How to Do Goal Setting?

A practical step-by-step guide on how to do personal goal setting (plus tons of tips and strategies to help you follow through)

We all know what we truly want in life, but sometimes we are too afraid to list them all out and take a good look, because we fear what others think about our ambition, and we don’t want to disappoint ourselves once again for failing our new year resolution. However, the path to achieving everything you want in life, all starts with goal setting- setting the right direction, and taking consistent small steps towards it. Without a specific direction, you are just drifting no where in life.

I have listed 3 phases to help you set and achieve any goal you want:

1. Phase 1: Setting Your Goals
2. Phase 2: Staying on Track
3. Phase 3: Feedback Loop

Phase 1- Setting Your Goals

This phase is the core part, as we set our goals in categories and with specificity.

The 5 Goal Buckets WHRPP- Wealth, Health, Relationship, Passion, Personal

I believe happiness comes from the success in 4 areas of your life- Wealth, Health, Relationship, and Passion. That’s why I always set goals in these 4 buckets, plus “Personal” which is basically “Others”.

Wealth goals are everything related to your income. They include your side hustle, current day job or your business. If you’re an investor, it may also include the assets that you acquire (stocks, real estates etc.).

Health goals can be divided into physical and mental health. Physical health includes goals like workout, sleep and diet. Mental health goals include meditation, journaling, or gratification practices etc.

Relationship goals are measured by the number and depth of your relationship with friends, family and your spouse. It is the amount of quality time that you get to spend with them, and giving them massive value.

Passion is basically your calling- things that are meaningful, keep you excited, and scratch your own itch. You may not earn any money by doing what you’re passionate about, but it is what makes you feel satisfied. I believe that we should all spend a proportion of our time each day to work on our passion.

“Personal” is anything other than the goals above. I love to put skills that I want to acquire, books that I want to read, and places that I want to visit inside this bucket.

Use a pen and paper, and write down 3 goals for each category.

Here is my list of 2020 goals for your reference:

5 Tips on Setting Your Goals RIGHT

1. Less is more. Have 3 goals or less per category. It’s more important to stay focus and achieve your key goals, rather than listing a lot of goals but end up scattering your energy and achieve none. You also leave space for some unplanned goals.
2. Be as specific as possible. Your goal should include what, how and when you want to achieve your goal. An example is “ I will learn Data Science through Code Academy’s Data Science course before 31st Dec, 2020.”
3. Think BIG. Think about what do you want to do and achieve if there’s no limit and no fear. Visualize the perfect picture of how your year end looks like. Set goals that are outside your comfort zone. Overcoming something that you think you can’t do is the most solid way to build your self-confidence and have satisfaction.
4. The 3 types of goals- Results vs Progress vs Systems. There are 3 types of goals that you can set and play around. “Result goal” is a specific end result you want to achieve, it’s binary- one or zero (e.g. Finish writing a book before 31st Dec). “Progress goal” is a continuously increasing/ decreasing goal (e.g. Gaining 1 pound of muscle every week). “Systems goal” is keep doing the same thing on a regular basis (e.g. Produce 1 piece of content every week). Decide what type of goals that can suit your needs.
5. Keep your goals consistent. You may want part of your goals to be an extension of last year’s goals, instead of changing everything. Because it takes time to hone your craft and build good habits that win in the long run.

Phase 2- Staying on Track

This phase is to create an environment that constantly reminds you to work on your goals, so that you don’t get distracted.

Put Your Goals Everywhere

Print out your goals, stick them onto your bathroom mirror, your fridge, your room, your laptop wallpaper, your phone’s home screen etc. The point is to see your goals as often as possible.

Mark Everything onto Google Calendar

Put all your goals onto Google Calendar. I like to have different colors representing each WHRPP bucket. So based on the color, I would know whether I’m having a balanced life in the coming week.

Have a Weekly Accountability Buddy

Find an accountability buddy, it can be your friends, your spouse or any one you trust. Email them at the beginning of the week (Sunday) on what you want to accomplish in the coming week. Then at the end of the week, email them on what you have accomplished or not accomplished, and how you could have done better. Do it consistently every single week. If you don’t have an accountability buddy, join my Facebook group and post your goals here. I will keep you accountable personally!

Remove Your Distractions

Where in your life do you spend a lot of time on unproductive things? Maybe it’s Tic Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, Youtube… Remove all these apps on your phone and use Chrome Extensions (Stayfocusd) to limit the time you spend on these websites. Less distraction means more time and energy on productive matters. And one more thing… whenever a new idea pops up, instead of changing course immediately, create an Evernote file and mark down all your new ideas in it, and review all of them the year later.

Phase 3: Feedback Loop

You want to be reviewing your progress from time to time, to ensure that you are on track and doing what’s really important.

Monthly Reports

Review what happened to our goals this month. You can check back the emails with your accountability buddy. Use the “Start-Stop-Continue” model for evaluation. What should I start doing? What areas should I stop doing? What did I do well that I should continue? Write down all your accomplishments and “Start-Stop-Continue” every single month.

Half-Year Review

At the half-year mark, review whether the goals are really what you want, and keep track on your progress so far. Instead of removing the goals, try changing it to something meaningful first. For example, instead of removing my goal of “ Reading one book per month”, I might change it to “ Join an online course to learn something new” instead, with both related to learning.

Yearly Review

Review all the goals at the end of the year, and what can you learn to do better next year.

Last Thoughts

“ Consistency beats resistance”. Consistency pays off in long-term. Keep spending time each day, no matter it’s 5 minutes or an hour, and work on your goals. For everything that’s not on your list, that’s what you should say No to. This is how you can focus on what’s truly important, and accomplish something after a year. Time flies, and I regret so much for not setting goals in 2019, which made that year sucks. Let’s rock 2020 together!

See you in my Facebook Group! I will check every post personally and hold you accountable!

Cheers!