Tips for Setting Goals Effectively: Think Through Each Goal

Excerpt from the LEAP Module: Goal Setting for Higher Performance

Think Your Goal Through
When you are thinking about how to achieve goals, asking the following questions can help you to focus on the sub-goals that lead to their achievement:

1. What skills do I need to achieve this?
2. What information and knowledge do I need?
3. What help, assistance, or collaboration do I need?
4. What resources do I need?
5. What can block progress?
6. Am I making any assumptions?
7. Is there a better way of doing things?

Using this list of questions, you can break down your larger goals into smaller daily or operational goals and start tackling a little bit every day. Keep the goals you are working towards immediately, small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Additionally, keeping operational goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward.