10 life changing Goal Setting Secrets for Success

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When we want something, we daydream about it; we imagine it being part of our lives. We imagine how awesome our days could be, but sometimes we don’t have a clear path to finding what we really need to achieve this specific goal. There are simple ways to find our goals and take action. Let’s find out how to do that!

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We want things to be easy. It’s simple to imagine what our goals are, but normally it is not that simple to make them real. If we take our time and start one step at a time, we can make anything happen!

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10 Goal-Setting Secrets

• Write down your ideas! Brainstorm and make a list of the things you want to accomplish. Choose those that are more important to you. This can help us to make them a reality. 

Sometimes when we put things on paper, we understand how we really feel, and the emotions and fear we have inside us come to the surface. It allows us to look at it from a third-person perspective. This way, it is easier to unlink ourselves from our emotions and choose what we want to believe in. 

• Start with small steps, goals that are small achievable stretches. 

When we take small and achievable steps, we build a feeling of accomplishment, show ourselves that we do what we say, and take action, which gives us confidence. This confidence makes all the other steps easier as well. With small steps taken every day, there will eventually come a time when you make so much progress that you achieve the big goals automatically. 

• Get an accountability partner with whom you have a close relationship to feel support and feedback. 

Big Goals usually take a longer time, more patience, and consistent action. It can help you start surrounding yourself with others who share the same passion as you do or know about the topic you want to accomplish. Share your plan with them, and join a group. The momentum you create together will help you through the more challenging times in your journey to achieve your big goals.

• Have a clear plan of action

It’s not real until it’s written down. Start making your journey real with a planner and reverse engineer what needs to happen to reach the end goal. Use information like clear deadlines, specific approaches, and small steps you will take. Make sure you write all of this down where you are confronted with it often. You can use your phone, the background of your computer, etc. Be clear and specific.

• Be mindful of your actions.

Analyze your goals. It is okay to look at how far you’ve come and check where you can improve. By understanding the steps you took already, you can even change the goal where it’s needed, of course, with your skills in mind.

• Be cheerful about the goal. Add a positive lesson to your actions.

If we try to give meaning to our goals, they will become more assertive in our minds. For example, if we want to play the violin just because we like it or we want to play to bring happiness to the world. By knowing why we do things, we know better which approach to take, what the benefit of this is, and which feelings we attach to them. 

• Set priorities for your goals

Setting priorities for your goals will protect your creative time. In the meantime, it helps us learn to say ‘no.’ If we keep on doing task that does not bring us closer to our dreams, our dreams will never become a reality. Maybe there is that show we love on Netflix, but if we do not practice our craft every day, how can we become masters of it?!

• Let go of perfection. 

Perfection can lead to success, but getting to this level will take time and trust. Sometimes we want to control everything to make it perfect and everything according to plan. We should not forget that the world is not perfect, and that’s okay. Let go of the small details at first and focus on moving forward. You can start thinking about the details as soon as you get better. 

• Reward yourself

All our small steps deserve to be rewarded. If we create this habit, we will automatically start linking this good feeling with doing the craft. Like a puppy that learns how to sit for a treat, we can do the same thing. Because we link it to the things we like doing, we create a win-win situation. Treat yourself for your accomplishments and actions taken, and visualize the future you want for yourself. 

• Believe and grow

Sometimes we could give up if we feel we are not good enough or start doubting ourselves. Failure is part of the challenge; it is okay if we do not perform as we want. Perfection takes time and consistent effort. Try to work smarter every time and believe in yourself and accept failure. It makes us grow and opens up the way to improve daily.

If you are interested in this topic, Checkout our weekly podcast; the theme of this week is: 

The fear of being enough?!

How do we achieve creative goals?

We can achieve creative goals by combining daily determined action, fun creative thinking, and the incredible feeling of fulfillment. If we can break these goals down into small steps and focus on the process, we can make these creative goals happen. 

One simple technique to achieve any goal is to use the “SMART” goals approach. We might know this approach already for achieving specific goals in school. But, when we fit this approach into a creative process, we must think differently. We must open our minds and look at the situation from different angles. For example, you can make your songwriting goals SMART, looking for things that might inspire you to write a song that day. You put the focus more on the process than on the actual outcome.

The SMART goals approach is easy to remember. 

• Be Specific; write down the goal you will take action on. Think about all the details and what is the final outcome. Maybe we want to create a song that inspires people to share kindness within a year. Make sure you are specific enough in your outcome. You must know precisely what you want from that art project or creation. But not so specific that there is no room to be inspired to take different approaches while creating. 

• Measurable. Numbers give us a lot of insight to see if we are on the right track. If we want to have 100k followers to share our creations with or we want to inspire 10k lives, it will help us check how we are doing and if there is something we can improve on. 

• Achievable. The easier it is in our head, the easier it will be to act on it. When we want to write a book, we can think of it as a huge task or just start by writing a page or two daily. It feels very different and a lot more achievable. Another tip is to work at least 5 minutes on a task daily. It’s up to you if you want to continue because you enjoy it or decide to put it away. This takes away a lot of pressure. By following up on your own promises, you eventually build more confidence. 

• Relevant. Some topics are more effective when achieving your goals than others. Maybe our daily to-do list says to take a nap, write ideas, and exercise. But we know deep inside of us what should be done first. 

• Timely. Be specific about the amount of time we assign to our tasks. You’ve probably heard that time is our most valuable asset, and if we learn to manage it, the right things become a lot easier.

Goals and creative people usually don’t match that easily. But if we let ourselves get distracted and just do what we love without a plan, we might never get to our destination! There are many roads to Rome, and it’s only normal that, as a creative, you change your approach along the way, but if we have a map and the right plan, we may get to our goals easier and faster. And why not even stop to enjoy the view along the way?

How to use smart goals in creativity in an effective way

SMART goals are all about planning and having tangible results. If we learn to arrange our time and set priorities creatively, we can get the most out of our time. Brainstorm, create and take notes while you are in the creative process so that later on, you can improve. 

The 2 main steps to start using smart goals is:

• PLAN. The key to setting realistic goals is having a plan of action. Break it down into smaller steps and take action. 

• Journal and analyze your goals. We can accomplish so many goals and make them real when we write about them daily. Think about what you want and how the plan is going. Sometimes we can even redirect and succeed quicker or more efficiently. 

Most of the time, we plan to get things done. We lose our FOCUS, or we stop BELIEVING IN OURSELVES. Never be scared to ask yourself what happened and what can be improved. Do this after you’ve finished the creative process. We can analyze and move forward. 

We don’t doubt a person’s effectiveness when we see their results. When you see a person successful in his craft, you know they can accomplish something. But the main secret behind it is that if we can gather the correct information and take action, we will become masters of our passions. 

Creative goals vs Creative action

A creative goal is based on achieving something desired that involves our craft. Creative action is doing or creating something unnecessary with a goal in mind.

In general, we need creative goals in our lives. There is a constant drive in the world to think differently and raise awareness. If we remain open and listen to our surroundings, we may hear their perspectives, which might change ours. For example, a baker and a painter looking at a field of grain may look at a masterpiece. From the painter’s perspective, a beautiful painting and the baker might see a lot of fresh bread while looking at the same field. 

When we think about our goals, we tend to think about our hopes, dreams, and projects we would love to finish.

Taking simple action can make the difference between reaching your goals and things that will stay a dream. 

Breaking goals down into minor actions or steps will make them easier to achieve. Allow yourself extra time before deadlines are due in case it takes longer to complete than expected. But always trust, and believe that you can achieve it. 

Sometimes we have big dreams in our minds, and we get scared to act like that awesome person we know we have inside of us. The creative inspiration could fall short in some moments. Remember that our dreams and desires stay just dreams and desires until the moment that we decide to take action!