5 Questions You Should Ask Before Taking On A New Goal
When you take on a new goal or habit, it’s a good idea to answer a few questions before you get started. This is especially true if you have a tendency to quickly jump into new adventures, and then only later realize that you have taken on too much. Instead, try to do a little organizing beforehand – the following five steps will help you to do just that!
- What is my motivation?
Every goal has to have some motivation behind it! You need to find out what inspires you, and what your reasons are for taking action in the first place. Why exactly do you want to achieve this goal? You should figure out the specifics surrounding just why it’s important to you. If you don’t, your approach to the goal will be half-hearted…and it would be a shame to not put your all into whatever you’re after. The more precisely you know why you want to do something, the more likely it is that you’ll follow through on your intentions. Always try to make sure that you’re not going after a goal for the wrong reasons.
- What are my expectations?
Before you take on a new goal, you should clearly define what your expectations are in terms of exactly what you would like to accomplish. Consider the benefits of reaching your goal. The more concretely you define your expectations and your goal, the better you’ll be at putting your plans into action. Moreover, you’ll be able to find out whether or not the expected outcome that you set for yourself is perhaps too big. For me, it can be useful to pause and reflect…and sometimes put on the brakes a little in terms of my expectations. This certainly doesn’t mean that big dreams are somehow bad – actually, just the it opposite is true. Push yourself and go to your limits, but at the same time try to avoid putting yourself under too much pressure.
- How can I make it happen?
Now you have created a clear vision of your expectations and what you would like to achieve – in the next step, you define the framework for your goal along with the first steps. Figure out how you can get going on your goal or intended activity. Come up with an exact plan and consider the next steps. By doing this, you can also confirm that your goal is realistic. Plan the next steps carefully and try to calculate things as accurately as possible. This is the only way to find out what you need in order to reach your goal and avoid failure. See how much time you have available, which support or resources you need and which concrete steps are required from you.
- When do I start?
When you want to take on a new goal, then you should also determine when you would like to start working on it. You should do this as precisely as possible. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to not concretely determined when you want to get started on your new goal. Otherwise you risk always starting “tomorrow” and putting off your great intention again and again. You can read my post about “How You Can Avoid Procrastination". Additionally you can pause one more time and think about whether the chosen point in time is a good one for starting with a new goal. It’s helpful for me if I enter the next few steps in my calendar – that way I never lose the overview
- Who can help me?
Naturally there are goals that you can very easily pull off alone. Nonetheless, don’t shy away from asking for help – some support is always good. Look for someone to stand by you and help to motivate you…or someone who is working on the same goal. That way you can both motivate each other. It also helps me to have someone who I can ask questions from time to time. It doesn’t always have to be a professional coach, but it does help if you have someone to support you.
After you have cleared up the above five questions, you’re really ready to take on your new goal! We have a lot of valuable tips on our blog about how you can stick with your goals. One example is breaking your big goal down into as many mini-goals as possible. What questions do you ask yourself before you take on a new goal?
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