How to Set Achievable Goals

Hi there, I'm Ben Morton and welcome to another episode of the Leaders Kit Bag. It's the weekly micro edition of my podcast. Each episode is just six minutes long and is designed to provide you with tips, tools and tactics around specific aspects of leadership and management. It addresses some of the most common challenges you will face as a leader or manager. They are all recorded unscripted whilst I'm out walking in the countryside. So you'll probably hear birds tweeting in the background or just ambient noise as the people around me are going about their day to day life. That's all I'm going to say by way of an introduction. So let's dive straight in to this week's episode. If you have woken up on the 1st or 2nd of January determined to create some positive changes either at work or in your personal life, then today's episode of the Leaders Kit Bag is for you. Having spent the past 12 years coaching and mentoring senior leaders, I've noticed a number of common patterns. One of those is around goal setting. In order to make it to any sort of senior leadership position, you need drive, determination and ambition. And while those traits often make us successful at work, they can sometimes hold us back or get in the way of of us achieving our personal goals. Why? Well, it's because we can often set overly ambitious goals in our personal life. We just set goals that are far too big and aren't related to where we're starting from. And this in itself can often create an all or nothing mindset. For example, take the classic New Year's resolution of getting fitter and healthier. It's very common for highly driven, ambitious individuals to set a goal of perhaps working out four times a week for an hour each time. But if you're starting from a low base, that's quite a challenge. And if you miss one session, which is highly likely, if you've got a goal that big, you're going to start to feel as though you failed. It's going to create a sense of failure, which can then start to create a downward spiral. And you think to yourself, well, I've missed one, what's the point? There's no harm in missing two. The alternative is to set yourself an initial smaller goal that's based more on your start point. For example, you might say to yourself, my goal is to work out three times a week for 40 minutes each time. It's much more achievable. And when you start to tick off those free weekly workouts, you're going to start to feel good you're going to start to build momentum and you create an upward spiral of positivity. And then you can use that momentum to then stretch your goal. And then you might build up to three workouts a week each of an hour. So as we go forward into the new year, I encourage you to set personal goals that are realistic, that are achievable, and are based upon your start point. When you do that, you are absolutely setting yourself up for success. That's it for this episode of the Leader's Kit Bag. In the next episode, I'm going to share with you four very practical tips for helping you embed new habits or routines as we go forward into 2025. And if you can't wait till then. If you want some more support and advice, do go and check out Ben AI right now via the link accompanying this episode. It's My AI Clone, of which you can ask any leadership, management or personal development questions and get an instant answer tailored specifically to your needs. That's it for this episode. Until next time. Look after yourself. Look after those you've got the privilege and responsibility to lead. And as always, lead on.