(ThySistas.com) Everyone has at least one dream in life. Some are relatively small and simple, like saving up enough money to visit a friend who lives far away. Others are comparatively complicated or more difficult, such as working towards a qualification to start your career journey. Whatever it is you dream of, it’s important to know how to bring your dreams out of your imagination and into reality. Otherwise, they will never take shape. Here is a straightforward guide on how to not only set goals but also achieve them.
Choose a Goal
The first and seemingly simplest step is to pinpoint your goal. This is not always as easy as it might sound. Many of us are filled with ideas for our life’s path, and a variety of dreams come and go from our minds. It can be stifling and overwhelming if you attempt to achieve all your goals at once. Instead of putting that kind of immense pressure on yourself, choose to focus your attention on one dream in particular. It might feel counterintuitive to reject other dreams in the process of choosing just one, but this doesn’t mean you are ruling them out for good. You are simply prioritizing the dream that will bring you the most joy right now.
Reflect On Your Existing Abilities
What are you already good at? Answering this question can make it easier to decide which dream to follow. Are your natural talents pointing in a particular direction? Being fortunate enough to possess innate abilities or years of experience will make the process of achieving your dream that much simpler. If you find that your existing abilities are pulling you towards a path that you don’t want to go down, use this as your sign to switch to something you want more.
Seek Relevant Skills
If you find that your chosen goal requires you to add to your knowledge or experience in some way, make this one of your first priorities. Having a solid basis from which to grow will make achieving your dream more likely. For example, if you see yourself as a trusted and honored nurse, you might want to consider enrolling in a Wilkes University nursing course to develop the necessary skills and gain valuable qualifications. Find out what you will need in order to reach your end goal so you can decide which path is right for you.
Create a Rough Timeline
Personal goals can be more difficult to achieve than educational or professional ones since they are imposed by yourself, not an authority figure. This means you are unlikely to have a firm deadline in place, making it easier for you to slack off or let your dream fade in your memory. To counteract this, create a rough plan of when you want to complete the smaller tasks that add up to your end goal. For example, by what date will you have finished your design portfolio? No one else is going to make you do it, so you have to be strict with yourself. Motivation and discipline are key.
Know Your Milestones
Speaking of smaller tasks that lead to an end goal, have a clear and detailed outline of these. If necessary, break your goal down into tiny chunks that become much more manageable in scope. The larger dream of becoming a professional chef, for example, can be broken into stages that include learning a new recipe. Learning this recipe will require particular ingredients. Obtaining these ingredients means going to the grocery store. Sometimes breaking tasks down into their most basic components makes them feel less daunting and more achievable, no matter how silly it might seem.
Keep Some Information to Yourself
While it’s nice to imagine that everyone has your best interests at heart, this isn’t always the case. Even loved ones can offer unsolicited opinions that can dissuade you from reaching for your dream. To avoid the hurt and discouragement this can cause, learn when to share and when to withhold information about your dreams. A useful method is to only share once you’ve reached certain milestones. Instead of opening yourself up to unwanted criticism by telling your friends that you want to become a painter, wait until you’ve completed your first big commission to divulge the exciting news. People are far less likely to try to discourage you if they can see you’re already on track for success.
Use Outside Accountability
While it can be useful to keep some information about your dreams private, having a trusted person to help you monitor your progress can be surprisingly effective. Sometimes we work best when we believe that someone else has a stake in the quality of our progress. Tell a friend that you intend to write a chapter of your first novel by the end of the month. You might notice that you make more time to write since someone else is waiting to see the result. Of course, this method doesn’t work for every personality type, so if it doesn’t motivate you, then don’t worry.
Reward Yourself Frequently
Measure your success not by your output but by your level of effort. This means that you should reward your hard work even if it doesn’t produce exactly what you had expected. Not to say that you shouldn’t set high expectations for yourself, but don’t beat yourself up if you occasionally fall short. Perfectionism only gets in the way of achieving your goals, so don’t allow it to cloud your judgment. Rewards can also be used as an effective motivator. Tell yourself that you will only watch your favorite TV show after two hours of work towards your goal. This way, your mind will retrain itself to see work as enjoyable and worthwhile rather than something to be avoided or postponed.
Remain Adaptable
Dreams change, and your approach to achieving them will change too. Don’t be afraid if you find yourself wanting to shift course along the way. Being adaptable and open to new opportunities is one of the best ways to lead a happy and fulfilling life.
Staff Writer; Sophia Jackson