short-term goals, measuring progress, and creating a flexible plan for when things don’t go perfectly. If you want to build lasting habits, stay motivated, and achieve meaningful goals, this episode is for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

For anyone who didn't have time to listen to this whole episode, um, really, when it comes down to the key points that we would that we've discussed today, is when it comes to goal setting, is starting with real clarity. Um, and we actually you mentioned a really useful technique for that could be around visualization and really envisaging what that goal could look like.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I even think take it down a step to like imagine. Imagine everyone can use their imagination. Exactly. I have succeeded, what will that look like?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

And her real specific clarity onto what that goal uh achievement looks like. Then being prepared for the difficulties of change. Change is hard, and you just have to kind of prepare yourself for that aspect. Um the next one we talked about was around making sure that that goal is really centered into your values and that it's something that you would want to identify yourself with. Yeah. Um, making sure it's not something you're, you know, someone's told you or social media or whatever. So having it really rooted into your own values. Who do you believe yourself to be? Exactly. Who do you believe yourself to be? And is that, yeah, is that something that you want to become, more importantly? Um the next is then breaking it down to its smallest component. So making the threshold to achieving it as small as possible so that you can really actually build those micro dopamine um sort of boosts. And the more you achieve it, then also the more you prove to yourself that you can do it, right? It's a it's a repetition thing. Um, so doing it over and over and over again as much as possible. So breaking that down to the smallest component and then building on top of that. And then um starting also with the um short-term piece. So you might want to start with doing it for maybe a few months and then pushing that further and then adding a few more months, maybe tweaking the goal if it's you know around performance or something like that. You might change that goal um as you move along. Another piece that we talked about was around expecting that it's probably gonna not work 100% of the time. Yeah. So having a fail-safe, having a safety net somewhere in there, so that when it doesn't work to plan, and that could be because of completely external factors. You might be traveling, you know, you ill, you might be unwell, and so therefore something's happened. But making sure you have a way and a route back to whatever path you've kind of built yourself to achieve that goal. So having these sort of self-fail-safe um plan B's, plan C's, and plan D's so that whatever happens, you can just get back onto it. And finally, have some form of measuring it. So just, oh, well, you know, it'll make me feel better. Okay, well, how are you gonna measure that feeling? Yeah, is it gonna be in the number of performances you do it? Is it gonna be like you love your tick boxes, or is it going to be in a specific number or measurement, um, a number of hours you do something, whatever it is, try and find some measurable output so that you can actually keep yourself a little bit accountable, I think. And you can track it. And you can track it and you can actually see the difference. I think sometimes when we're in it, we forget absolutely when we started. And and actually, this is something you know that's very relevant for us. It's making sure we measure at the start, and then as you progress, and yeah, a lot of times people think, oh yeah, that has improved. And so again, and that can help also with just some motivation along the way to help you get those little dopamine and keep you keeping on track.

unknown 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

So yeah, so those are the kind of key takeaways. Um, and our TLD is for this week.