Let’s face it – setting personal goals is not an easy thing to do, especially at the beginning. Yet, it increases the chances of carrying out a dream enormously if done well; and can bring a tremendous amount of headache and self-hatred if done poorly.
In the following post, we are going to give you some practical tips, that are specifically focusing on how to phrase your goals for the day and your week. It assumes you already have some form of habit in place, that supports you in coming up with goals for yourself for these timeframes, so we will not cover that area.
Also, if you are reading this article, we assume you already tried SMART or CLEAR, and you are looking for something even simpler.
Why does it matter?
If done well, setting goals is not just about scribbling down a to-do list or setting arbitrary targets; a well-crafted goal brings what matters to YOU to your center of attention, sends down the chill on your spine, and you simply can not wait to get to it.
Believe it or not, the way we phrase our goals has a profound impact on our psychology. We’ll delve into why certain words or phrases can trigger motivation, while others might lead to procrastination. Understanding this psychology can be the key to maintaining a positive mindset throughout your journey.
A simple framework to use
So, let’s get into it, and let’s start with the structure:
By the end of [the day / the week], [_outcome-driven goal as if it is already achieved]._
There is not much magic here, and while you are heavily limited in terms of the structure, it also elevates a lot of stress on how to start. 🙂
Now, let’s look in the details:
- Use a statement as if it is already true in the future: This way it is interpreted less like yet-another-task to be done internally, making it more likely to achieve the goal.
- So, instead of: “By the end of the day, write the article about goal phrasing.”, go with: “By the end of the day, the article about goal phrasing is written.”; or even better, “published.“
- Focus on the outcome instead of the action: Goals ideally are focused on outcomes, and not on actions, therefore the subject and verb should be aligned to the the outcome.
- So, instead of: “By the end of the day, I have called mom.” you can go “By the end of the day, I had that that hard conversation about the wedding invite list with my parents.“
- Whenever you can, Focus on the value: It is very easy to get into the habit of setting “fake goals”, goals, that seem like a decent goal, but by themselves, they do not really bring value.
- So, instead of: “By the end of the day, I have read 2 articles.” you can go by “By the end of the day, I have summarized the learnings of the chosen AI articles.”
Examples
Here are some more examples to make the basic structure stick more easily. They all follow the “By the end of the…” structure.
- By the end of the day, my podcast is available to my friends.
- By the end of the day, everything we want to sell is available to buy.
- By the end of the week, there are no emails in my Inbox folder.
- By the end of the week, all documents to start my business are traveling through post.
- By the end of the day, I know when all the schools in our area have their open days.
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