Research shows that when you base your goals on something that motivates you, you’re more likely to achieve it. Identify areas of your life that you would like to change. At this stage, it’s okay for these areas to be fairly broad.  Common areas for goals include self-improvement, improving your relationships, or achieving some measure of success with an undertaking, such as work or education. Other areas you could examine might include spirituality, finance, your community, and health.  Consider asking yourself some big questions, such as “How do I want to grow?” or “What do I want to offer the world?” These can help you determine what is most valuable to you.  For example, you might think about meaningful changes you’d like to see in health and personal relationships. Write those two areas down, as well as what changes you’d like to see. It’s okay if your changes are broad at this point. For example, for health you might write “improve fitness” or “eat healthy.” For personal relationships, you might write “spend more time with family” or “meet new people.” For self-improvement, you might write “learn to cook.” ” Research suggests that identifying your “best possible self” can help you feel more positive and happy about your life. It can also help you in thinking about what goals really are meaningful to you. Finding your “best possible self” requires two steps: visualizing yourself in the future, having achieved your goals, and considering the characteristics you will need to get you to that place.  Imagine a time in the future where you are your best version of yourself. What would that look like? What would be most meaningful to you? (It’s important to focus on what’s meaningful to you, rather than on what you may feel pressured to achieve by others.) Imagine the details of this future self. Think positively. You can imagine something that is a “life dream,” a milestone accomplishment, or other big achievement. For example, if your best possible self is a baker with her own successful cake bakery, imagine what that looks like. Where is it? What does it look like? How many employees do you have? What type of employer are you? How much do you work? Write down the details of this visualization. Imagine what characteristics your “best possible self” is using to achieve his/her success. For example, if you are running your own bakery, you need to know how to bake, manage money, network with people, problem-solve, be creative, and determine the demand for baked goods. Write down as many characteristics and skills as you can think of. Think about which of these characteristics you already have. Be honest with yourself, not judgmental. Then, think about which characteristics you can develop. Imagine ways for you to build these characteristics and skills. For example, if you want to own a bakery but don’t know anything about running a small business, taking some classes in business or money management would be a way to develop that skill. Once you've gotten down a list of areas in which you’d like to see change, you'll need to prioritize them. Trying to focus on improving everything all at once could end up feeling overwhelming, and you’re far less likely to pursue your goals if you feel that they can’t be achieved.  Split your goals up into three sections: Overall goals, second tier, and third tier. The overall is the most important goals, the ones that come to you most naturally. The second and third have important goals, but they aren't as important to you as the overall goals and they tend to be more specific. For example: in overall you might have "prioritize health (most important), improve family relationships (most important), take a trip abroad," and in the second tier "be a good friend, keep house clean, climb Mt. McKinley" and in the third tier "learn to knit, become more efficient at work, exercise everyday." Once you’ve found the areas you want to change and what changes you’d generally like to see, you can begin distinguishing the specifics of what you want to accomplish. These specifics will be the basis for your goals. Asking yourself some questions will answer the who, what, when, where, how, and why of your achievement. Research suggests that setting a specific goal not only makes you more likely to achieve it, it makes you more likely to feel happier overall. It’s important when setting goals to know who is responsible for achieving each part of the goal. Since these are personal goals, you will probably be the most responsible. However, some goals -- such as “spend more time with family” -- require others’ cooperation, so it’s a good idea to identify who will be responsible for what parts. For example, “learn to cook” would be a personal goal that probably involve only you. However, if your goal is “throw a dinner party,” that requires responsibility from others, too. This question helps determine the goal, details, and the results you wish to see. For example, “learn to cook” is too broad to be manageable; it lacks focus. Think about the details of what you really want to accomplish. “Learn to cook an Italian dinner for my friends” is more specific. “Learn to cook chicken parmigiana for my friends” is more specific still. The more detailed you make this element, the clearer the steps will be that you need to take to accomplish. One key to setting goals is breaking them up into stages. Knowing when specific parts of your plan must be achieved helps you keep on track, and allows you a sense of progress.  Keep your stages realistic. “Lose ten pounds” is unlikely to happen in a matter of weeks. Think about how much time it will realistically take you to achieve each stage of your plan. For example, “Learn to cook chicken parmigiana for my friends by tomorrow” is probably unrealistic. This goal could cause you a lot of stress because you’re trying to achieve something without giving yourself enough time to learn (and make the inevitable mistakes). “Learn to cook chicken parmigiana for my friends by the end of the month” gives you enough time to practice and learn. However, you still need to break this down into further stages to increase your likelihood of success. For example, this goal breaks the process down into manageable stages: “Learn to cook chicken parmigiana for my friends by the end of the month. Find recipes by the end of this week. Practice at least three recipes one time each. When I find one I like, I’ll practice it again before I invite my friends over.” It can be helpful in many cases to identify a certain place where you will work on achieving your goal. For example, if your goal is to exercise 3 times a week, you would want to determine whether you will go to a gym, exercise at home, or go running in a park. In our example, you could decide to start at a cooking class, or you could decide to do the whole process in your kitchen. This step encourages you to envision how you will achieve each stage of the goal process. This clearly defines the goal’s framework, and gives you a good sense of what actions you will need to take at each stage. For the chicken parmigiana example, you would need to find a recipe, obtain the ingredients, get the necessary tools, and make time to practice the dish. As mentioned earlier, you’re more likely to achieve your goal if you find it meaningful and are motivated to work toward it. This question will help you clarify what your motivation is to reach this goal. What will achieving this goal do for you?  In our example, you might want to learn to cook chicken parmigiana for your friends so that you can invite them over to share a special meal with them. Doing this will allow you to bond with your friends and show them how much you care about them. It’s important to keep this “why” in mind as you work toward achieving your goals. Setting incredibly concrete, specific goals is helpful, but you also need to keep the “big picture” in mind. Research shows that you’re more likely to achieve your goals when they are framed as positive. In other words, frame your goals as something you are working toward, not something you want to move away from.  For example, if one of your goals is to eat more healthy foods, an unhelpful way to word this might be “Stop eating junk food.” This way of wording makes it seem like you are being deprived of something, and humans don’t like that feeling. Instead, try wording the goal as something you’re gaining or learning: “Eat at least 3 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.” Achieving your goals requires hard work and motivation, but you also need to ensure that you’re setting goals that your work will make you likely to attain. You can only control your own actions, not their outcomes (or others’ actions).  Keeping your goals focused on what actions you can take, rather than on specific outcomes, will also help you if and when you experience setbacks. By conceiving of success as a process of performance, you will be able to feel as though you’re accomplishing your goals even when you don’t necessarily get the outcome you’d hoped for. For example, “Become President of the United States” is a goal that relies on the outcome of others’ actions (in this case, voters). You cannot control these actions, and thus, this goal is problematic. However, “Run for elected office” is achievable, because it relies on your own motivation and work. Even if you don’t win the election you ran for, you can view your accomplishment as a success.
فكّر في الأمور الهامة بالنسبة لك. قم بتعريف "النسخة الأفضل منك". قم بتحديد الأولويات من هذه المجالات. ابدأ بالتحديد بصورة أكبر. قم بتحديد "مَن". قم بتحديد "ما". قم بتحديد "متي". قم بتحديد "أين". قم بتحديد "كيف". قم بتحديد "لماذا". حدّد أهدافك بشكل إيجابي. تأكد من أن أهدافك ترتكز على العمل.