Where is the detail in your goals? How to get some...

Is there enough detail in your goals?

Look at the image; I love it. There are fresh colours; green, white, yellow. The typical colours of spring and a new beginning. The hand holds a pencil over a blank page. 
So anything is possible. What will she draw?

What will you write on your page of goals for this year?

You may want to get a better job, earn more, have less stress, exercise more, eat more healthily, see your friends more, relax more.... the choice is yours.

It's easy to choose goals; it's harder to achieve them.

Why people fail at their goals
One reason is the lack of detail. You want something, but do you know what you need to do to reach that goal? In very precise terms.

My two goals this year are to read more (one fiction book a fortnight) and the 1000 Mile Challenge. That's 1000 miles of walking in a year. Yes, it sounds a bit daunting. But it's only 2.74 miles a day. Only. Hmmm! Being realistic I know there will be days when I don't reach that target as my work is desk-based. I have to  go out to even start to achieve that target. But I know that. And I know what I need to do; my circular hill walk is enough to reach the target. If I don't do it (if I run out of daylight hours) I know I need to walk around the streets for 45 minutes.  If I manage neither, I've got to get in some extra miles when I can. And the reading; that's at least 50 pages a day. 

So if you want to achieve something, it needs to be broken down into detail. Finding that new job isn't just going to happen. You may need to network in person (where and when?), become involved in social media and make new contacts, search for job vacancies or send off your CV speculatively. 

Write down the details
Again, all these great goals won't happen unless you pin yourself down.  If you're going to network in person, say when. If you want to engage via social media, pin yourself down to an hour at X time each day, if you want to apply for jobs, set yourself a window of time on however many days of the week when you can work on your CV and send it.

Okay, we all need to be realistic; you may not achieve something one day but that's fine. Keep going. I know that even if I don't reach my 1000 miles, I might still walk 900 or even 800. For me that would be an achievement still. 

How can you start planning and put in the detail? If you can't plan, or find you run out of time too often, the question is 'How much do you really want that thing?' And there is another blog here on that - test your motivation score.