How to measure your goals

This month we’ve been encouraging you to achieve your goals. It’s easy to make New Year’s resolutions and set ambitious goals in January, but sticking to this plan long-term? Much harder. Whether you’re planning to go vegan, stop smoking or eat healthy, achieving your goals is difficult, it requires a lot of motivation and discipline. 

So how do we make permanent, positive changes? Measuring your progress is just as important as setting goals. That’s why we’re sharing how to measure your progress, to help you achieve your goals.

1. Set SMART Goals

The first mistake you can make is setting a vague goal. If you don’t define what reaching this goal looks like for you, you will lose motivation because you can’t assess your progress. Therefore it’s important to set SMART goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. 

Make sure you know exactly what success looks like to you and you can see clear steps towards this goal. Setting unrealistic goals and failing will shake your confidence, so it’s important that your goal is achievable and relevant to your life. For example, if you want to run more, set the following goal: Run 10k by September. This is measurable and time-bound. Then if you’re running 5k by May, you’re halfway there! Setting objectives this way enables you to determine whether you’re on track to achieve your goal.

2. Reflect On Your Progress

Make sure you regularly reflect on your goal and your progress so far. Acknowledging how far you’ve come so far will motivate you to keep going. Developing self-awareness will help you identify any areas to improve or barriers to overcome.

The easiest way to reflect on your progress is to keep a journal. Writing down a step by step plan in a journal will make it easier to track your journey. For example, if you’re aiming to eat healthier, a food diary can help. Journaling gives you a space to record your achievements and celebrate the small wins. When you’re struggling, you can look back at your journal and see your progress. 

3. Embrace Change

Goals can be flexible, life happens and you can adapt your goals accordingly. For example, if you’re trying to go vegan and eat meat once, there’s no need to give up. Permanent change is hard. Failing once is not a failure. Maybe your goal was too ambitious, and you need to adapt your goal to suit your lifestyle.

Use your journal to identify why you tripped up. Did you go too fast, or did life events impact your progress? Understanding the factors that you find most difficult is important for overcoming barriers. If you make a mistake, take a moment to reflect and try again.

We want to make it easier for you to achieve your goals. That’s why we launched a journal, with a daily schedule and weekly review page, it will help you reach your goals in three months. Using gratitude journaling and affirmations, improve your attitude and mindset to bring you more happiness into your life.