How to Know If You Have Set the Right Goals?

I bet you have set some goals before, but are you achieving them? If you fail to achieve your goals, one of the main reasons is probably because you have set the wrong goals.

We all know that goal setting is powerful and to be successful, we need to live an intentional life. And it all starts with goals.

The problem is that most people have no idea how to set the right goals.

Yes, they set goals, but they set the Fwrong goals that don’t motivate them at all.

Or worse, they set goals that are not what they really want. They make it a goal because of their friends, peers, and parents.

Are the goals you set the right goals? Are your goals what you really want to achieve in your life?

So, how can you tell if the goals you set are the right goals?

Here are 5 questions you should ask yourself when it comes to setting goals…

1. Are your goals motivating enough?

Are your goals inspiring? Do you feel motivated when you think about your goals?

One of the most common reasons people fail to achieve their goals is that they set goals that are not motivating enough.

You have to make your goals exciting. You want to feel the excitement and be driven by your goals.

If your goals can’t motivate you, then you will have to relook into them and change them.

Make them exciting.

You want your goals to motivate you into taking action.

If your goals can’t motivate you, then you will be in trouble because you will have to constantly find the motivation to drive yourself into taking action.

This is why a lot of people procrastinate on their goals.

They set goals, but they are not doing anything about them. Why? The answer is clear, their goals are not motivating enough.

What You Should Do:

Assess your goals. Make sure the goals you set are exciting and motivating to put you into action.

Look at the purpose behind your goals. Why do you want to achieve them in the first place? Make them exciting and emotional.

If your reasons to achieve the goals are not strong enough, it is difficult to sustain your motivation over the long-term.

2. Are your goals challenging you?

Are the goals you set challenging enough? If they aren’t, you will never have the drive to achieve them.

Just like the Goldilocks’ Rule, you want to make your goals not too easy to achieve and not overly difficult too.

Imagine playing sports. If your opponent is way above your level, the match will be boring because your opponent will easily win over you.

There will be no fun in the game.

Now, what if your level is about the same with your opponent? Then it will be a great match.

You score one point and then your opponent score another point. The match becomes more engaging and both you and opponent have almost the same opportunity to win the match.

This is what makes the game exciting.

And the same principle can apply to your goals.

You want to make your goals challenging enough, but not unrealistic.

When your goals are challenging, you will feel more motivated to work on them.

What Should You Do:

Review the level of difficulty for your goals. Make them not overly easy and not too difficult to achieve.

You want to make your goals just right for your abilities. When something is too difficult, you don’t believe you can achieve it, you will never commit to it.

On the contrary, when something is too easy to achieve, you will not feel driven to do it.

3. Are your goals unrealistic?

The third question you should ask is if your goals are unrealistic. Setting unrealistic goals is very common.

This is because a lot of people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.

Many people set goals to become financially free. They want to become a millionaire in a year.

While this is not totally impossible, but you have to gauge your current situation. If you are in debt and are holding a salaried job, setting a goal to make a million dollars is impossible unless you find other ways to earn more income.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you can’t set unrealistic goals, or they are impossible to achieve.

To achieve unrealistic goals require you to think out of the box. If you do what everyone else is doing, you will never the extraordinary results you want.

You must assess your own abilities and your strategy.

Are you doing the things that will get you the results you want?

A lot of people set unrealistically big goals, but their actions are not bold enough.

Remember this quote from the movie Mission: Impossible:

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

When you set unrealistic goals, your actions and your strategy need to be unconventional too.

If you are not willing to do something different, trust me, you will fail at your goals.

What You Should Do:

Read my previous article to understand more about setting unrealistic goals:

Setting Realistic VS Unrealistic Goals: What You Need to Know

It is always better to start small and grow. If your goals are unrealistic, most probably, you will fail to achieve them.

Start with what you can do and achieve. Once you have built up your momentum and confidence, then you can set bigger goals.

4. Do your goals align with your values?

Are your goals align with your inner core values?

If you don’t like to write, setting a goal to become a successful blogger may not be helpful.

You want your goals to align with your core values.

Like what Dr. Theo Tsaousides mentioned in his article, setting goals that don’t align with your values will make you feel stressed and fail at your goals. He wrote:

“If my goal is to help my family maintain a sugar-free lifestyle, it is unlikely that I will grow the unconscious desire to take the pastry class my friend is raving about because feeding my kids homemade éclairs is exactly the opposite of what I want.”

Just like if you set a goal to be fit and healthy, but you don’t give up on drinking, it will be impossible to reach the goal.

Following a good diet plan can help you, but your drinking habit will take you away from that goal.

If you think that salespeople are unethical because they just want to make you buy their products, getting a job in selling will not help you thrive.

Either you change the job, or you change your inner beliefs and core values.

What You Should Do:

Learn to master yourself and understand your core values, and then set goals according to those values.

When your goals are not in harmony with your values, it will be difficult to motivate yourself to achieve them.

5. Do you have a plan for your goals?

Your plan says a lot about your goals. You can’t work on your goals without having a plan.

A goal without an actionable plan will remain as a dream.

So, don’t just set goals, come up with a plan. You need to know what you need to do each day in order to make progress to reach your goals.

Many people set goals, but they don’t have a concrete plan that they can actually follow to reach their goals.

They keep their goals in their mind, which they eventually forget or procrastinate.

The process of setting goals cannot be completed without an actionable plan.

When you create a plan and when you know what you should do to get to your goals, you are giving your mind a set of specific instructions to follow.

Rather than merely existing and reactive, you become intentional and proactive.

What You Should Do:

Don’t just set goals, create an action plan. Write down all the necessary steps you should take to produce the results you want.

It doesn’t matter if your plan is not effective or if you don’t know if it is going to work out. You just need to put up a plan so that your mind understands what to do.

You want to be proactive and make things happen, not being reactive and wait for things to happen.

If you want to learn how to set the right goals and how to put up an actionable plan, take my course at Goal Setting Formula.

I strongly suggest you learn and apply the methods I shared in the course.

Many people fail at their goals because they have no idea how to make their goals work for them.

Once you understand to do that, you will see yourself making progress and moving forward to achieving your goals and living the life you desire.