How To Write Goals To Reach Inconceivable Heights

Having actionable and far reaching goals is crucial to success.

If you don’t write goals, you won’t have anything to shoot for.

I’ve been a huge advocate of goal setting, as it’s helped me reach targets and make myself accountable. It gives me the pleasure of ticking off goals once they’re completed – much like ticking a task on my to-do-list.

Within this blog post you will discover the importance of creating goals for creatives, freelancers and business owners, and how you can break your goals down to achieve inconceivable heights.

I’ll be sharing tips on how to write goals from scratch, with further advice to help you complete them. I’ll also be sharing what you should do if you miss out on your goals (something which hopefully doesn’t happen).

But why bother writing goals in the first place…?

Why Are Goals Important?

Have you ever gone to the supermarket without a shopping list?

I’ve done it many times!

Even though it’s free spirited, it often leads to spending more, and it usually results in forgetting one ingredient to make your dinner (“damn I’ve forgotten the onion!”).

This is exactly the same if you don’t write goals – you’re essentially shooting in the dark.

If you write and have goals written in front of you, you know where you’re heading, why you’re doing that particular task, and you’re more likely to complete a goal too. Not only this, but big, far reaching goals are daunting. They seem impossible to achieve, that it can make anyone stop in their tracks.

However goal setting breaks down bigger goals into actionable, smaller goals (which I’ll be sharing in a minute).

It’s all of these positives that makes such a valuable tool.

Not to mention the amount of motivation you’ll hopefully have to complete your goals.

So now you have the fundamentals of the importance of goal-setting, what’s my three tips to help you succeed?

Write Your Goals Onto Paper

Even though this seems self explanatory and obvious, some often fall into this trap.

They keep their goals, ideas and plans in their heads.

This makes you forget them, doesn’t make them accountable (as when you write them down you have to somehow commit), and doesn’t inspire you everyday to complete them either.

I would always recommend writing your goals instead of on the computer, as a computer document can easily be lost and neglected – and never seen again.

If you plan to write your goals on your computer, print them out as soon as you’re finished – so you can actively see them in front of you everyday.

How To Write Goals

The most important aspect of writing goals is to make them as detailed as possible. This should include when you plan to achieve the goal (an actual date or deadline next to each goal), how you plan on completing them (the steps you’re going to take), and having it front of you on a daily basis.

Vague goals are neglected and aren’t completed, as they’re too, well…vague!

You want to aim for detailed, actionable and accountable goals.

The more detailed you are with your goals the better, as you’ll be able to see exactly the steps you’re going to take to reach them.

For example;

Vague goal;

Grow and strengthen my illustration portfolio.

Detailed goal;

– Think about and sketch ideas for a personal project by [DATE]
– Develop the illustration’s composition within my sketchbook by [DATE]
– Create 3 final artworks by [DATE].
– Add to my offline and online portfolio with a entailed description and analysis of each illustration by [DATE]
– Track the performance of the online project by [DATE]

As you can see, a vague goal doesn’t help you at all.

They both work towards the same goal, but the detailed goal breaks it down into chunks. It’s structured, detailed and accountable. Alongside this, it’s more achievable, as you see the steps you are going to take to complete them.

Create a number of goals like this and you’ll be onto a winner.

Schedule And Prioritise Your Goals

Now you’ve created a series of goals to work towards, it’s all about prioritising and scheduling these goals so they get completed.

I suggest you arrange your most important goals at the top of your checklist, as these are the most fundamental goals to complete.

If you feel like a goal shouldn’t be top of your priority, leave it till last.

By placing deadlines next to your goals automatically schedules it for you, or if you want to be more detailed, create a spreadsheet to work towards, showing dates, deadlines, descriptions and progress next to each goal.

Remember, the more detailed you are with you goals, the more likely you’ll make them succeed. Which in turn, will help you level up your freelancing career, business or side hustle.

What Should You Do If You Miss A Goal?

Everyone misses goals as we’re all human.

Sometimes life gets in the way, and you might miss that deadline, you might overrun on a goal, or you might lack motivation.

When you have time, look at the goals which you have completed. This helps you realise how far you have come, and the process you have made.

This should boost your motivation.

If this doesn’t inspire you, work through the goal(s) which you unfortunately missed and place a new deadline to complete it by. Use your previous experience and determine why you didn’t succeed last time, what mistakes you learnt and set a realistic timeframe.

It’s important that you don’t be too hard on yourself if you miss a goal – especially if you have completed goals in the past. We place enough pressure on ourselves to do the best we can, so if you have missed out on a goal, learn from it and move on – you’ll do it next time!

What Does Your Goals Look Like?

I hope you have enjoyed these tips on how to write, schedule and reach your goals.

Don’t be too hard on yourself and learn from mistakes if you miss a goal, write detailed goals to make sure they’re completed, and set deadlines next to each goal.

These tips will help you create kick-ass goals!

I’ll love to know how you have created goals for your freelancing, creative business or side hustle. Let me know what you think of this post by commenting below.

If you’re not familiar with myself, I’m an illustrator and designer, and have a body of work that you might find interesting! See more of my previous blog posts or reaching out to me on social on the links below.

Many thanks for listening and visiting my news page today. You can follow what I’m up to on my Twitter, Facebook or Instagram pages, I’ll really appreciate it if you do, and don’t be afraid to say hi to me! Many thanks again, and have a great day!