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How do you set and achieve goals?

Child doing a roundhouse kick / karate

As you learned, goals can be short-term or long-term. The process of setting both types of goals is similar. Let’s look at the process Nathan used to set and work toward his goal to master a martial art.

Write down your goal.

Writing or typing your goal helps you examine and refine it as you work through the process.

I want to master a martial art.

 

Identify the steps needed to reach the goal.

A short-term goal may have only one or two steps. A long-term goal might have many. Brainstorm as many steps as you can think of as you set your goal. You can add more later.

1. Take classes with a good instructor.
2. Practice daily.
3. Compete as often as possible.
4. Eat a healthy diet to give myself energy and maintain a healthy weight.
5. Read or watch documentaries about the martial art to understand its history.
6. Get prompt medical care for injuries.

 

Set a deadline for reaching the goal or for accomplishing each step of a long-term goal.

Thinking about a goal without setting deadlines for taking action is just daydreaming. Give yourself deadlines and stick to them to keep yourself moving toward your objective.

I will enroll in a martial arts class by January 15. I will master this martial art by the time I am 21 years old.

 

Find ways to keep yourself motivated.

Because long-term goals require sustained effort over a long period of time, people can lose motivation. To achieve your goal, you need to invent ways to keep yourself motivated to follow your plan. Common ways to keep motivated are to:

  • celebrate the completion of each step,
  • compare where you are with where you started, and
  • visualize how you will feel when you reach your goal.

I will invite my whole family to watch me test for my next belt.

 

Identify how you will know when you have finished a step or achieved the goal.

It may seem silly to define what reaching your goal is, but think about it. Let’s say you are on a diet because your goal is to lose weight. You don’t want to keep losing weight indefinitely; that would be unhealthy. So maybe you and your healthcare provider set a more specific weight-loss goal of 25 lbs. Achieving that goal will bring you to a healthy weight for your height and activity level.

Weight can be easily measured. But what about Nathan’s goal of mastering a martial art. What does “mastery” looks like? How will Nathan know if he has achieved it? Look at how Nathan answered this question below.

I will have mastered this martial art when I am certified to be an instructor of it.