5 Easy Steps to Achieve Your Goals

 Setting and achieving goals is an essential part of personal development. When you have goals, you have something to strive for. They give you a sense of purpose and direction in life. They can also help you to overcome challenges and achieve success.

However, setting goals is not always easy. It takes time, effort, and commitment. But it is definitely worth it in the end.

Using the SMART method will help you remember the steps

S = Specific

Don't just say "I want to lose weight." Instead, say "I want to lose 10 pounds in 3 months." Or "I want to save money." Instead, say "I want to save $10 per week."

M = Measurable

How will you know if you've achieved your goal? Make sure it is something that can be measured, such as "run a 5K race" or "get a promotion at work." Remember, you want to track this goal and measure your progress.

A = Achievable

Don't set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals. Make sure your goals are challenging but achievable. Your goal is supposed to inspire you, not discourage you. Also, you want to make sure you have the right tools to achieve your goal. If you say, "I'm going to be a millionaire  by this time next year." Ask yourself, "Do I have the means to achieve this goal?" Most people probably don't and that makes this unrealistic goal. Saying "I want to lose 10 pounds in 3 months." (as stated above) is realistic and you have the means to achieve that goal. Even telling yourself "I want to get a promotion at work" is also an achievable goal because with hard work and dedication, that is not unrealistic. 

R = Relevant

Your goals should be relevant to your values and what you want to achieve in life. Don't set goals that are not important to you. You truly want your goals to benefit you. 

T = Time-Bound

Set a deadline for yourself to achieve your goal. This will help you stay motivated and on track. Think about making a timeline for your goal. Use your calendar to track your progress. Keep notes on how you are progressing in the timeline. Write down what prevented you from getting closer to knowing how you can improve.

While doing the above, you need steps to do during your progress. Just by doing those 5 steps, there are steps within them you will need to do depending on what your goal is. Research your goal. How are others doing what you are doing? Those that have been successful, how did they do it? How can you

One is breaking down the goal into smaller steps. So if you want to lose 10 pounds in 3 months, break it down to monthly or even weekly. You figure 4 weeks in a month x 3 months is 12 weeks. Divide 10 (pounds) by the 12 (weeks) and you have .83 pounds/week or say even 1 pound/week. This is very doable. You will also need to have motivation. Join weight loss groups either in person or on the web. There are many Facebook groups just for this. You may find tips and tricks to help you along the way.

Or if you want to make more money in your business, have a measurable goal in your mind. Make sure it is achievable as well. Say you want to make $20,000 in sales for your business in the next year. First and foremost, do you have the ways and means to do this? Break it down. Time-bound your goal 12 months in a year - $20,000 divided by 12 = $1667/month, break that down per week. $1667 divided by 4 = $417/week. Now you know what you need to do per week/month, you have to look at what you are selling (are they relevant to your clients) and what else you need to do to make that happen. For example, are your products marketable? Are they in demand? Am I selling to the right people? Etc... To be specific, this is where you will research how you are going to market yourself to make those sales. Look at your competition. What are they making and how are they doing with their sales?

Next is setting deadlines and tracking. Well, as mentioned above, when you break it down into steps, you have your deadlines for each step. Again, keep a journal or calendar of your progress. I feel this is the most important part of your goal. Keeping track taking notes and looking at your successes and also what were your opportunities. ( I prefer to use the word opportunity instead of failures or mistakes - keep it positive )

Lastly is to CELEBRATE! When you meet your goal, it's time to celebrate your achievement and possibly make a new goal for yourself.

Here is an example of one of my SMART goals.

I have a fairly new Etsy Shop. I have made goals for myself for that shop.

S = I want my shop to have at least 8 sales/month

M = I have December 31 as my end goal for this year. Since my shop is fairly new, I don't know what to expect as far as sales and I need to do this in bite-size pieces. This is why I was specific in monthly, but knowing the holiday shopping season is starting, I need to break down this goal monthly. I know September will get it started, October will increase a bit, November will be the highest and December will taper off since most have finished and delivery cannot be guaranteed by Christmas if they are gifts. When January 2024 starts, I will have a whole new set of goals. Once I go full circle in my shop, meaning once I have had it open a whole year, I will be able to make more informed goals as I will have the previous year to measure what I did each month by what sold and what did not.

A = I will achieve this goal by providing products my customers can enjoy and use. I will sell items that will appeal to women who enjoy cute and fun products. I will make sure my products are quality through my POD partner by purchasing samples to ensure they are worth the price I am asking for. I will also provide good customer service. Lastly, since shipping is on the higher side, I try to keep my products low enough to where I can still make a bit of profit, while the purchaser will get a little bit of a better deal including the shipping. With that said, purchases over $35 get free shipping. I don't do this for a main income, just a bit on the side, and also because I love doing it.

R = This is a realistic goal, especially going into the holiday shopping season. Etsy has millions of shoppers looking for that perfect gift or personal item for themselves or their home. I am confident I will do fairly well as I have had 3 sales just this past week.

T = My deadline for this goal is by each month's end and the following month a new goal will be set by going over my notes, looking at what is selling and getting views and what is not. Also, I go to a website called Insight Factory and see what is trending. However, I will give my fairly new shop some time over the fourth quarter sales, since that is when the customers shop the most. I will keep that in mind over October, November, and December.

I do keep track of all my views, sales, and favored products. I also order samples from my POD partner to make sure these are items I would want to have. So far I have been very pleased and feel confident when a customer purchases one of my products, I know they should be satisfied and happy with their purchase.

I also spend time designing my graphics either via my own watercolor artwork or through AI which I prompt with the text of what I want it to be and how I want it created. My absolute favorite AI creator is Night Cafe. It comes up with beautiful graphics I can use for commercial purposes. (It is stated in their Terms of Service. Although I may not copyright or trademark it, which is okay with me) I also purchase commercial rights and POD rights from a company called Creative Fabrica. I take time and effort into every product I put together at my POD site and until I am satisfied with the final result will publish it to my shop for sale.

I also have a wedding officiant business that I just started.

For that, I made a business plan as it is an LLC business called

Forever Tied Moments, LLC Within that website, there is a blog as well and I have Facebook/Instagram/X/Linkedin with that.

As if I don't have enough on my plate, I also do this blog and have a Facebook/Instagram page that I post daily on for Laurie's Colorful World. I keep detailed notes on that as well with goals that I follow the SMART goal-setting formula.

So there you have it. If I can do it, so can you!