5 Common Goal Setting Mistakes to Avoid

The new year begins, and you’re pumped. This is the year you will go big and accomplish all of your goals. So, you come up with some goals. The first few weeks go well. You’re motivated and staying focused. Then, you hit a bump in the road. Life interferes, motivation slips, and you find yourself reverting back to your old habits. You get discouraged because you aren’t seeing any progress. Maybe your goal was too big? Too hard? And suddenly you’ve given up completely. What were you thinking believing that all that was possible, right?

Sound familiar?

About half of Americans set goals for themselves each year. Of that, only about eight or nine percent of those actually feel like they have achieved their goals by the end of the year. As a productivity coach, a big part of what I do is helping my clients change that goal-setting outcome for themselves. For the most part, goal-setting success comes down to just a few mistakes people make when setting their goals. Below are the top 5 goal-setting mistakes I see and how to correct them.

1. Choosing vague goals

One of the biggest mistakes I see is setting broad, ambiguous goals. Things like “get healthy” or “save money” are not goals. They’re simply wishes. You have no clear way of getting to your result. How will you know when you’ve achieved your goal? It’s like if you started a new project and simply said you were complete after doing some brainstorming.

If you want to make goals that are actionable, you have to get a little more specific. In my goal-setting course, I take my students through the S.M.A.R.T. goal method. S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time frame. Instead of “get healthy,” apply the S.M.A.R.T. goal filters for something more like this: 

Exercise for 30 minutes a day 5 days a week using home HIIT videos, yoga classes, and a hike with my dog (each Sunday).

When you get specific with your goals, you can set realistic, achievable action steps. Having small steps takes that wish you started with and makes it a reality. For a breakdown on setting S.M.A.R.T. goals, check out How to Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

2. Taking on too much

With a whole year in front of you, it can be easy to go big on the goals. The mistakes I see most often with this are either goals that are too big to accomplish in the time frame or taking on too many smaller goals at once. It’s okay to have big goals for yourself, it’s just important to make sure you’re setting yourself up for success. For example, if you just started a brand new business, it may be unrealistic to set a goal of turning that into a 7-figure business by the end of the year. Take a closer look at what you're offering, the cost associated with the offering, the time associated with each offering, and how much you can handle (and are willing to reasonably take on). If you’ve never run before, you wouldn’t sign yourself up for a marathon next weekend, right? Instead, you look at the time involved with training properly, what you can physically handle, and then determine when you could be ready for that race.

For many multi-passionate entrepreneurs, it’s hard to settle on just one focus. They have so many ideas and goals for themselves. The issue comes in when they try to take on too many of those goals at once. Suddenly, they find themselves having started everything and finished nothing. Just as with setting a goal that’s too big, setting too many at once can leave you feeling unmotivated, burned out, and a bit like a failure.

I advise my clients to choose no more than three goals at a time. This allows them to have a little variety in their pursuits without overwhelming themselves. Every time they have a new idea that they want to take on, I have them add it to an ongoing list of future goals. Once they have reached one of their current goals, they can then choose a new one from their menu of options. It not only keeps those great ideas in a safe, tangible place, but it also provides extra motivation to reach current goals.

3. Not knowing your motivation

Do you know why you decided to take on this goal? Did an expert in your field suggest it? Will it make other people happy? Is it the logical next step? Will achieving this make you look good? Is it what you “should” do? The source of our motivation plays a key role in whether or not we are successful in achieving our goals. Before setting a goal, take a deeper look at your motivation.

• What will having this do for you?

• What’s important about that for you?

• What emotions are tied to this goal?

• How will it FEEL when you achieve this goal?

We can apply our logical brain to our plans all day long, but without that emotional motivation, we are highly unlikely to follow through and reach our goals. Make sure you choose goals that align with your core values and mission. They need to mean something to you personally. If you must take on a project or goal that is assigned to you, look within that goal to find how your values are represented in that goal or process. See if there are elements that spark an emotional response. This is what you can tap into when you hit roadblocks and things get tough.

For more on understanding your core values, check out How (& Why) To Define Your Core Values and Mission.

4. Setting negative goals

As humans, it’s natural to focus on the negative. It gives our brains problems to solve. But, when it comes to goal-setting, negative-based goals can actually do more harm than good. We want to lose weight, quit smoking, drink less, spend less time on social media, and stop wasting time. While the result we want would positively benefit us, stating them in the negative is subconsciously demotivating. By contrast, simply reframing your goal in the positive creates direction and motivation for you. Let’s take a look at those goals from before and how they can change when stated positively:

Notice how the energy around those goals shifts. By simply rewording your goal, you can increase your likelihood of following through.

5. Seeing goals as set in stone

This is a big one I discuss in my Goal Setting Workshop. It’s actually the first paradigm I introduce before we get started creating goals: goals are flexible and changeable. Despite our best intentions and preparations, we don’t know how the future will unfold. A goal that looks good in theory may play out very differently. Timetables may shift. A goal may become irrelevant. And that’s okay.

Far too many people either shy away from setting a goal for fear of failure or waste time on a goal that no longer serves them. Instead, try seeing goals as fluid and adaptable. As you change and your circumstances change, so can your goals.

When you start breaking down your goal into smaller goals, tasks, and deadlines, also plan regular time to evaluate your goals. I suggest a quick check in once a week and then reflection time at the end of each month and quarter. Ask yourself:

• What went well?

• What challenges did I face?

• What would I like to do differently going forward?
  

It’s a quick way to make sure you’re course-correcting as you work toward what you want. You can find these reflection questions in my free Daily Productivity Planner. Click here to download if you haven’t already.