Goal setting: The Three Simple Rules

Rule 1: Set yourself no more than three goals, to begin with.

This will ensure you are not initially overwhelmed and are able to focus on them. When you find yourself meeting these, you can set new ones.

Rule 2: Initially focus on short-term realistic goals.

Initially setting yourself short-term and realistic goals will increase not only the chance of achievement but that you don’t have to wait too long to feel a sense of achievement. You can also break one longer-term goal into short-term goals, by breaking it down into 3 steps, for example, if you wanted to paint the bedroom, the goals would be buying the paint, prepping the room, and then painting the room. 

Rule 3: Set positively worded goals.

Focus on things you can achieve rather than on things you want to stop or reduce. 

Achieving your Goals means taking action toward what you visualise happening in the future. For example, saying “I will eat 3 pieces of fruit a day” is better than saying “I want to stop eating chocolate” because this is an action that you can do instead of eating chocolate. Our brains always respond best to visualising actively doing something.

Read more on setting SMART goals and explore our other Motivation articles.