A lot of people have dreams and fail to achieve them, maybe they don’t have a plan, or their dreams aren’t realistic, or maybe they don’t have tools that help them in achieving their goals, In this article, we’ll try to teach you how to achieve your dreams or goals, but first, you must know how to set your goals to achieve them and what are the specifications of successful goals?
First, to achieve your goal or dream, it must be SMART
SMART goal means (a specific, measurable, attainable, and time-limited) goal
For ex: let’s assume that your goal is to be a rich man, is that goal SMART? Let’s see.
Specific:
this goal isn’t specific or clear because if you asked anyone, how much money must you have to be rich? He wouldn’t answer you with a specific answer.
So this goal isn’t specific and therefore isn’t SMART.
To check if your goal is specific or not, try to answer the five “W” questions:
What do I want to accomplish?
Why is this goal important?
Who is involved?
Where is it located?
Which resources or limits are involved?
Measurable:
now your dream is to be rich, right? Assume after two months of setting up your goals, you have about 15,000$ but let me ask you, How much percentage have you achieved from your goal recently?, the answer is unknown so this goal isn’t measurable and therefore isn’t SMART.
To check if your goal is measurable or not, try to answer the following questions:
How much?
How many?
How will I know when my goal is achieved?
Attainable:
when you choose a goal, choose a goal that you can achieve, and don’t set yourself up for failure by letting your dreams get bigger than your abilities
When you set up your goal, you should know your abilities, opportunities, and knowledge, and you should have tools that help you to achieve your goal.
To check if your goal is attainable or not, try to answer the following questions:
How can I achieve this goal?
What are my (abilities, opportunities, and knowledge) that can help me to achieve my dream?
In other words, you should know your strengths and weakness, and can you achieve your goals with them?
Realistic:
your goal must be realistic or you must know can you achieve your goal with the available resources, and the current environment and economic situation?
To check if your goal is realistic or not, try to answer the following questions:
Are the current environment and economy suitable to achieve my goal?
Can I achieve my goal now? Or it isn’t the right time
Can I achieve my goal?
Time-limited:
every goal needs a deadline or target date to be SMART
So when you set your goal, you should set time schedule (milestones) to reach to it
To check if your goal is time-limited or not, try to answer the following questions:
When will I achieve my dream?
What will I achieve after two weeks?
What will I achieve after two months?
Simple goals examples:
- I want to write a book
- I want to improve my health
- I want to learn to program
- I want to buy a car
SMART goals examples:
- In order to improve me and be a writer, I will write a book (400 pages) on (education in the first-world countries) by writing one chapter per week (4-6 pages per week), and The book will be completed in 10 weeks, and then I will search for a publisher.
- In order to improve my health and be handsome, I will lose 15kg by running for one hour every day and decreasing fast food for two months.
- In order to enhance my experience in programming and find a good job, I will study four courses (visual basic, Photoshop, javascript, and HTML programming) one course every 15 days
- In order to go to work easily, I will buy a car (Ford Focus 10,000$) after four months, I have 6000$ and I’ll save 1000$ every month from income.
Second: set your plan to achieve your dreams
it’s highly recommended to use the (plan, do check, adjust) system; so first set your plan
Setting a plan is the most important step to achieving your goal, when you put in the right plan, you will save many efforts, money, and time.
- Set up time schedule for your dreams and divide your big dream into small goals then put your plans to achieve each goal individually
EX: assume your goal is saving 12,000$ during five months by:
- working overtime for five months to save 5,000$
- Saving 5,000$ from the salary
- using the saved money from the first three months to profit 2,000$ by FOREX during two month
| Objective | Action | Time Period | Weekly Goal | Done or Not |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Save 6,000$ | 1 – Work 120 hours of overtime during three months to save 3000$. 2 – Save 3000$ from your salary for three months. | 3 months | 1 – Work 10 hours overtime 2 – Work 10 hours overtime 3 – Write a weekly goal | 1 – Done 2 – ……. 3 – ……. |
| Save 6,000$ | 1 – Work 80 hours of overtime during two months to save 2000$ 2 – Save 2000$ from your salary for two months 3 – Use 6000$ to profit 2000$ by using | 2 months | ……. | ……. |
List your SWOT ( Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
When you set a goal you should know your SWOT ( Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) by brain storm then list needed actions to:
1- Convert your strengths and opportunities to profit.
2- Avoid your weakness and threats effects.
| SWOT | Action |
|---|---|
| Strengths | |
| Weakness | |
| Opportunities | |
| Threats |
Third: start to implement your plan
Implement your plan, execute all needed processes and achieve your goal.
You should work hard to achieve your plan, never stop and focus on achieving your dream
Fourth: check
To succeed in achieving your goal you must check your plan every day, if there are any variations between your plan and implementation, Try to do everything in your power to achieve your plan and if you failed, may your plan is bad so make adjustments to it.
Fifth: Adjust your plan
If you did everything in your power and couldn’t implement your plan then you should make changes in your plan (adjust) to be achievable
Adjust your plan every day if needed, you may adjust the time plan, resources, activities ……etc.
Finally, if you have a dream, don’t let it, do everything in your power to achieve it, When you fail; try again, never stop never quit, and believe in yourself.
