Goal setting is deciding what you want to achieve, writing it down with a date, and working out the steps to get there. That's it. The rest is detail about doing those three things well.
Left to ourselves, most of us take the path of least resistance. Days fill up with whatever is loudest. Goal setting is a way of choosing, ahead of time, where some of your effort goes.
The four parts
Goal setting in Lifetick, and in most good systems, has four parts that build on each other.
1. Core values
Core values are the areas of life that matter to you, such as Family, Career, Health or Finance. They're the reason under your goals. Ask yourself what the important areas of your life are, and sum them up in four to eight words.
Once you know your values, ideas for goals come more easily, and you can see whether your goals are spread across your life or bunched in one area. See Core values, the reason under goals.
2. Goals
A goal is something specific you want to have done by a date. The most common way to write one is SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. A good goal sounds like "Save $5,000 for a deposit by December", not "be better with money".
See How to write SMART goals, with examples.
3. Tasks
Tasks are the small steps on the way: buy the running shoes, book the course, put $100 into savings on Friday. They're what you actually do each week.
Every goal needs at least the next task written down with a date. Without one, a goal is only a wish with a deadline. Ticking tasks off is also the most satisfying part. You can see yourself moving.
4. Review
Goals drift if you don't look at them. A short weekly review keeps them in mind: what got done, what got in the way, what's next. A journal helps. A few lines about how things went give you a record to look back on, and they show you what to change.
What goal setting isn't
- It isn't a New Year's list. Goals work best when you set them whenever you're ready and review them all year.
- It isn't a to-do list. A to-do list is tasks without a reason. Goals give tasks a purpose.
- It isn't all or nothing. Changing a date or setting a goal aside for later is part of the process.
Where to start
Pick one thing you'd like to have done in three months. Write it as a SMART goal, write down why it matters, and add the first task with a date this week. That's goal setting.
To do it in Lifetick, follow Quick start: your first SMART goal. For the whole process in more depth, read The complete goal setting guide.
Start with one goal
Lifetick is free on iPhone and the web, and five quick questions make it a SMART goal.
