These days, it’s easy to feel like you’re running in place. Sometimes you’ve overworked yourself and become a victim of burnout. Other times you just feel like you’re not making the progress you want and it’s discouraging. Despite all of that, I’m here to encourage you and say that’s okay – it happens and we can recover from it. No matter where you are now, even if you’re content, it’s important to always aim higher if you want to succeed and soar to new heights!
What Aiming Higher Means
Aiming higher is a good thing in and of itself. It can be a way to help you keep your eyes on the prize, and all the little milestones along the way can help encourage you to keep going. Of course there are limits to this, as you don’t want to be unrealistic and bite off more than you can chew. At the same time, it’s important to try to keep pushing yourself to become a better version of you.
You Define Your Own Success
At the end of the day, you define your own version of success. What you view as successful may be different from what another person views as successful. Do some introspection and try to identify what you think makes someone successful and how you need to aim higher to reach that version of success. At the end of the day it’s all about priorities and what you think is most important, not another person or even society.
Now, Set SMART Goals
I’m sure you’ve probably heard of SMART goals before. After all, it is a system that has been proven to work well. For those of you who don’t know, SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Now, let’s assume you already know your overarching long-term goal. That’s good! However, now it’s time to set serious goals that will help you reach whatever that end result it is that you’re looking for.
Specific Goals
You want to be as specific and concrete with your goals as possible. It should be very easy to tell when you have achieved the goal, and it should be fairly easy to know how to start working towards your goal. For example, let’s say your overarching goal is to make enough money through writing to make a living.
Well, maybe you decide the best way to go about that is to start a blog. One of your initial goals may be to publish one complete article per week for a year, or to get 250 unique visits a day in your first year. Notice how I was specific? Those goals are a lot better than something as vague “write for the blog consistently” or “get a lot of traffic in my first year.”
Measurable Goals
This, at least partially, goes with setting specific goals. If you set a specific goal, then it should be fairly easy to see how you’re progressing towards it. Making sure your goal is specific and measurable will help you stay on track and know when you need to do something to get back on the right track (if you’ve hit some roadblocks).
For example, let’s say you wanted to get your associate’s degree in exactly two years. Well, after the first year it turns out you failed a couple major courses. Because your goal was specific and measurable, you know you’ll need to do something to still reach it. In order to fix it, you may decide to increase the number of classes you take per semester (which may not be a good idea if you’re already failing them), or you may take classes during the summer.
Attainable Goals
I think this is the easiest part of the SMART goal setting system to understand, but a harder one to actually do. Clearly, it’s important for any goal you set to be realistic and something you can actually hope to achieve, at least in the time you’ve given yourself to do it. In other words, try to set your goals high so that you have something to work hard towards, but don’t set them so high that you have no hope of getting there.
If you do that, you’ll likely become discouraged because you are either constantly failing your goals or just not seeing the progress you want to see. For example, if you made $10 per hour, and only worked part-time, but you set a goal of saving and investing $10,000 each month, there would be no point in even taking it seriously since it is so unrealistic.
Relevant Goals
Whatever your overarching goal is, the SMART goals should be relevant to helping you get there. If you don’t keep it relevant, you’ll end up meandering throughout life with a lack of direction. Remember, focus on what matters to you. If you set a new goal and realize it isn’t relevant to the current route you want to take in life, it may be a goal worth dropping.
That being said, life isn’t so black and white or static. If you set a goal, realize it isn’t relevant to your past goals, but it’s relevant to your current desires, that is more than fine! Everyone grows and adapts throughout life, the purpose of setting relevant goals isn’t to limit you, but it’s to help you make sure you don’t take unnecessary projects on.
Time-Bound Goals
Basically, create some sort of deadline for your goals. This makes sure you don’t procrastinate or run in place for too long and fall into a pattern of stagnation. It’s important to be continuously working towards the end goal of where you want to be. Of course, as we mentioned earlier, make it an attainable timeline.
Sometimes Those Goals Can Be A Source Of Inspiration
Goals shouldn’t be complicated, and when they’re concrete it can help motivate you along the way. As you pass each minor goal or milestone, you’ll definitely feel a bit of a rush and some pride in your achievements. Furthermore, when you reach those major goals and milestones, it can feel like you’re on top of the world! Sometimes all it takes to help you get a little kickstart is setting those goals so you can notice and keep track of the real progress you’ve been making.
“Going Big” Can Propel You More Than You’d Think
Going big with the goals is also a great way to end up successful. You obviously need to be somewhat realistic, but try to push yourself. Even if you fail, you’ll almost certainly end up in a better spot than if you have never tried to reach the goal and improve yourself in the first place.
Network
Networking is an absolute must in today’s world. You’ll hear about and have opportunities that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Let’s look at a common example. A job needs to be filled, and the hiring manager has narrowed it down to two candidates. We’ll say Joe is an okay candidate, but not spectacular. Meanwhile, Bob seems to be much more experienced and knows everything the role requires. Frequently, if the manager (or someone on his team) knows Joe and his personality, Joe will get the job even if Bob is more qualified.
People tend to err on giving breaks to people they know. More than that, if they know you’ll be pleasant to work with then that is a huge boon. Many candidates who are good on paper are not hired because they seem like they’ll be a problem to work alongside.
Like Attracts Like
I hope your ego is in check because this is important. You are not going to be the smartest person in the room, and everyone has something they can teach you. If that’s genuinely not the case, then you’re in the wrong room. Everyone should be able to learn from each other, and if you think you’re the smartest then your ego will hold you back. When you’re networking be sure to go into it with a good mindset, as what you present is what will attract other people. If you act like an arrogant jerk, that’s who you’ll meet and connect with. If you’re humble and generous, those are the types of people you’ll find.
Conclusion
If you have any tips for aiming higher successfully, let us know in the comments. It’s always useful to hear about everyone else’s experiences and what they’ve learned along the way.
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