Neil Desai

If you ever want to do anything meaningful in your life then you should set a goal. Goals are a great way to raise expectations of yourself and create a new standard in your life. Most people I know set goals and fail miserably in them. Here are some steps to set better goals and actually accomplish them.

1. Create a Mission Statement for Your Life. I got this tip from the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and I recommend doing this for anyone. Create a mission statement of some kind for your life that all of your goals can be centered around. Think long and hard about what you want in life and your mission statement will come to you. Mine is: “Constantly improve every aspect of your life. Never settle for average. Better every friend and family member. Love life. Dream big. Deliver. Stay awake.” That last one might not make sense but I’ll detail that saying of mine in a later post.
2. Spend Time on Them. This is a no brainer. If you spend five minutes thinking up some goals then you probably won’t accomplish them. Instead, set aside some time free from distractions and really think about them. 
3. Be Realistic. Don’t try and do a ton of different things at once. Take it one step at a time. Start small and then build your way up. It’s like working out. If you start working out one day and decide to max out your body on everything then you will be too sore the next week to be motivated to go back. Goals are the same way. Start small and build your way up.
4. Detail Action Steps. As soon as you write out all your goals take about an hour and really think of every single next action you need to take. Break the goal up into small little chunks and just take it one step at a time. 
5. Review your Goals Every Month. I learned this from the book Getting Things Done by David Allen and it has had a tremendous impact on my life in just 3 months. At the beginning of every month I now review my goals and everything else going on in my life. I look back and track my progress and see how much I’ve accomplished in one month. This is a great motivation tool and I re-prioritize my goals every month. 
6. Set Due Dates. Some goals don’t need due dates. For example, one of my simple yet highly effective goals is to read for 30 minutes every day. It’s easy and there isn’t a due date since I do it every single day. However, I also have the goal of creating an iPhone app. I definitely have a due date for that. Goals like these are extremely hard to accomplish and you need to try every single little motivator you can to accomplish them.