Goal Crushing 101: The Backbone of Setting a Goal
Oftentimes, setting a goal seems frivolous. Why is it needed if I am going to fail anyway? What if I cannot accomplish it perfectly? Many questions may run through your mind as you try to reason with yourself as to why you should even set the goal. What if all you need is just a little understanding of what the backbone of a goal is? I have wrestled with all of these questions and I have struggled with setting goals that were either achievable or realistic. I am a dreamer and as such, I tend to set a goal bigger than my reality which often ends in failure and then the circle begins again. I am going to explain the foundations you need to get a goal written down.
What is the backbone of setting a goal?
The backbone of something is what provides support for everything else. So the backbone of a goal is the foundation that gives support to the goal-setting process. This includes accurately defining the purpose of the goal, your commitment to the goal, and the preparation needed to set a plan of action to achieve the goal.
Why are goals important?
As defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a goal is the end toward which effort is directed or aimed. Setting a goal, whether it is with the SMART or PACT framework, can provide you with a way to reach your dreams. Goals can help you stay focused on what you are trying to achieve, and increase your motivation and productivity. This can have a profound impact on your professional or personal life.
Building the Foundation
I will be giving you a personal example of one of my goals and how I built a foundation for it. The ultimate goal of my Wandering Texan Creations Facebook Group is to build a community of creatives that can collaborate, share ideas, and help each other when needed. This however is too broad so I will build a foundation to make a more specific goal.
Step 1: Accurately define the purpose of your goal
To be accurate in defining your goal, you have to be extremely realistic about what you can do in terms of the time you can give, the resources you can utilize (whether paid or free), and knowing yourself or your habits. This can be extremely challenging but it can also be an aha moment! Take a hard look at your patterns, what you do well, where you usually falter, and where it may need to change to achieve your goal. Also, make sure that those changes are small and just need to be tweaked, or take into consideration that you may not want to change it currently and find a way to work around it.
The purpose or reason for growing my Facebook Group is to bring people together. I believe that no matter what your background is, if you have a community of people to bounce ideas around, learn from, and communicate with, then you can achieve anything. It also aligns with my business value of collaboration, to help you create your vision.
Step 2: Your commitment to the goal
Like any commitment, make sure to identify the benefits and rewards associated with accomplishing your goal. Get to the nitty-gritty of why you want to achieve what you do so that it reaches your core and gives you the necessary motivation to achieve it. It is all in your mindset and if you write it down or even create a vision board based on your goal, you can then have a reminder of that commitment and why you are working towards it.
My dedication to my Facebook Group is based on an internal purpose, which is that I like to help people. This also feeds my need for growth and need to learn as well as to benefit the growth of others.
Step 3: Preparation to Set a Plan of Action
Preparation is needed to set a plan of action to make your goal achievable. This is where I have struggled the most. Why do you need to prepare anything to set a goal? Well, to make a goal measurable, you need to have a starting point. Shooting an arrow in the dark rarely lands on its target.
To prepare for my goal, I have
- Analyzed the data from the analytics portion of my Facebook Group
- Checked to see what content the members engaged with the most
- Created a content calendar that combines my different social media accounts to realistically see how much time I can give to growing my group
- Researched best practices for utilizing a Facebook group for my business and made small changes to my group
Now that I have a base of where my Facebook Group currently is, I am ready to apply the framework of a goal. For this, I used the SMART goal framework which you can read more about in The Ultimate Guide To SMART Goals by Kimberlee Leonard and Rob Watts with Forbes Advisor.
Back to the beginning, I started with wanting to build a community of creatives that can collaborate, share ideas, and help each other when needed in my Wandering Texan Creations Facebook Group.
Here is my refined goal, created from the foundation I built:
I want to grow the number of members in my Wandering Texan Creations Facebook Group to 150 members within the next 3 months because it will help foster relationships and ideas within the group. I will grow my group by creating content, a minimum of 5 days a week, that will encourage my members to engage.
Without putting in the work, I could have started and stayed with my original goal but I would have fallen short (like many times before). By diving into the process, I have created a backbone for my goal to build upon.
Remember goals are not written in stone, they must be evaluated and refined to continue growing. Failure (as hard as it can be) is part of the process. However, when you have a clear purpose for your commitment, you can adapt strategies within your preparation that set a plan of action for you to be achievable. These three elements are key to giving your goal the best foundation. If you have lacked success in setting goals, try building from the backbone so you can be realistic in your reach. Making small achievable goals will help you stay focused on what you are trying to achieve and will increase your motivation and productivity.
Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful or if there is a different area of goal-making that you have a hard time with!
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1 comment
Very well written and understandable…. as well as showing how to make an attainable goal.