As we are now one month into 2016, I started to wonder how people are faring with their New Year’s Resolutions. Setting resolutions has become such an integral part of the New Year celebration, and I can understand why.

Looking ahead to a new year, with a clean slate in front of you, provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on your life and to strive for growth. It’s exciting to think about how you could grow, change, and improve yourself and different aspects of your life over the course of one year.

But there’s a problem. As excited as we may be on January 1 to start working towards improving our lives, it is more common than not for that enthusiasm to fade. Goals that seemed exciting and important quickly become forgotten.

I mean, how many of you set a goal, a resolution, or even a whole page of resolutions at the beginning of this past January? And how many of those goals have you made progress towards achieving over the past month? If you have made progress (and I truly hope you have), that’s amazing!

But, unfortunately, if you are like the majority of Americans, progress towards your goals has either been slow or nonexistent.

I believe that we all have great intentions when we set our goals, but we don’t always take the steps necessary to set our goals up for success. This I know from personal experience!

Although I’m not claiming to have it all figured out yet, I have learned a few strategies over the past year that have increased the chances that I will follow through on goals that I set. So listed below are 7 steps that will show you how to set goals so that you, too, can increase your chance of success!

Focus on a limited number of goals.

I have been guilty numerous times of creating long lists of New Year’s Resolutions. But as I look back on it now, I wonder…did I really expected to be able to work on 15 different areas of my life all at once??

What usually ended up happening is that I focused on just one or two of my goals and then promptly forgot about the rest…like that goal to be able to do a pull up by the end of 2015! In the end, I always felt like I failed because even if I did achieve one goal, there were 14 others that I didn’t achieve.

What I have found to be far more effective is to narrow down my list to a small handful of goals, around 3-5, to focus on at one time. If you’ve had a lot of trouble sticking with goals in the past, you may even choose to just focus on one goal to prove to yourself that it is possible to accomplish something you set your mind to.

Discover your why.

Figure out why you want to achieve your goal. Not just the first “why” that comes to your mind, but the REAL why.

For example, if you want to lose weight, you may tell yourself that you want to do it to become healthier. But is that really why you want to lose weight? Or is it actually because you just want to start feeling confident when you go out in public?

So ask yourself why your goal is important to you. Imagine what your life will look like (in detail) once you achieve your goal. Also, imagine what your life will look like if you don’t achieve it.

This step is critical to the overall success of your goal. Because when you are tempted to quit, the best way to stay motivated is to really know why you are doing this in the first place.

Set a 90 day time frame.

It is oh-so tempting on January 1st to set a big goal that you hope to achieve by the end of the year. However, it’s takes a lot of perseverance and commitment to stick with a goal throughout a whole year.

Instead, set a goal that you can achieve by the end of 90 days. For some reason, our brains are a little less overwhelmed by a 90 day time frame, and it creates more of a sense of urgency to begin working toward your goal. This will make you much more likely to succeed at accomplishing it.

Then at the end of 90 days, feel free to set another goal for the following 90 days!

Stretch yourself, but remain realistic.

One of the biggest problems I have had over the past year with goal setting is setting way too lofty of a goal.

For example, in January of 2015, I set the goal to have my website up and running by the end of March…which definitely did not happen! I completely underestimated the amount of work, effort, and time it would take to accomplish this task. I then became frustrated with myself for not meeting my goal.

So what I have learned is that I need to be realistic with myself when setting my goals. However, it’s important not to set the goal too low, either.

The goal you choose should feel slightly uncomfortable, like it just might be slightly out of your reach and out of your comfort zone. Because if you aim too low, you tend to land low. Whereas if you aim high, you tend to land higher, even if you don’t quite meet your original expectation.

So try to find that balance of a goal that is slightly out of your comfort zone, but that is possible to achieve with some hard work and determination.

Get specific and action oriented.

Ok, this one’s important! The more specific and measurable your goal is, the more likely you are to achieve it.

For example, it is not enough to simply say “I want to lose weight” or even “I want to lose 10 pounds.”

Your goal could be to lose 10 pounds in 90 days. However, you must then clearly identify the actions you will take to make that happen.

For example, you might break down your overall goal of losing 10 pounds into the following mini-goals (which are actually action steps):

• Every morning, eat a healthy breakfast filled with protein, fat, and fiber.
• Gradually cut back on soda until it’s no longer a part of your diet.
• Eat at least 1 serving of vegetables with every meal.

You might have 5 different mini-goals you want to take, but you can decide to add in one new action every couple of weeks to avoid overwhelm and to gradually cement in your new habits.

Just remember: be extremely clear with yourself on the actual steps you will take to reach your overall goal.

Write it down.

Be sure to write down your specific goal, the time frame you want to achieve it in, how you will measure whether or not you have achieved your goal, and the exact steps you will take to achieve it.

I think something happens in our brains when we take the time to write all of this out on paper. It starts to feel a little more real, and we become more committed to the process.

Evaluate your progress regularly.

This seems like common sense, doesn’t it? But I feel like this step is one that often trips people up. Me included!! How many times have I set a great goal, written down an amazing action plan, started on step 1 the next day…but then a week later promptly forgot all about the fact that I even set a goal?!?

My advice to avoid this is to first post a reminder of your goal somewhere where you will see it often. This could be on a mirror, by your bed, in a journal, as a screensaver on your computer, or on your phone.

Next, set aside a time to reflect on your progress on a regular basis. Ideally, this reflection would take place weekly. If that seems like too much, though, I would recommend doing this at a minimum of once per month. Setting an alert or reminder in your phone or on your calendar will ensure that this doesn’t slip your mind.

When it comes time to reflect on your progress, here are some things to consider:

• Focus first on what is going well and the progress you have made…think glass half full here!
• Next, identify the areas in which you could improve. Ask yourself what obstacles have gotten in the way for you and how could you work around them?
• Finally, look ahead to the next week or so. Decide what mini-action steps you want to focus on. You may also need to change, add, or take away some of the action steps you originally wanted to take based on your progress thus far.

To be honest, the exact process of how you reflect on your progress does not matter as much as simply taking the time to do it. This step is critical to keeping the goal in your mind and to continue making progress towards its fulfillment.

Conclusion

If you have felt any frustration, guilt, regret, or shame for not meeting a goal you have previously set, I highly recommend that you start this process by not being so hard on yourself. Accept whatever has happened up to this point, and follow the steps listed in this post to get yourself back on track!

I would love to hear what goals you are setting for yourself and what some of the biggest obstacles are for you when trying to achieve them. Please share in the comments below so that we can help each other out!