Throughout my undergraduate studies, I had many ambitious goals. I was passionate about many things and wanted a taste of everything. I had a goal of attaining a degree in mechanical engineering, studying on the side to become a software engineer, a side hustle goal of dropshipping, writing a blog business, exploring the world of real estate, and more.
On the surface, these seemed like attainable goals. I promised myself consistent progress and that I was about to see professional and personal growth. I even made sure to follow the SMART Framework for the goal-setting process. However, I did not consider the timeframe I was given and how thinly spread out I was.
Why is it important to set realistic goals, you may ask? It wasn’t until I set realistic goals that I saw life-changing benefits.
By doing so, I was finally making progress. After reaching my ultimate goal of becoming a software engineer and finishing a degree in mechanical engineering, I moved on to my new goal of starting a blogging business.
Definition of a Realistic Goal
A realistic goal considers your skills, timeframe, and level of motivation. It’s a well-balanced combination of ambitious and achievable. A realistic goal considers your current capabilities, conditions, and availability so that you can leverage these factors to create an attainable and maintainable objective.
Furthermore, the goals should neither be too overwhelming nor too underwhelming. It should be just above your comfort level, challenging you enough to stay engaged without causing discouragement.
If the goal is too ambitious, you might give up quickly because you don’t see yourself achieving it within the set timeframe, leading to a loss of hope.
Conversely, a goal that is too easy can become tedious, causing disengagement. Finding the balance between ambition and achievability makes realistic goals effective.
Why Is It Important to Set Realistic Goals?
Building Confidence and Self-Esteem
One benefit of goal setting is that it gives you a better sense of purpose and direction. You become fully aware of your limitations and can adapt your goals based on your current situation. This clarity helps you understand where you want your life to move.
Achieving milestones increases confidence in your abilities. To elaborate, you can build your confidence and self-esteem by reaching milestones faster, leading to more confidence in your abilities and reducing imposter syndrome.
Science has even shown that achieving goals releases dopamine, which improves focus and mood.
Improving Motivation and Focus
Having specific, achievable goals helps you stay motivated and focused over a long period of time. One way to form goals is to create manageable steps by breaking down bigger goals into smaller, measurable goals to help you stay on track.
An easy way to boost motivation is to recognize progress in both personal development and professional goals, which can only be done through realistic goal setting. Over time, you begin to crave success more and more as you learn new skills that build confidence and further improve your motivation.
Enhancing Decision-Making and Adaptability
Having a clear and realistic goal makes decision-making smoother. Setting goals provides clear direction and focus, allowing you to prioritize tasks and allocate time effectively.
Often, we can become lost about what to do next to achieve our goals. Think back to university, when there was a syllabus for each class, and you knew exactly what papers needed to be submitted and when deadlines for a specific project were approaching.
As circumstances change, we no longer have a syllabus laid out for us, so we need to create it for ourselves. There are several advantages to doing this; the main one is that we create an action plan prior to starting our main goal to reduce decision-making throughout our journey.
Characteristics of Effective Goals
Achievability and Sustainability
Setting realistic goals means your vision will become a reality sooner than you think. By planning realistic goals to be attainable and timely, your vision will only be an arm’s reach away meaning a high success rate for actually accomplishing your task.
Breaking down larger goals into smaller, realistic sub-tasks allows you to achieve these sub-tasks sooner, thus maintaining consistency throughout the journey and increasing the likelihood of achieving your goals.
Measurable Progress and Growth
You can consistently measure your progress by implementing realistic goals because you will be one step closer to finishing your sub-tasks every day.
One effective method of measuring progress is using a time-tracking app like Toggl-Track to see how many hours you spend a day toward your goal. It is a free resource that helps with time management and project tracking.
By doing this, you can see which projects have unrealistic expectations, as you are time-bound and may not have enough time to pursue your goals.
The Dangers of Unrealistic Goals
Consequences of Setting Unrealistic Goals
Setting unrealistic goals can demotivate and frustrate people because they feel they haven’t accomplished anything, giving them a false sense of failure.
This is dangerous. You can work extremely hard towards your goal and never accomplish it because you have not considered your current situation.
Initially, you may feel productive, but over several days or weeks, you will feel burnt out, breaking your consistency and ultimately ruining your chance of success.
Why We Set Unrealistic Goals
People may create improbable objectives for various reasons, including a lack of understanding of their resources and limitations.
People may set unrealistic goals because they lack the experience to set realistic ones. For instance, starting a coding boot camp might seem like a month, but due to their lack of knowledge, they don’t realize it might take up to three months due to the number of unexpected bugs they will experience.
Additionally, being unaware of your actual busyness can lead to unrealistic goals, like underestimating the time needed due to a full-time job and family responsibilities.
One way to overcome this is by asking mentors or those previously in your position, leveraging their experiences to save time.
Implementing Realistic Goal Setting
How to Set Realistic Goals Using SMART Criteria
Setting realistic goals using the SMART goals criteria ensures your objectives are well-defined and achievable. SMART goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Measurability is crucial for tracking progress and staying motivated. Moving forward toward your goals can not be done without measurable goals. For instance, instead of saying, “Get a software job,” aim for “I plan on applying to 20 new software positions Monday through Friday.” This allows you to reinforce commitment and make progress if necessary.
Achievability and relevance ensure your goals are within reach and aligned with broader objectives. An achievable goal considers your capabilities and resources, avoiding overly ambitious targets.
Relevant goals align with your long-term aspirations and values. Finally, time-bound goals with defined deadlines create urgency, prompting effective prioritization.
Using the SMART criteria allows you to measure progress, thus enhancing your ability to achieve success while maintaining motivation and focus.
The Role of Leadership in Promoting Goal-Setting
Leadership plays a crucial role in supporting realistic goal-setting in the workplace. Leaders should communicate the importance of goal setting to their teams and provide resources and training to help employees set and achieve their goals.
As a company leader, it is crucial to understand that implementing realistic goals will keep your employees motivated and ultimately allow your team to accomplish everything while maintaining a balanced lifestyle.
Providing resources and training on how to set realistic goals enables employees to achieve their goals promptly, increasing the team’s value.
Tools for Goal Setting, Including Time Tracking and Capacity Estimation
Time tracking can help individuals and teams set and achieve realistic goals. It helps estimate the time needed to complete tasks and projects and understand capacity and workload.
Realistic Goal Setting in Practice
Aligning Goals Within a Company or Team
Aligning goals within a company is essential for achieving success and growth. Clear, achievable, and aligned objectives are crucial for success.
Aligning goals can help individuals and teams work together towards a common goal. In my line of work, it was essential for the team and I to learn about up-and-coming technologies in AI, allowing us to grow as a team and explore new topics.
Helping Students Set Realistic Goals
Setting realistic goals helps students prioritize their work and manage their time and resources wisely. Realistic goals help students feel motivated and confident. Setting achievable goals helps students maintain a good balance between aspiration and reality.
Overcoming Obstacles to Realistic Goal Setting
Identifying and Avoiding Time Wasters
Time tracking can help identify time wasters and eliminate non-value-added activities. It allows individuals and teams to focus on high-priority tasks and goals.
Establishing realistic goals has its own obstacles, one notable one being time wasters, which can take many forms, such as watching Netflix, commuting, socializing without value, and focusing on low-priority tasks.
To avoid these obstacles, first identify them and then devise ways to overcome them, whether it’s using third-party apps to block specific websites or working in a more focused environment like a library.
Prioritization and Support for Achieving Realistic Goals
Leaders should help their teams prioritize their goals to ensure they are achievable and aligned with the company’s objectives.
Leaders should provide resources and training to help employees set and achieve their goals. As a leader or manager, it is important to prioritize support to help your team achieve realistic goals.
One way to do this is to have weekly one-on-one meetings to ensure they avoid blockers or obstacles. If they do, it might be time to reevaluate their goals, as they may be stretch goals. It is not uncommon to adjust goals to suit someone’s needs better.
Key Takeaways
- Setting unachievable goals can and will lead to failure and demotivation.
- Setting realistic goals can inspire motivation and ambition.
- Realistic goals should be achievable and aligned with the company’s objectives.
- Setting realistic goals is crucial for achieving success.
Setting realistic goals will take you one step further to completing them. As these realistic goals improve your focus, promote motivation, and allow for progress and growth, you will be on the path to success.