13/1/2011 5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals

Dave Cheong
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5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals

Comments (22)
Most of the time I think we can cruise through life without having any major goals. However, for things that are truly worth
accomplishing, specifying the ins and outs of a goal is pretty important. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few simple steps we can follow to
describe how we can approach our goals and ensure we accomplish them?

Well, here’s my attempt at defining a nice simple 5 step framework anyone can follow. In this post, I’ll use losing weight, getting fit and
going to the gym as one concrete example. However, you can apply it to any goal you have as the steps are equally as relevant.

1. Define your goal and give it shape

The very first thing you need to do is to define your goal. After all, without knowing what the goal actually is, how can you go about
accomplishing it?

Goal setting is an art form. It is about articulating what your goal is about, being realistic in whether you can accomplish it or not and
providing the metrics to track your progress. I’ve written about the characteristics of a good goal before, so read that post first if you
haven’t yet done so.

To give your goal shape, I find it is helpful to actually write it down. Get a fresh piece of paper and describe each of the following
characteristics for your goal.

In my example of losing weight and getting fit:

Conceivable: I intend to lose 24 kgs within 12 months and be capable of running 3 kms in 10 mins.
Achievable: I am able to commit to two 90 min sessions. With a proper training program and commitment, I am assured by
various fitness instructors that this is achievable.
Measurable: I will track how many kgs I lose each month. In the simpliest scenario, I must lose 2 kgs per month to attain my
goal.
Aligned: Losing weight and getting fit is congruent to my other goals in life which is about being happy about who I am and how I
look.
Worthwhile: I acknowledge this is a challenging task, but it is something worth accomplishing. I would like to live a healthy life so
I can watch my kids grow up and get married.
Desirable: This is something I truly wish to accomplish and will do everything I can to attain it. I desire this more than eating fried
chickens and carrot cakes.

2. Identify the next few tasks

Once you have your goal properly defined and shaped, identify the next few tasks you need to do in relation to your goal. Unlike
traditional project management where you define all the tasks, dependencies and contingencies, this step is about identifying the next few
tasks only.

Why the next few only? There are a couple of reasons: Firstly, unless you are used to planning or have a crystal ball, there is no way you
can accurately plan every single action you need to take to accomplish your goal. Secondly, you can only work on a few things at a time,
so all you need is a few actions to start the ball rolling.

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In my example, the next tasks to being fit and healthy are:

Assess the equipment, staff and pricing for all local gyms.
Buy two sets of appropriate gym wear.
Get some good headphones to plug into the gym’s music system.
Free up all after work commitments for Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Although there are possibly a myriad of other tasks I would have to act on to accomplish this goal, they are not essentially the next tasks.
For example, getting a trainer and an exercise program are tasks I can only perform after signing up with a particular gym so I don’t
bother writing these down now.

Try it for yourself. First write down the definition of your goal. On the same piece of paper, write down the next 3-5 things you need to
do in relation to this goal.

3. Set aside time and work through your tasks

After you have defined your goal and identified the next tasks and actions, prepare some time to actually work on them. One effective
technique I have found which works for me is Time boxing. Essentially, Time boxing is a technique in which we limit the amount of time
we spend on a given task. So instead of working until the task is “done”, we spend say 30 mins on it. It is either “done” at that point or
we schedule another 30 mins to work on it another time. Time boxing is effective because we instantly focus on what’s important, avoid
potential overruns and can act as a motivator against procrastination.

Another thing I should mention here is the importance of actually dedicating a time slot for working at your tasks. By this I mean, actually
blocking out a period in the day or week in which you are actively looking at your task list and crossing things off. The reason why this is
important is because we can have busy lives and sometimes we use this as an excuse not to do something. By allocating time, we have
no excuses and can also establish good habits and positive patterns.

In my example, blocking out 90 mins on Tuesday and Thursday nights after work applies both the Time boxing and the regular routine
techniques to my weekly patterns.

4. Review and reward

One of the most important thing about accomplishing goals is measuring your progress and reviewing your goal and assumptions as you
go. If you are measuring well against your goal, you can reward yourself.

The trick about reviewing your goals and tasks is to pick a system that you trust. Some people prefer the paper based planners, whilst
others prefer the electronic alternatives like a PDA or Microsoft Outlook. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter. What’s important
is to have a system you trust and will look at periodically. In the past, I used Outlook to track my outstanding tasks. However, this has
proved ineffective for me because I split my day between work and home and never do I have a single Outlook installation which has
both my “work” and “personal” tasks available at the same time. As a consequence, I didn’t look at the tasks periodically and eventually
stopped adding them altogether.

Why is it important to reward yourself? Well, some goals are difficult to accomplish and may require both time and ongoing effort.
Rewarding yourself is simple way keep motivated. In my example on fitness and going to the gym, I can reward myself by buying a new
set of running shoes in order to encourage myself to reach that 3 kms in 10 mins benchmark.

5. Revisit, revise and reassess if required

The flip side of tracking well is not tracking well. You may have to revise your goal or reassess any assumptions you may have made in
order to be pragmatic and realistic about how achievable your goals really are.

Why is it important to revise our plans? Sometimes we set goals which are simply unrealistic, perhaps through no fault of our own. For
example, dedicating two days each week to go to the gym could be too demanding on our schedules. Perhaps we have to pick the kids
up from day care after work or we have a deadline which requires us to stay a bit later. Whatever the reasons, sometimes things don’t
pan out as we originally planned. That’s ok, all we need to do is revise our plans. That could mean scaling back our commitments or
planning around them. If work is making us stay back late, perhaps we can consider going to the gym in the mornings or take shorter
lunch breaks.

One common mistake I see people make is punishing themselves when they fail to meet a certain commitment. For example, if I have
committed to two days per week of going to the gym, missing one session may provoke a vengeful reaction from my inner self. I can
punish myself by promising to go three times next week. In my experience, this is usually a bad idea for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we
may make good on our promise in the short term but seldom would it work in the longer term. So what happens if we miss another
session or another or another? Are we going to keep promising to have three session weeks? Secondly, it associates a negative thing to

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our goal. Given enough occurrences of this negative thing, we may give up the goal entirely which is obviously something which we do
not want to happen.

I prefer the approach of revising our plans or our initial assumptions. This keeps our mind focused on the positives of our goal and
outcomes. The trick is to determine the fine line in the sand between revising our goals because the assumptions were incorrect and our
general “slackness” in working at our next tasks and actions.

In conclusion

The 5 steps I have described above hopefully can provide you with a framework for accomplishing your goals. Remember, start with a
well defined goal by ensuring you describe the 6 characteristics of a good goal. If you want more reading material, you can also take a
look at Steve Pavlina’s latest post in which he talks about setting goals you will actually achieve. Once you have your goal defined,
identify the next immediate tasks and actions. Then set aside some time and block it out so you can actually dedicate some brain power
and resources to completing them. Frequently review your progress and either reward yourself or revise your plans.

If you have any comments about goal setting and this simple 5 step framework, feel free to leave a comment.

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Comments (22) | Motivation, Personal Development, Productivity

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22 Responses to “5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals”

1. Goal setting says:
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:22 pm

[...] If you think you are up for it, I strongly suggest taking a look at my 5 step framework for accomplishing your goals. It’s easy
to follow and provides a very simple and high level overview of the things you need to consider and remember about goal setting
and following through. In my case, what is an Entrepreneur? Why do I want to be one? How do I know if I have become one?
Am I already an Entrepreneur? Will I ever be able to become one? These are all great questions and I have dedicated a future
post to addressing them. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new
web pages. [...]

2. Creating a Better Life says:

August 6th, 2006 at 7:09 pm

The Personal Development Carnival – August 6, 2006

Welcome to the latest edition of the Personal Development Carnival!

—
Paul at Paul’s Tips presents How to develop more sophisticated taste
The Womom at womom presents On Being Offended
Jeannie Bauer at Bouncing Back presents Never Make Majo…

3. Bryan C Fleming says:

August 9th, 2006 at 4:12 am

Personal Growth Carnival for August 8th

davecheong.com/…/5-steps-to-accom… 3/8
13/1/2011 5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals
Great articles keep comming in every week. If you have a blog of your own, I highly encourage you to post your best article in
next week’s carnival. It’s a great way to get your …

4. Jeroen Sangers says:

August 15th, 2006 at 2:51 am

Hello Dave,

I’ve just discovered your weblog, and already like it. Your writing style is very clear and you put a lot of personal experience in
your posts. Thanks!

5. Hayden Shumsky says:

August 15th, 2006 at 5:32 am

Dave,
You’ve written a good post here, covering all the major steps to achieving your goals. I like the way you’ve defined a good result-
it must be achievable, measurable, worthwhile, etc. This is absolutely crucial to the process. The only missing piece is the step of
assessing where one is now in relation to the final goal. Such an assesment is a good stimulus for ideas and possible next steps.

I’d like to point you to a similar post on my blog entitled “5 steps to Creating Successful Outcomes.” It can be found here,
http://www.haydencoach.com/2006/08/03/5-steps-to-creating-successful-outcomes/
I hope that this is helpful to you and your readers.

6. Bryan C. Fleming » Blog Archive » Personal Growth Carnival for August 8th says:
October 24th, 2006 at 11:54 pm

[...] Dave Cheong submitted an article entitled:5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals. I’m going to be covering this topic soon. A
good read. Thanks Dave. [...]

7. sara says:
November 8th, 2006 at 5:35 am

i think that its not that hard to set any kind of goals if you actually try it to the best you can . its not impossible to do in life

8. Dave Cheong says:

November 8th, 2006 at 8:21 am

Hi Sara,

That’s true, however I find quite a lot of people go through life without setting goals for themselves so they wander through it
aimlessly and being less than they could be.

The other part about goal setting is to be able to set good goals which are well defined. You can’t simply say, I’m going to be
“successful” when you haven’t quantified what “successful” means.

dave

9. 10 R’s to Apply if you Want to Succeed says:

February 5th, 2007 at 9:06 pm

[...] I have been watching recently the increase in popularity of my post about the 5 steps to accomplish your goals with some
interest. When I first wrote the article, I was hoping to articulate a simple framework for anyone to follow. Keeping it simple was
important, because in our times of need, simple things can help to keep us motivated and get back on track. [...]

10. 96iantSteps · Accomplishing those goals says:

February 19th, 2007 at 2:59 am

[...] I came upon two interesting posts on setting, refining, and achieving your goals. The first post 5 Steps to Accomplishing your
Goals lays out a decent framework of: [...]

11. Tabib Idriss says:

July 11th, 2007 at 10:22 pm

Who’s fault if the five steps will not give a positive result ?
Please advise !
Tabib

davecheong.com/…/5-steps-to-accom… 4/8
13/1/2011 5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals
12. James Soh says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm

Hey Dave,

Nice framework you have there. The first step of defining a goal is definitely the most important. It must be a goal you believe you
can achieve.

If you have a goal that you must achieve but at first glance seems a bit unbelievable. Work it down to a smaller goal that you
believe is achievable and is actually an intermediate goal to that which you want to achieve.

In that way you can move on in the right direction of your ultimate goal.

Cheers
James

13. 77 Great Lists You Absolutely Need to Check Out says:

August 9th, 2007 at 7:57 pm

[...] 5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals (great advice on setting up goals and getting going on them) [...]

14. Phil says:

September 20th, 2007 at 8:20 pm

True, I’ve realised as a new business owner that you can’t measure your success if you’re not measuring anything!

It’s true. I have so much to change in my life.

Phil

15. suchitt dave, advocate, supreme court, india says:

April 17th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

Dave,

I think goal – setting or goal – tracking requires some form of discipline. In fact there is a convergence of “Will” of a person to
ensure that what is desired is achieved. Albeit it is in smaller steps that you can come back to do your task. This way your article
provides very practical and useful way of goal achieving. You cannot eat your meal at once. You go bite by bite. And in no time
you are finished. This is the best way.

Our brains find it difficult to finish a task if the task is too bit. But just saying “Only so much .. not more” will help.

Say for instance, you want to exercise. Don’t say I will exercise for next five years to come. It is better to say ‘I will exercise
today’. Morning – simply get up and say “Only Today”. Go and exercise. Next day again say “Only Today”. Well, that’s a small
task to do. Exercise just for an hour and no more. But doing this say for two weeks, eventually will build a good habit that we
may not like to leave.

Your posts are indeed great, keep writing.

16. animate my life says:

January 31st, 2009 at 4:21 am

Great article… I have been wandering through my life without a clear idea of goals. I hope these steps work for me.

17. harry says:

February 15th, 2009 at 3:10 am

Very nice ideas about goal setting. But one thing I think a lot of people tend to ignore is the importance of tracking the progress
on goals.

I recommand a goal tracking and to do list management web site GoalsOnTrack.

You will see the instant progress update after completing a task on your goal. It’s free and worth a try.
http://www.goalsontrack.com

18. Why Getting Personal Stuff Done Is Hard says:

April 24th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
davecheong.com/…/5-steps-to-accom… 5/8
13/1/2011 5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals
[...] I realised the other day, I don’t have well defined goals for blogging. This stems from the realisation that the two biggest
problems with finishing personal tasks (like writing on a blog) are: [...]

19. 100 Killer Blog Posts to Help You Achieve Your Dreams | Online Universities.com says:
August 8th, 2009 at 6:21 am

[...] 5 Steps to Accomplishing Your Goals: You can bring your dreams within reach by following this advice. [...]

20. K Amber says:

September 18th, 2009 at 8:54 pm

Goals are much easier to realise when your brain wave is at alpha level. It will be less distracted and easier to direct your laser
focus. Find out more on http://www.simplemindpower.com/blog/

21. Dave Stewart says:

January 29th, 2010 at 7:19 pm

Hey Dave,

Very well-made points, and even more so your processes, especially 2 and 3 that align closely with my own.

My system relies on 3 Word documents, with clear formatting (font-sizes, indentation and white-space) which prioritise tasks into
This Week, Next Week, and Whenever

Document 1: This Week

I do exactly as you do and time-box tasks days, then hours. I never put too much on one day – rather put less on then if you
achieve everything, start doing one of tomorrow’s tasks!

More realistic though is that you probably won’t always get stuff done, then you simply stop the task when you’re out of time, and
start the next one.

The unfinished items can then either be moved to the end of the week, to an empty time box on another day, or onto:

Document 2: Next Week

Anything that won’t fit into this week (and you need to be honest with yourself!) goes into a separate document, with no time
boxing. This is like an “overflow” pen, and somewhere to add the tasks such as “getting a trainer and an exercise program”.

These tasks are tasks I know I should be paying attention to at some point soon, but I don’t have to fully break down at this
point. I know that in the next week or so, these tasks will make their way onto the This Week document, and that’s when they
will get my full analytical attention.

But what about tasks that don’t fit here? The really big ones, dreams, or those that are perhaps waiting for something else to
materialise first?

Document 3: Whenever

In this document I put anything else that isn’t ready to be thought about yet, doesn’t matter that much, or perhaps I know I will
need to start thinking about in 6 months. At some point, when documents 1 and 2 start to look empty I can pilfer some tasks from
here. But until then, I don’t (and won’t) think about them.

I find that with this system, nothing is forgotten, I stay disciplined regarding my immediate tasks, and most importantly I give
myself enough mental space to breathe.

By keeping it simple and doing it in Word, tasks can be reordered, amended or deleted in a flash, and you can easily copy and
paste multiple tasks to and from documents. No mucking around with calendars, dialogs or checkboxes.

Keep up the great blog, and it’s great to hear your entrepreneurship is going so well – I am about to step into the same boat!

Cheers,
Dave

22. Dave Cheong says:

February 5th, 2010 at 9:13 pm

Hi Dave,

davecheong.com/…/5-steps-to-accom… 6/8
13/1/2011 5 Steps to Accomplishing your Goals
Thanks for an excellent comment. Great tips too! I think the simplicity of the technique is its best strength. I’ll have to try it myself.

Thanks for dropping by.

Best wishes,
dave

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