Let's talk a bit about useful methods, in my view, that can help you with setting and achieving life goals.
The first of them is the SMART method. Generally speaking, it's an acronym where each letter stands for something specific. By the way, smart translates from English as "intelligent". So it's quite possible that the creator of this method deliberately tailored the rules to fit this word. Nevertheless, be that as it may, the method is quite good, so let's look at each letter of this word.
S (Specific) — the goal should be concretely formulated. You must clearly understand what you want.
M (Measurable) — the goal should be measurable so that in the process of achieving it you can compare the achieved result with the planned one. For clarity you can use visualisation, which I've already talked about above.
A (Achievable) — put simply, the goal should be realistic. If, say, you set yourself the goal of earning 500 thousand dollars a year, while lacking the necessary education, experience, idea and connections, then obviously your goal is doomed to failure. Despite being specific, it's practically unachievable.
R (Relevant) — is the goal you're pursuing and want to achieve really significant for you? I'll tell you more about how to classify goals and distinguish important ones from secondary ones below in the "Eisenhower Matrix" section.
T (Time-bound) — means that any goal should have clear time limits, that is you should know when you'll complete it.
I must admit that earlier I got burned several times on this method by not following one or another point when setting goals, but over time I learned to apply all the principles of this method by default.
Many recommend starting with a verb when setting (formulating) goals, then specifying the amount and deadline. An example of such a goal might sound like this: "Learn 2000 new English words in 1 calendar year". This, by the way, was once my goal. In principle, this goal was formulated quite correctly, but it had one problem because of which I couldn't achieve it in full. It was unachievable. No, not because you can't learn 2000 new foreign words in a calendar year in principle, but rather because I devoted significantly less time per day to learning new words than was needed. I didn't at all spell out how exactly I would achieve this goal, in the form of intermediate stages taking into account the time allocated for learning English. So for me this goal, although it was correctly formulated and even specific with a deadline, turned out to be unachievable. We'll talk about how to set achievable goals and not step on my rakes in the second book.
Try to use this methodology and follow its principles. Then you'll have a better chance that your goals will be achieved.
