Many leadership qualities have been observed throughout history, distinguishing the best leaders from merely effective ones. Some leadership traits were adopted by tyrannical leaders while others were exhibited by great leaders.

In both cases, the traits of those in charge correlated to their ability to accomplish their desired outcomes.

Just as importantly, those same characteristics of a good leader determined how much – or how little – their followers considered them to be effective leaders.

What is Leadership?

Leadership is the act of guiding a group of people or organization to a desired goal, result, or higher level. Memorialized throughout history, the greatest leaders have inspired millions of people and continue to do so even after their leaderships end.

One great leader was Mahatma Gandhi, who was born an ordinary boy with a passion and determination to excel. Once completing his Law degree in London, he spearheaded a nonviolent resistance to the successful campaign for India’s freedom from British rule in 1947.

As a lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, Gandhi’s leadership inspired civil rights movements across the world. His main leadership qualities included resilience, knowledge, and leading by example. Gandhi’s leadership attributes, such as resilience and leading by example, were pivotal in his success.

“The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of self-confidence, bravery, and tenacity.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Another leader with exceptional leadership qualities is George Washington.

Known as the founding father of the United States of America, the leader of the American Revolution, and the first US president of the US, George Washington’s vision has endured for more than 200 years.

A true visionary, President Washington used his foresight and strategic planning to lead his people (and country) to success.

“Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.” – George Washington

Both Gandhi and Washington exemplified the responsibilities and impacts of being in a leadership position, demonstrating how to respond thoughtfully to challenges and exercise leadership qualities in every action.

What Makes a Good Leader Great? Essential Leadership Qualities

Great leaders find the balance between business foresight, performance, and leadership characteristics. They have vision, courage, integrity, humility, and focus, along with the ability to plan strategically and catalyze cooperation among their team.

Active listening and communication skills are pivotal in fostering trust and clarity within a team. By truly understanding and reflecting on the information shared by team members, leaders build a foundation of trust. Effective communication, encompassing both verbal and nonverbal cues, ensures that the team operates with clarity and cohesion.

Essential leadership qualities such as problem-solving, emotional intelligence, and decision-making proficiency are crucial for impactful leadership. A growth mindset encourages leaders to be resilient and adaptable, constantly seeking personal and professional development. Leadership development, through self-study, workshops, and courses, is key to honing these qualities and cultivating a unique leadership style.

Professional growth, achieved through personal development, mentorship, and coaching, plays a significant role in leadership development. It contributes to a leader’s ability to inspire and guide their team effectively.

Strong leaders, characterized by high emotional intelligence and the ability to inspire, demonstrate the importance of continuously striving to improve. They earn their team’s respect and assist with the workload to accomplish goals, showcasing the true impact of great leadership.

Most leaders reflect on their most effective leadership qualities and try to apply them on a daily basis.

And while they may already be great leaders and show great leadership traits, they continue to ask themselves how they can improve and think about what makes a good leader, especially as time continues to change.

They also look to the characteristics of other great leaders in history to understand and employ their tactics.

Great leaders understand that they are only as strong as their team and their team members. This is why many choose to lead by example. In doing so, they earn the respect of their team and followers, and may even inspire others to join the mission.

The ability to motivate and drive others to join in on a mission is a positive leadership quality that separates good leaders from great ones.

To help you become a better leader, here are my top 10 best leadership qualities that you can start putting into practice immediately. Reference them as a tool to help you develop your leadership style.

1. Vision

Great leaders have a vision… one that allows them to plan their moves strategically to reach their goals. A strong leadership vision allows leaders to plan their moves strategically to reach their goals.

They have a clear idea of where they are going and can motivate themselves (and their teams) to reach it. They practice idealization to visualize the long-term goals they hope to achieve and use their vision and strategic planning to advance toward them.

Those with great leadership qualities focus on the future while maintaining a positive attitude; they’re more concerned with the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of the past. This way of thinking allows them to think long-term and disregard solutions that would only create instant gratification.

Someone with effective leadership qualities always begins with understanding the “needs” of the situation by looking at the bigger picture. An effective leader can project forward 3-5 years and imagine clearly where they want to be and what it will look like when they get there.

Leaders can anticipate trends, well in advance of their competitors. They continually ask, “Based on what is happening today, where is the market going? Where is it likely to be in three months, six months, one year, and two years?”

They do this through thoughtful strategic planning.

This leadership quality separates them from managers. Having a clear vision turns the individual into a special type of person. Consider what your visions are and the quality of them to transform from a “transactional manager” into a “transformational leader.”

Remember: Managers direct, leaders inspire and guide.

2. Courage

One of the more important leadership qualities and characteristics is leadership courage.

Having courage means that you are willing to take risks to achieve your goals. While many people can dream big, only leaders and risk-takers understand that taking a risk and failing is still more productive than not taking a risk at all.

“Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.” – Tom Krause

While no risk can fully assure success due to the uncertainty of life, each risk you take can act as a learning opportunity to get you closer to your goals. Having courage means getting up and trying again when you fall. All great leaders will have more failures than they do successes.

Among the seven leadership qualities, courage is the most identifiable outward trait. All great leaders can be defined by their courage and ability to take risks that others were too afraid to.

3. Integrity

In every strategic planning session that I have conducted for large and small corporations, the first value that all the gathered executives agree upon for their company is leadership integrity.

Each one agrees on the importance of complete honesty and transparency in everything they do, both internally and externally.

“We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.” – Michelle Obama

To dive even deeper though and to help you become a great leader, remember that the core of integrity is truthfulness. You may want to even want to take a moment and write the qualities of a good leader.

Having integrity and a reputation of being honest helps leaders gain the trust and respect of their colleagues and their teams.

As a leader, your decisions should be based on the betterment of the group, rather than self-gain. People should look to you for inspiration and aspire to follow in your footsteps. They should know that your moral compass does not waver.

4. Humility

Leadership humility gets results.

Larry Bossidy, the former CEO of Honeywell and author of the book Execution, explained why leadership characteristics, such as humility, make you a more effective leader:

“The more you can contain your ego, the more realistic you are about your problems. You learn how to listen, and admit that you don’t know all the answers. You exhibit the attitude that you can learn from anyone at any time. Your pride doesn’t get in the way of gathering the information you need to achieve the best results. It doesn’t keep you from sharing the credit that needs to be shared. Humility allows you to acknowledge your mistakes.” – Larry Bossidy

Being a great leader means raising your team up to succeed. This means admitting when someone knows more than you and giving them the opportunity to take initiative. It means being conscious of your power, but never letting it get the best of you.

Humility doesn’t mean that you’re weak or unsure of yourself. It means that you have the self-confidence and self-awareness to recognize the value of others without feeling threatened.

This is one of the rarer attributes – or traits – of good leaders because it requires containment of one’s ego.

It means that you are willing to admit you could be wrong, that you recognize you may not have all the answers. And it means that you give credit where credit is due – which many people struggle to do.

If your goal is to be a good or great leader, learn how to embrace humility.

5. Focus 

“Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps, they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. – Jack Canfield

In order to be a good leader, one must have true leadership focus; focus on their goals, focus on the needs of their team, and focus on the bigger picture. This will allow you to strategize and plan for success.

Without focus, your efforts will be misguided. You may be led in different directions and never reach the goals you set out for yourself. When you focus on the mission at hand, you remain steadfast in your journey and do not waiver on your path.

Similarly, when you focus on your strengths and the strengths of those around you, you are able to utilize your collective power to achieve and succeed as a team.

Great leaders are action-oriented and create strategic plans focused on the strengths of the organization, allowing for efficient and effective movements.

Your job as a leader is to ensure that you, and everyone around you, remain focused on the goal. This means making sure everyone makes the most valuable use of their strengths and their time. This is essential for the performance of your team.

6. Cooperation

“If your imagination leads you to understand how quickly people grant your requests when those requests appeal to their self-interest, you can have practically anything you go after.” – Napoleon Hill

One of the most important leadership qualities is leadership cooperation. Cooperation is the process of working together to reach the same end.

Good leaders have the ability to get everyone on the team on the same page in order to get something done.

This ability is critical to your success as a leader because it will create a helpful and collaborative environment within your team that allows for the best work.

Your ability to keep yourself and your team in cooperation with each other is essential to the smooth functioning of the organization.

Gain the cooperation of others by committing to getting to know your team and understanding each one’s personal strengths. Remember that the more of an effort you make to understand them, the more they will feel heard and acknowledged.

And when someone feels understood, they are more likely to cooperate. Everyone wants to feel like their thoughts and ideas are being listened to.

7. Clear Communication 

Another characteristic of a good leader is the ability to effectively and persuasively communicate, underscoring the pivotal role of leadership communication in leadership. Effective communication skills are crucial as they lead to clarity, foster collaboration and trust, and are essential for impactful leadership.

This involves articulating vision, providing guidance, active listening, and understanding nonverbal cues. Clear communication begins with the ability to stop, listen, think, and proceed slowly.

Being able to communicate clearly with your team will create an open dialogue that allows your team to ask questions, voice concerns, and problem-solve. When people understand the assignment clearly and can openly communicate about it, there will be fewer errors and issues overall.

Many great leaders are also excellent public speakers. Practicing public speaking is a great way to learn how to communicate clearly and effectively.

You will not only improve your vocabulary, but you will also gain confidence. Practicing public speaking can also be a way to create effective dialogue with your team and organization.

8. Honesty

When you ask yourself how to be a better leader, never forget leadership honesty. It allows you to gain trust with your team and keep the focus on the vision. When leaders are dishonest and ingenuine, it becomes difficult to keep everyone moving in the same direction.

Your team will lose trust not only with you but with your efforts. This will create a chaotic environment full of gossip and drama.

“Confidence… thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.“ – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Being honest is important in both positive and negative situations. If someone does a great job, do not be afraid to give them praise. If someone makes a mistake, it is also important, to be honest (and kind) with your feedback.

Communication and humility are also inherently tied to honesty and transparency. Having self-awareness allows you to be honest with both yourself and your team.

This also applies personally. It’s difficult to admit when we are wrong, or when we do not have the answer to something.

But being honest about your abilities and mistakes will keep you grounded. The first step in making a change is being honest with your mistake and turning it into a learning opportunity in order to succeed in the future.

9. Empathy

Another one of the biggest qualities I’ve found in great leaders is leadership empathy and kindness.

As leaders, we may be hyper-focused on our own goals and what’s at stake. But, if we are looking for how to be a better leader, we must also understand that without our team, goals cannot be reached.

Knowing that, it’s important to check on your team and make sure they feel understood. A team that feels heard will be much more willing to cooperate and participate.

“Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.” – Oprah Winfrey

To be truly empathetic means to have the ability to put yourself into someone else’s shoes, recognize if they are feeling burnt out, and enact ways to provide support. Without empathy, you’ll find yourself pushing people to succeed without giving them the tools to do so, which will only push them away.

Great leaders can understand and empathize with their team to reach their goals together.

10. Ability to Delegate

The ability to delegate is also a strong quality that makes a good leader, highlighting the importance of leadership delegation.

“If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.” – John C. Maxwell

For leaders to stay focused on their vision, they must be able to delegate their tasks. Not only does delegating take room off your plate so you can focus on the bigger picture, but it also empowers your employees to take on bigger responsibilities.

Delegating tasks shows your employees that you trust them and their work. This will motivate them to produce high-quality work to keep your trust and respect.

Great leaders can successfully delegate tasks and goals to other members of their team based on their strengths. This is why it’s so important to get to know your team. Strategically delegating allows you to put the right work in front of the right people.

This can be seen in the 80/20 rule: 20% of the people produce 80% of the work.

Recognize the hard workers on your team and utilize them in the best and most efficient ways to reach your collective goals.

Good Leaders Can Be Made

I hope you use this list of my best leadership qualities as a guideline for how to become a better leader.

Consider writing them down and listing specific ways you can utilize these attributes within your own life and with your team. You may also allow this to be a tool for you to reference when making decisions.

Consider enrolling in leadership development programs to further enhance your skills and become a better leader.

To strengthen your leadership skills and become the best leader you can be, download my goals-setting guide. In this 14-step plan, you will identify areas of opportunity and learn how to think ahead and achieve your goals effectively.

This guide will ultimately act as a tool that you can use to set strategies in motion for goal-setting and optimizing your success to help you become the leader you were destined to be!

One of the most common questions I am asked regularly is “What is the importance of goal setting?” or “Is it really necessary to set goals?”

I can personally attest to its importance in my own professional life, and I simply cannot overstate the fact that personal goal setting always has been and remains one of the first steps you will take in your journey toward finding your true calling and unparalleled success.

To quote another expert on the subject, philanthropist, and author Tony Robbins, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”

I think this explains the importance of the goal setting process extremely well.

To dive deeper into the topic, I’d like to explain what goal setting is, give you some background on goal setting theory, and further explain the reason why I believe personal goal setting is of paramount importance when attempting to achieve success.

I’ll also share with you this short essay on goal setting and how to set yourself up for success, increase the likelihood of achieving life goals and career goals, and have your desired outcome.

What Is Goal Setting?

Goals are your first step and the ultimate answer to achieving great things. Goals fuel motivation and define your roadmap to realizing your dreams.

Research in clinical and real-world settings has shown that goals can help you accelerate your success and personal growth. Setting goals helps us assess where we are currently in our personal and professional lives while allowing us to create the future we dream of.

It’s the process of living with intention and letting life happen FOR us rather than TO us.

What Is Goal Setting Theory?

Goal setting theory was devised by the researcher Edwin Locke. Locke published his groundbreaking study in 1968, titled Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives (1968). Locke continued his research to develop more concrete advice on how to set goals and achieve more with goal-setting theory.

The primary insight provided by goal-setting theory is that having a conscious, purposeful goal increases the likelihood that the things you desire will happen for you. The theory demonstrates the importance of knowing what you want and creating plans to make progress and help you get there.

According to another researcher, T.A. Ryan, in the paper Intentional Behavior (1970), motivation separates those who succeed from those who do not, assuming similar capabilities. As setting personal goals is a proven way to nurture motivation, they are a large part of what makes some people more successful than others.

So what are the proven strategies for setting performance goals that will help you get what you want? Let’s talk about the core principles of goal-setting theory. Understanding the goal achievement process, including the importance of planning and organizational skills, is crucial for applying goal-setting theory effectively.

What Are the 5 Principles of Goal Setting Theory?

Locke and Latham have identified five goal-setting principles that can help you succeed.

Here are each of the five principles of goal-setting theory and how you might apply them to your goals for your professional and academic goals and personal life:

1. CLARITY

Goals that are clear and have specific objectives are more likely to be completed successfully. For example, rather than defining a goal in general terms like “increase sales this month,” choose a more specific goal like “close 10% more sales in September.”

Clear goals should include a timeframe rather than being open-ended, like simply saying “sell more,” and define each smart goal with a time frame and an achievable target date where you can check in and analyze your progress.

2. CHALLENGE

More challenging goals will be more motivating than goals that are easy to achieve. Your goal must be challenging enough to require initiative.

Hitting manageable goals will give you a satisfying sense of accomplishment, encouraging you to continue on your path to success.

That said, be sure your goals are achievable so as not to discourage you when unreachable goals are not met.

3. COMMITMENT

Commitment means you genuinely wish to do what it takes to complete a goal. You must feel ownership and be sincere about taking on the short-term goals and long-term goals you are working towards.

Without self-regulation, a commitment to the process, and the growth that will come from it, you will be far less motivated to work towards them.

4. FEEDBACK

Create methods for receiving regular feedback on your progress. You can create a feedback process or invite others with insight to share their feedback regularly.

Seeking healthy feedback gives you opportunities to analyze your goal progress and adjust goals that are not working to set you up for more success.

5. TASK COMPLEXITY

When goals are particularly complex, be sure you have allowed yourself the time to learn and properly break up the challenge into manageable chunks.

The complexity of a task may not be evident from the beginning, but once understood, it should be broken down into a series of identified tasks.

As an example, if your goal is to update your website, you will likely need to break it down into stages for content, design, programming, testing, and so on.

Let’s move on to a concrete example of goal-setting theory to help you better understand how to apply it to your life.

What’s An Example Of Goal Setting Theory?

So, how can you apply the five principles of goal-setting theory to your life? Here’s a relatable example to help clarify each component.

Let’s say your long-term goal is to buy your first home.

To add clarity to your goal, you might identify how large a house you wish to buy and the neighborhood you want to purchase it in. This will help you establish a budget that will tell you how much you need for a down payment.

To challenge yourself, you may decide to save enough money to pay a 20% down payment within six months.

You can commit to the process by hiring a real estate agent, finding a lender, and sharing your goal with others.

After you’ve taken steps toward your goal, you can check in with yourself for feedback each week to see if you are saving enough (or possibly even more than you had planned) and reevaluate your goals based on how much you have saved.

When you’ve saved enough money, you can manage the complexity of the buying by breaking down the process into stages: find the home, get it appraised, get loan approval, close, move in, buy furniture, etc. Breaking the process into smaller steps will help prevent the buying process from overwhelming you.

6 Reasons Goal Setting Is Important

The outcomes of goal setting are greater success and satisfaction in every aspect of your life. However, the goal-setting process itself brings many benefits that make goal-setting important.

Here are six reasons to set goals and consistently strive for goal attainment. Setting goals allows for monitoring consistent progress towards achieving them, ensuring that you align your environment with your ambitions for long-term success.

1. Goals Give You Focus

Without personal goals or professional goals, your efforts can become disjointed and unfocused, causing you to lose sight of what you truly want to achieve out of life.

For example, a goal takes the flight of a hummingbird, which is chaotic and erratic, and focuses it much like a hawk swooping down for its prey.

It allows you to zero in on each day’s tasks with laser precision, weeding out wasted effort and idle movement.

2. Goals Let You Measure Progress

Being able to keep track of your progress toward achieving a goal is only possible if you set one in the first place.

Keeping track of how you are making progress on measurable goals is extremely rewarding and will help you maintain focus, and keep your head held high and your energy up. It will also apply principles of preventive psychology by keeping you from getting discouraged and avoiding negative outcomes.

Sometimes, when working towards success, it’s easy to become disheartened because you don’t feel you have “arrived” yet.

However, when you measure your current job performance while working towards a specific goal, you will be able to see that though you might not be where you want to be yet, you have made movements in the right direction and are a lot better off than when you started.

3. Goals Help You Stay Motivated

It’s easy to put off work until tomorrow when there is no goal on the line.

For example, let’s consider the life of an athlete. If they have to get in shape for a competition, you better believe they are going to be working out every day, whether they feel good or not, whether they are sore or not, whether they are tired or not, whether they want to or not, because they have a goal.

They have a clear understanding of the destination. They are striving for higher performance.

Their desire to achieve their goal keeps them in the gym, on the field, or the track when they would much rather skip.

In much the same way, having a goal will keep you intrinsically motivated for better academic performance!

4. Goals Help You Beat Procrastination

Procrastination is something we all battle from time to time, myself included. However, when you set goals in life, specific goals for what you want to achieve, it helps you understand that procrastination is dangerous.

It is wasted time. It is another day you aren’t moving closer to that goal.

Consider this inspirational quote from Pablo Picasso the next time you are thinking of putting off that next step toward your goal and rethink your stance:

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”

5. Goals Help You Achieve More

When you set a goal and reach that goal, it gives you the taste of victory. You will want to taste that again. The goal setting process is a positive habit you can build.

What does that mean? You push yourself toward the next rung of the ladder, challenge yourself to improve your current performance, and you achieve even more.

Working towards meeting and surprising goals helps you achieve way more than you ever thought possible.

6. Goals Help You Determine What You Want In Life

The act of setting goals forces you to contemplate what you truly want out of life.

What is the level of success you want to achieve? What is the income level you want to have? What does your life of ease look like? What about your dream home? What do you need income-wise to achieve your dreams?

Once you set these outcome goals for ideal future, you then break your desires down into attainable goals.

These goals keep you motivated, helping you avoid procrastination and keeping you laser-focused on achieving your dreams. It is, therefore, the act of setting, achieving, and surpassing goals that make living your best life possible.

How To Set Achievable Goals

Consistently meeting goals can help sustain motivation and keep you moving in the direction of your dreams. Additionally, recent research suggests that failing to meet goals can lead to confidence setbacks. That’s one reason it’s crucial to set achievable goals.

What are the best ways to define goal achievement that will keep you motivated? Here are a few of the qualities of achievable goals.

1. Align Your Goals With Your Values

When you set goals, be sure that they are in line with your values. Goals that align with your values will ensure that you feel comfortable with what and how you are working so hard for.

Before setting specific goals, take an inventory of your core values. You may already know which values are important to you, but having clarity about what matters most will help you keep them central to the goals you’ll need to create the life you want. Take the time to spell them out, prioritize them, and reflect on what they mean to you.

We live our values, and our values drive our actions. Goals that lie outside our values are unlikely to be achieved.

For example, if your goal is to lose weight, you may struggle to do so if you don’t value healthy lifestyle choices. You may value health, but it may fall below your desire for comfort and leisure, meaning it won’t be a priority, and losing weight may be harder to achieve.

You may not have recognized when setting your weight loss journey that your values were not in line with your goals. Taking stock of your goals and setting (or re-setting) your priorities will help make you more successful in defining and reaching your goals.

“The real value of setting and achieving goals lies not in the rewards you receive but in the person you become as a result of reaching your goals.” – Robin Sharma

2. Keep It Simple

Ongoing and incremental changes are better than changing too much at once. Focus your organizational behavior and efforts on just one or two primary goals at once.

When you have too many goals in mind at one time, you may run into a problem psychologists call “goal competition.” As the name implies, goal competition happens when too many goals compete for your attention, which zaps your time and attention.

As I mentioned, start by identifying one or two of your most important goals. Then break down these more complex goals into smaller increments to help make them more manageable.

3. Create SMART Goals

What are SMART Goals? SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The concept was developed by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham in their book, A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance, published in 1990.

SMART Goals are the five most important characteristics of goal setting. Those five characteristics are:

• Specific: Identify what will be accomplished and what exact actions will be taken.
• Measurable: Choose the data or metric that will allow you to know you are making progress.
• Achievable: Ensure you have the resources and skills to be successful and that you are creating realistic goals.
• Relevant: Make sure the task fits your broader goals and is related to your long-term goal, values, and life purpose.
• Time-bound: Establish a specific timeline for completing your goal and break down your goal into short-term goals with their own timelines.

SMART goals are challenging goals but they are also realistic goals so you can actually attain them. They are within reach, but you need to stretch and discipline yourself to achieve them.

People who make specific and challenging goals that have a target completion date are much more likely to achieve them.

6 Extra Tips For Setting Yourself Up For Success In Goal Setting

To set yourself up for success once you’ve established your SMART Goals, consider these bonus tips that will help you to stay engaged and excited about your future success.

Align Your Environment With Your Goals

While we like to believe we can simply will ourselves into good behavior, we may often make quick decisions based on our surroundings. Set yourself up for success by creating a physical environment aligned with your goals.

Remove distractions, prepare and organize, create a vision board, and surround yourself with positive people and affirming media.

Removing distractions might mean putting your phone in another room to avoid late-night social media scrolling that robs you of sufficient sleep. It could mean removing junk food from your cabinets if you’re trying to eat healthier.

Taking away potential obstacles from your environment will align your habits with better strategies to attain your goals.

Organization and preparation can make your life much easier while helping you meet your goals. Nutrition researcher Anne Thorndike tested The concept of “choice architecture” in a study designed to promote the sale of fruits and vegetables by improving their visibility in corner stores.

The study determined that the higher visibility placement of fruits and vegetables improved sales. Convenience and visibility can help people make better choices.

You might prepare your gym clothes the night before to speed up the morning routine and leave time for a good workout. It could mean getting some noise-canceling headphones to help keep you focused in a noisy office. Or keep the floss next to your toothbrush, so you remember to floss your teeth.

Creating a vision board helps you visualize what you wish to accomplish and keep those goals in mind. In her book, The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, The Science of the Brain, neuroscientist Tara Swart says that vision boards (or action boards) prime the brain to recognize an opportunity.

Additionally, our brains assign a higher value to images than the written word, meaning a vision board can add to the impact of a written “to-do list.” The more we see the images on our vision board, the more important they become in our minds.

Engage with positive people and media to help keep you motivated. Scroll past the doom and stop for positive images, music, books, and inspirational stories that will keep you focused on the good you wish to achieve.

Analyze Your Goals Every Day

Take stock of your progress by analyzing your progress each day. Analyzing your goals can include measuring specific activities, progress toward your goal, and outcomes.

Did you complete the activities you had intended? Were your goals realistic and achievable? Did your goals today bring you closer to your long-term ambitions?

Tracking daily progress and making appropriate adjustments will help keep you focused and reinforce the good goal-setting habits you’re building.

If you have yet to achieve all you set out to do during your day, consider how you might offer more attention to your goals tomorrow.

You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential. – Steve Garvey

Add Your Goals To Your Daily Planner

You are more likely to reach your daily goals if you plan your day in advance. Whenever possible, set a specific time, duration, and place where you will accomplish your goal.

You may use an online daily planner that can alert you of upcoming tasks, but if you like to keep things analogous, get a planner that gives you space to plan your meetings and tasks each day.

Set A Maximum Limit On Your Goals

More is not always better. Set some maximum limits to your goals each day. For example, you may want to make at least 15 sales calls each day, but you should also set an upper limit of outbound calls you’ll make to avoid burnout and maintain balance.

Develop The Skills You Need To Achieve Goals

Achieving your goals requires skills that may take time to develop. To be successful, you’ll need to manage your time well, display self-discipline, be flexible, and adapt to new challenges.

Say “no” when necessary, and persevere when you face new challenges. Take the time to develop soft skills like time management, work ethic, problem-solving, and flexibility as you lean into your goals.

Reward Your Successes

Achieving a goal is something to celebrate. Don’t be shy about rewarding yourself when you successfully reach a goal. Alternatively, there is no benefit to punishing yourself when you are unsuccessful. Stay kind to yourself and focus on the positive progress you are making over the long term.

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. – Steve Jobs

Proven Reasons Why Goal Setting is Key in Life

Goal setting has been studied extensively in the scientific community. It has been linked to higher employee motivation, greater academic and organizational performance, higher achievement of team goals, improved positive and negative emotions both, and many other tangible benefits. It’s crucial to set goals that are not overly reliant on external factors beyond one’s control, as goals should be within one’s ability to achieve without depending on variables outside of their influence.

Here is a small sampling of relevant research to help provide insight into the benefits and outcomes of goal setting.

Goal Setting In Sales

Car manufacturer, Toyota, tested the use of “impossible goals” to see if setting seemingly unreachable goals would encourage their teams to think more creatively and “break free from established routines.” The impossible goals tradition began early in company history, in 1937, with founder Kiichiro Toyoda.

Toyota’s senior managing director, Zenji Yasuda, explained the advantages of setting vague, unattainable goals saying, “If he makes [the goal] more concrete, employees won’t be able to exercise their full potential. The vague nature of this goal confers the freedom to researchers to open new avenues of exploration….”

While Toyota sets impossible goals to encourage big-picture thinking, the company also breaks down its larger goals into challenging but manageable tasks. Toyota also measures managers’ success based on how they achieve goals rather than on the results, valuing persistence and resilience above other qualities.

“A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at.” –Bruce Lee

The Significance Of Setting Personal Goals

Researchers Cott and Finch (1991) studied goal-setting in improving and measuring effectiveness in physical therapy practice. Their work suggests that the patient’s participation in goal-setting was critical to showing measurable improvement. The key takeaway from this research is the importance of individuals participating in setting their personal goals rather than having others define goals for them.

Goal Setting In Neurological Rehabilitation

As in physical therapy, goal setting is a core component of neurological rehabilitation therapy. Researchers Holliday, Ballinger, & Playford (2007) compared two goal-setting methods with in-patients with neurological impairments. Their findings identified four ways that their patients made sense of goal setting. Their study suggests that healthcare professionals must help patients understand what is expected of them for goal setting to be meaningful in their recovery.

The Importance Of Setting Attainable Employee Goals

Jessica Höpfner and Nina Keith highlight the potential negative consequences of not reaching goals. The key takeaway from their study is that “the failure of a high and specific goal can damage self-related factors like effect, self-esteem, and motivation and can also have subsequent behavioral consequences.” Höpfner and Keith suggest that employers mitigate the adverse effects by creating “experiences of success” related to employee goals. In other words, ensuring goals are reasonable and attainable can help you to avoid demotivating your teams.

The Importance Of Writing Down Goals

Psychologist Gail Mathews studied the importance of writing down goals in 2015, finding that individuals were 33% more successful in reaching their goals than those who did not write them down. The study also found that more than 70% of participants successfully met their goals when they sent weekly updates of written goals to friends. This study supports the importance of accountability and the benefits of writing down your goals.

In his book, The 10×10 Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure, well-known entrepreneur Grant Cardone suggests writing down your goals twice a day. Once when you wake up, and once before you go to sleep. He believes the practice helps keep your goals top of mind. “If they’re important to you, and if they are valuable to you, wake up in the morning and re-look at them. Remember, out of sight, out of mind. Let’s take a look at them.”

Neuroscience also supports the case for writing down goals. Researcher Mark Murphy’s study revealed that “people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals.”

Goal Setting Rewires Your Brain to Make It More Effective

Research in neuroplasticity suggests that goal-setting can change your brain’s structure to make it more effective at achieving a specific goal. The groundbreaking research began when goal setting was used in multiple sclerosis treatments.

Researchers discovered that MS patients with defined ambitious health goals had fewer, less severe symptoms than a control group. In short, goal setting was proven to help heal the brains of MS patients.

Set Yourself Up For Success In Your Goal-Setting Journey

You are already one step closer to achieving your long-term goals just by reading articles like this. The proven goal-setting strategies we have outlined above offer you a blueprint for successfully reaching your goals.

To help you get started right now, download my 14-Step Goal Setting Guide. Begin your personal goal-setting journey so that you can start creating the life you’ve been dreaming of.

Whether you believe it or not, at this very moment, you have the potential and ability to accomplish extraordinary things in your lifetime.

Often, all we need to be successful in life and act on that potential is to simply know how to get started, remain consistent, and stay committed to pursuing success throughout our entire lifetime.

By adopting certain essential habits, you will learn how to be successful in life — whether it’s your personal or professional life — and become unstoppable in achieving your goals.

How to Define Success

Everyone has a different idea of what achieving success looks like or should be for them. So defining and measuring success must really be done on a personal, case-by-case level.

For example, for you, does success mean financial success? Emotional success? Physical success? Success with your family?

If you’re wondering how to be successful in life, you first must take some time to define what success means in your life and what it looks like for you, personally. This may be different from what your parents, colleagues, family, or friends define as success. Where your heart is will also be where your motivation and satisfaction come from.

At the end of the day, we chase success because we want to feel a certain way: happy and accomplished.

Find out what will make you feel happy and accomplished to figure out where you need to be successful in your life.

Then adopt these habits to help make achieving them easier and faster. No matter how you go about achieving success, I promise you all of these habits apply to all of your goals.

15 Habits You Need To Be Successful

By working on your growth mindset and bringing these habits into your life, you’re sure to learn how to achieve the same level of greatness in your own life in the same way other successful people have found achievement.

1. Always Live with a Positive Mindset

Every action begins with a thought.

When your thoughts are positive, you will naturally feel more motivated to take action on your goals that propel you to progress and success.

The power of positive thinking can transform your life.

Even medical studies show that being optimistic and actively trying to reduce negative thoughts can have a positive effect on your health. Positive thinkers are 13% less likely than negative thinkers to have a heart attack, even among people who have a family history of heart problems.

Being positive lowers your stress level, helps protect you from discouragement, and gives you better coping skills when times get difficult.

To help strengthen your optimistic outlook, try smiling more often, adding humor to your life, practicing positive self-talk, and listing the good aspects of a bad situation. Surround yourself with positive people, images, music, books, podcasts, and environments at home and work.

Often, the only real limits on what you can do, have, or be are self-imposed.

Once you make a clear, unequivocal decision to change your life by casting off all your mental limitations and throwing your whole heart into the accomplishment of some great goal, true success is so much easier and more likely to be achieved.

2. Set SMART Goals

Having a successful life includes having personal goals.

Often, however, we set goals and make some initial progress, but don’t achieve them.

That might be because of how we set goals.

The best and most achievable goals are SMART goals. SMART goals are achievable because they are realistic, well thought out, and include a timeline.

Create SMART goals by making them:

• Specific: Create a clear, concise statement that defines exactly what you want to achieve.
• Measurable: Assign a number to your goal or another way to measure it, such as “generate 250 business leads” instead of “get more leads.”
• Achievable: Make sure your goal is challenging but possible to achieve so you can be successful and remain encouraged.
• Relevant: Align your goal with what will make you feel happy and accomplished in life.
• Time-bound: Determine when you will achieve your goal and set small milestones to achieve along the way.

3. Eat A Frog

Your “frog” is the most challenging and often least appealing task you need to achieve in a day.

When you eat that frog and overcome obstacles early on, the rest of your day, week, and life can open up to greater possibilities. It helps prevent procrastination, which gives you more time to achieve the goals you really want to work on.

Develop a habit of tackling the biggest, most important task first. Ask yourself, “If I accomplished only one thing today, what would make the biggest difference to my overall success?”

Apply that same principle to the goals you have defined for yourself. Which are the most important for lasting happiness and fulfillment? Focus on those first.

4. Prioritize Your Health

It’s easy to get caught up in the never-ending cycle of tasks that you need to accomplish each day and check off items from your to-do list.

But, if you want to find success, it is important to make your physical health a priority. Being physically fit and having a healthy mind makes you feel better about yourself so you can think more positively. It also literally makes you feel energized physically and capable of accomplishing more things.

Some of the most successful people have attributed being health conscious as one of the keys to being successful in life. Highly successful people prioritize both their physical and emotional support and mental health.

Make sure you eat healthy foods and minimize unhealthy foods and drinks. Develop an exercise routine that includes physical activity each day. Get plenty of rest to rejuvenate your mind and body, which will help you be more productive when it is time to work.

5. Believe In Yourself And Your Abilities

If believing in yourself doesn’t come naturally, make a list of all of the positive attributes you have.

Are you organized? A good listener? Do you make excellent pumpkin pies, do you hold productive team meetings or do you make people feel good about themselves? Are you great at generating ideas, or does your strength lie in taking those ideas and making a plan of action?

One of the best ways you can be successful is to learn how to believe in yourself and boost your self-confidence. Greater self-confidence motivates you and gives you the courage to take action on your goals.

When you feel discouraged, focus on what you have accomplished and the time, talents, abilities, and strengths you have that will help you accomplish more.

When you believe in your abilities to achieve your goals, you have the power to persevere until you succeed.

6. Have Fun!

We can easily get overwhelmed by the craziness of life and stress over things that need to be done.

In order to have a comfortable life and a successful life, you need to be happy. And one of the best methods for happiness is fun.

Purposefully find a ray of fun in every day. See the humor in a stressful situation and laugh about it to diffuse tension. Studies show that even simply putting a smile on your face lowers your blood pressure and heart rate when things are stressful.

Get out and play, devote time to a hobby you love, watch a funny video and develop a good sense of humor.

7. Talk To Others

Having someone to bounce ideas off of, talk to, and hear feedback from about how you’re portraying yourself to others can be extremely helpful when building yourself to be successful.

Look to those you trust and respect for feedback, like close friends and family members. Although everyone will have an opinion on how you are conducting your life, the opinions that matter are from those who have your best interest at heart.

It may be difficult at first to receive constructive criticism. But do not let it deflate you but uplift you instead. The opportunity to change for the better is a gift that makes a lasting impact on your current and future happiness.

To find success in life, you must continually grow. Talking to others you trust about how you make improvements can make a substantial difference in your progress.

8. Take A Break

Burnout can happen fast if you keep chasing your goals without taking a rest.

Taking periodic breaks will have a positive impact on your work ethic and progress toward your goals.

To find success in life, it’s actually beneficial to spend time away from your goals to reset and recharge. Your goals will still be there even after a day or even a week off for your mental health.

Be careful not to wait until you are at the end of your rope before taking a break. An essential part of recharging is the small breaks you take throughout your day and week to keep your life balanced.

If a particular task or situation is causing frustration, step away from it for a few minutes. Get your mind off of it by doing or thinking about something completely different. Coming back to it with renewed eyes and perspective will help you accomplish it faster and with greater effectiveness.

9. Always Be Learning

Try learning one new thing every day — whether in your personal or professional life.

We grow as we learn, so in order to succeed, prioritize learning as much as you can on a daily basis.

When you dedicate your time to becoming a lifelong learner, you’re sure to find success in life. A lifelong learner takes the initiative to continuously learn and improve their personal development.

When you are always learning, you improve your quality of life and are exposed to more opportunities that can lead to fulfillment and satisfaction.

10. Stop Comparing Yourself To Others

Every person and every goal is different. Even if someone else is doing what you want to be doing, you both are in different life circumstances.

So making a direct comparison isn’t fair to you or your future success. And when you’re trying to stay positive about your life and your choices, comparing your different life circumstances to someone else’s doesn’t exactly help you feel motivated.

Focus on you — your situation, circumstances, and goals — to see success.

Celebrate the accomplishments of others, but stay focused on the next step in your SMART goals plan.

You will feel fulfilled as you keep the focus on your own unique personal growth and progression.

11. Push Yourself

Complacency won’t get you anywhere.

Those who are successful are because they pushed the limits of their comfort zone to discover new parts of themselves that helped guide them to success.

The greatest satisfaction you will create is when you can look back at the journey it took you to accomplish a hard thing.

When you are in a difficult moment, remember your “why.”

Why do you want to accomplish your goal, what benefits will it bring, and how will it change your life or the lives of those you care about?

If you want different results than the ones you are experiencing now, you will need to push yourself to do things differently. The positive results will be worth the effort.

12. Stay Consistent

How many times have you started something but not finished it, resulting in failure?

If you want to be successful, you need to learn how to stay consistent and keep showing up for yourself every day — even on hard days.

One of the best ways to stay consistent is to outline your plan for tomorrow the night before. When you have a clear list of to-dos and a plan for what time of the day you will accomplish them, it is much easier to stay on track.

Remember that showing up for yourself also sometimes means taking a needed break. Or you may need to talk to someone. It may also simply mean waking up at the same time even though your bed is so warm and you don’t want to get up

Consistency is key to success.

13. Be Prepared

No matter how consistent you may be, though, life may have other plans.

To be successful in whatever you do in life, always think about what could happen if things go off the rails. How would you react and what is your action plan?

This way, when that time eventually comes, you’ll have the right mindset and feel calm, cool, and collected, ready to take the challenge head-on and succeed.

14. Stop Looking For Shortcuts

Those who look for shortcuts aren’t interested in the learning, lessons, and nuances successful people gain when they set out to be successful in life.

If you want to achieve success, you have to do it the old-fashioned way, which takes time, patience, and consistency.

The key to success in life is our ability to get the very best out of ourselves under almost all conditions and circumstances. It is your ability to adapt and change your life.

15. Change Your Definition Of Success

So you’ve accomplished one thing you thought your hard work alone would make you successful? What next?

Success, happiness, and fulfillment are all feelings that can change over time. So after you find success in one way, seek it out in another.

By overcoming adversity and achieving one great goal in any area, you create a pattern, a template for personal success in your subconscious mind. You will be automatically directed and driven toward repeating that success in other things you attempt.

In other words, you learn to succeed by succeeding. The more you achieve, the more you can achieve. Success builds your confidence and social skills, your self-discipline, and the belief that you will be successful next time and achieve ultimate personal success.

Try to leverage your momentum from an achievement in your personal success to reach a goal in your career or at school or vice versa. Eventually, you will create a synergistic effect of personal and professional growth and find that success comes easier on all fronts.

Analyze the next aspect of your life you’d like to find success in and get started chasing that goal!

You Can Achieve Success

By applying these 15 principles, you have the tools you need to be successful in any goal you set out to achieve. To jumpstart your journey on how to be successful and achieve your goals, use my Goals Setting Guide.

This free 14-step guide will help you pinpoint the opportunities you have for success, develop a habit of thinking ahead and evaluating your goals, and provide a daily roadmap to efficiently accomplish your goals.

Success starts with self-mastery, and at the core of this mastery is self-discipline.

Did you know the most successful people have gotten to where they are today because they have learned to practice self-discipline?

Becoming a self-disciplined person involves understanding what self-discipline means, learning the skills to develop it, and making a consistent effort to apply it in all areas of your life.

Many of the most successful individuals credit their achievements to their ability to practice self-discipline, which has significantly contributed to their well-being and success.

If you’re ready to take control of your actions and thoughts, let’s explore self-discipline together and set the stage for your greatness.

What Is Self-Discipline?

Let’s start with the basics.

The word self-discipline is actually made up of two parts. The noun “discipline” means “training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

The ‘self’ means you have the willpower to do these things on your own, without someone telling you to do them.

So self-discipline means you control your feelings and even do hard things so you can be better and have more prosperity.

More than one self-discipline definition can help us understand the concept better, though. Consider these dictionary definitions:

• Self-discipline is “the ability to control one’s feelings and overcome one’s weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it.” Oxford Languages Dictionary
• Self-discipline is “the ability to control yourself and to make yourself work hard or behave in a particular way without needing anyone else to tell you what to do.” Collins Dictionary
• Self-discipline is “the correction or regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

You can also use different words in place of self-discipline to better understand their meaning. Some synonyms are:

• Self-control
• Self-regulation
• Self-mastery
• Will power
• Firmness of purpose
• Self-restraint

My favorite definition of self-discipline, though, is this: “Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

To be completely truthful, it is easy to do something when you feel like it. However, it’s when you don’t feel like doing something and you force yourself to do it anyway is when you move your life and career onto the fast track.

Controlling our feelings in the moment so we can have something better later takes hard work. It involves delayed gratification, which is not acting on your impulses.

It is doing what you have to do now so you can do what you want to do later.

As psychologist Arden Mahlberg explains in one of his self-discipline quotes: “Discipline really means our ability to get ourselves to do things when we don’t want.”

Disciplining one’s conduct leads to success in anything you want to accomplish. Apply the principles of self-discipline to both your personal and professional life.

The Importance of Self-Discipline

Mastering the art of self-discipline is a gateway to numerous advantages. When you demonstrate regular self-discipline, you streamline and focus your path toward achieving your aspirations. This focused approach minimizes distractions and paves the way for substantial progress towards your goals.

Self-discipline is beneficial because it:

• Reduces stress and anxiety, which often come from procrastination, wasting time, or not having a plan to follow.
• Makes you feel more confident in your abilities to accomplish things, which leads to living a happier life to becoming your best self.
• Accelerates personal improvement in all areas of our lives, including physical and mental health, education, career, financial independence, and relationships.
• Helps students gain more knowledge, make fewer careless mistakes, and perform better than those who do not, regardless of IQ,
• Can help those in the workplace achieve higher income, the feeling of achievement in one’s career, and a higher rate of accomplishing one’s goals.
• Enhances relationships and is seen to correlate with stronger, more enduring personal relationships.
• Fosters resilience, enhancing your ability to recover from setbacks and further strengthening your control over impulses.

Recognizing the Signs of a Self-Discipline Deficit

So how do you know if you lack self-discipline?

There are some self-sabotaging behaviors to look for. One sign is that you find yourself making excuses for your behavior and falling short on things.

For example, promptness requires self-discipline. If you are often late to appointments, work, or other commitments but blame it on traffic, hitting the alarm too many times, or staying up late to finish a project, you likely lack self-discipline. Instead, you should take personal responsibility for leaving earlier, getting up on time, or not procrastinating at the start of your project.

Another sign you need to build self-discipline is if you give in to temptation and just can’t seem to reach your goals. That could be eating too much so you cannot make your ideal weight or not advancing in your career because you give in to the temptation of spending some of your free time on social media instead of taking an online course.

One more sign that you need to improve your self-discipline is that you wait to feel motivated before doing something. For example, if you want to write a book and are waiting until the right moment when you feel energized to do it, you will probably never accomplish it.

The power of self-discipline gets you out of your comfort zone and lets you soar to new and unimaginable heights.

7 Steps to Develop Self-Discipline

When you have the determination to improve self-discipline, you open up many doors to new opportunities.

But it takes more than willpower to improve your ability to achieve self-discipline within yourself. You need to develop skills by learning and training yourself to practice self-control until self-discipline becomes a habit.

Follow these seven steps to success.

1. Decide What You Want

You have a lot of ideas floating around in your head. The first step to improving your future self-discipline is to organize your thoughts and figure out what you want.

As Napoleon Hill puts it in one of his self-discipline quotes:

“Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don’t control what you think, you can’t control what you do. Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward.”

Decide exactly what it is you want in each part of your life.

Do you need to increase your knowledge of the trends in your industry so you can advance to a higher position?

Do you want to adopt healthy habits like exercising and healthy eating so you feel better, improve your physical health, increase your self-confidence, and open yourself up to more opportunities?

Is learning a new language or skill something you want to do to open new doors professionally or personally?

Tap into your self-awareness and think about what you want to do and be. Become a “meaningful specific” rather than a “wandering generality.”

What decisions do you need to make today to start moving toward the top of your field?

Whatever it is, make a decision now, and then get started. This single act alone can change the whole direction of your life.

Understand that any new endeavor you take on will take effort and a willingness to delay gratification. But enduring temporary discomfort is always worth the reward of long-term gain.

2. Identify and Remove Temptations

Distractions are the enemy of accomplishment and discipline. Your ability to resist temptation will turn bad, unhealthy habits, into good habits.

One of the wisest things you can do to resist temptations is to simply remove temptations as much as possible.

If checking your social media feed has become a time-waster, reduce your screen time by setting limits on your smartphone, turning off notifications, scheduling specific times when you can check your accounts, or deleting the apps that do not contribute to your goals or overall well-being.

If you are easily distracted by how readily accessible entertainment is, remove things like television, video platforms, or subscription streaming services from your environment.

Do the same with tempting foods, people who are a negative influence, or anything else that is impeding your progress.

Your environment sets you up for success. Being honest with yourself about what those distractions are is key to your success.

Fewer distractions have a tremendous impact on accomplishing your goals.

Self-denial may seem difficult at first, but when one’s desires are tempered, it allows for blossoming into a newer and better version of oneself.

Conduct a time audit to identify your temptations and time wasters. Over the next several days, keep track of what you do all day. Writing it down will allow you to analyze how you spend your time and change it into how you want to spend your time.

Removing temptations is liberating.

As Harvey Dorfman, a mental skills coach, puts it, “Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear — and doubt.”

3. Find an Accountability Partner

Sometimes it’s hard to stay disciplined when you’re working in silence.

Having someone to share your goals and keep you accountable can help keep you on track and motivated to stay disciplined.

An accountability partner can help you overcome the challenge of making the changes you need to restrain your impulses and make better decisions.

Setting a specific goal makes you 10% more likely to achieve it. But committing to someone else that you will do it increases your success rate by 65%, and making an appointment to report back to that person raises it even higher to 95%.

An accountability partner is someone with whom you agree to help each other stay on track toward achieving your goals.

In your effort to improve self-discipline, knowing that you need to report your actions to someone else will help you stay motivated, and you will do the same for them.

An ideal accountability partner is someone who is working toward similar goals as you. For example, if your goal is to start your own business, choose an accountability partner who shares the same entrepreneurial goal. In this way, you can learn together, brainstorm solutions, and share helpful insights on the training each other is receiving.

You should also choose someone who wants to be held accountable — a person as interested in building self-discipline as you are.

The right accountability partner is trustworthy and will keep your discussions confidential. They are kind and encouraging yet will also ask you difficult questions and give constructive criticism to help you stay on track.

Share your goals with your accountability partner, be honest about your progress, and stay connected regularly. Set daily, weekly, and monthly check-in appointments, and keep these sessions short and on-topic.

Communicate in a way both of you are comfortable with, such as email, text, phone calls, in-person meetings, or a combination of several modes of communication.

The positive reinforcement and encouragement you receive from your accountability partner — and in turn, give to them — can make all the difference in overcoming the roadblocks you have been experiencing and catapulting you toward making your hopes and dreams a reality.

4. Write Your Goals Down

Always think on paper — or an electronic device. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all. It is merely a wish and it has no energy behind it.

Write your goals down, clearly and in detail. The most successful goals are SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Define your long-term goals, but then set small goals and work your way to bigger ones. Baby steps are easier to visualize and achieve. They help you overcome your challenges more effectively than focusing on broad goals that take time to reach.

Reaching your smaller goals will motivate you to continue on the road to progress.

If your goal is to eat healthier, for example, start by adding one new healthy food to your diet each week. You don’t have to eliminate all unhealthy food at once. Going slowly will help you stay motivated.

It takes a tremendous amount of willpower to make a total, sweeping change all at once. But making gains step by step will be training your mind to exercise self-control in manageable increments until it becomes a habit and you no longer have the desire to return to old ways.

Use these examples of SMART goals as inspiration to write down your own:

• I will increase business sales from repeat customers by 5% by the end of the quarter by gathering contact information at the point of sale and following up with strategies that make them feel valued.
• I will decrease the number of times I complain to once every other day by May 31st to improve my mental health by taking 10 seconds to think about my words before sharing them.
• I will continue to lose weight by adding exercise to my morning routine by walking for 30 minutes before eating breakfast for the next three weeks.
• I will learn to play the major chords on the guitar by my birthday by watching tutorial videos and practicing for 15 minutes per day.
• I will improve my academic performance on class assessments by 10 percentage points by the mid-term exam by recording lectures, listening to them on my commute, and outlining notes from each lecture within two days of hearing them.

5. Make To-Do Lists

Keep yourself on track daily by making a to-do list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to accomplish your goal. This is one of the most important things you can do to help you be productive and feel happier.

Lists serve as visual reminders that you are on a path toward excellence. Checking off each task as you complete it provides instant motivation to keep moving forward.

When you think of new tasks and activities, write them on your list until your list is complete.

Revisit your goals regularly to make sure you are on track. If you need to change a word or sentence in your goal to make it more precise, relevant, or achievable, do so without compromising your progress. The key is to create and follow goals that will get you closer to the existence you want, never farther away.

At the end of each day, make your list for the next day. Small habits like this will keep your mind focused on taking the right actions toward exercising self-control.

Be sure to set deadlines for all of your goals and sub-goals. This will help you work hard and achieve results promptly.

6. Organize Your Lists

Organize your lists into a plan.

Decide what you will have to do first and what you will have to do second. Decide what is more important and what is less important. And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you would develop a blueprint to build your dream house.

Group the important tasks on your list into related items. This will help you save time and effort if you complete similar items in the same period. Your mind will be in tune and your workspace will be organized with what you need.

Avoid multitasking. While it may seem like you are busy doing more, multitasking actually serves as a distraction as you cannot devote the right amount of mental energy to a single task. Tackle one item at a time then move on to the next one.

The challenge of disciplining yourself will become easier as you develop purposeful routines like these.

7. Create an Action Plan 

Do something every single day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment.

Develop the time management discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish when you utilize this formula every single day.

Internalize Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s inspiring words on taking action: “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving.”

Action is imperative to progress.

Research shows that those who use an implementation intention plan are more successful in creating new habits and becoming more self-disciplined.

An implementation intention is an if-then strategy used in disciplining oneself to make the right decisions at the moment. You plan for what you will do when faced with a temptation or distraction.

To use this strategy, complete this sentence with words that apply to what you are trying to overcome:

“When X situation arises, I will respond with Y.”

Using this plan forces you to be more self-disciplined and cultivate mental toughness.

To help you stay on top of your action plan, consider remembering or writing down one of my favorite quotes that relate to self-discipline:

“Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in.” (Vince Lombardi)

Set Yourself Up For Success

Begin your path toward personal improvement by developing self-discipline today.

The power of self-control will propel you toward a better life and improved future self.

Setting goals is an important part of developing discipline. If you don’t know where to start, my 14-Step Goal Setting Guide includes more tips on how to set clear goals. The actionable advice in this resource will teach you how to achieve your goals faster than you ever thought possible.

Download the goal-setting guide and tap into your potential to accomplish a world of possibilities.

Are you looking for effective strategies on how to develop a new habit?

Understanding the differences in habit formation is crucial to cultivating a lifestyle with healthy habits. Whether you’re adopting a routine of healthy eating, committing to regular exercise, or eliminating a bad habit, the journey varies for everyone.

Developing habits lies in the emotional response that sparks the change. Consider a pivotal career feedback session you’ve had or a realization that professional growth can provoke a shift toward your future success.

Developing habits lies in the emotional response that sparks the change. Consider a pivotal career feedback session you’ve had or a realization that professional growth can provoke a shift toward your future success.

This moment of clarity, often motivated by your wanting to achieve greater accomplishments or the fear of missed opportunities, can help you quickly build healthy habits and positive habits. It sets you on a path from complacency to a dynamic routine that prioritizes continuous improvement, goal-setting, and the cultivation of habits that align with business success and personal growth.

Starting your path to new habits, especially those that enhance your mental health and well-being, requires an understanding of the differences between desire, action, and change. By recognizing the moments that inspire each habit and actively nurturing them, you can pave the way for a life of healthy habits and positive transformation.

In this blog on habit formation, I share the principles of creating lasting good habits, overcoming bad habits, and habit development. Let’s get into it.

How Long Does it Take to Form a Habit?

According to the research, it takes about 21 days to break or form a habit pattern of medium complexity. Habits that are more complex or difficult to incorporate into your lifestyle may take longer.

21 Days to Break a Habit or Make a Habit

Three weeks may not sound like a very long time, but you can create powerful habits within 21 days.

By this, we mean simple habits such as getting up earlier at a specific hour, exercising each morning before you start, listening to podcasts in your car, going to bed at a certain hour, being punctual for appointments, planning every day, starting with your most important tasks each day, or completing your tasks before you start something else.

These habits aren’t very complex and can be easily developed in as little as a week to 21 days through practice and repetition.

Overcoming Challenges in Habit Formation

Forming new habits comes with challenges, but with the right strategies, they can become stepping stones to success. Be ready for potential roadblocks, such as decreasing motivation or changes in routine, and prepare yourself with proactive solutions to maintain consistency.

A strong foundation of self-discipline is essential, and it helps you persevere through setbacks and maintain focus on your long-term goals. Embrace the power of resilience by viewing any setbacks as opportunities for growth and refinement

Having a support system can provide accountability and encouragement, while positive reinforcement through meaningful rewards can boost your motivation. Stay adaptable, allowing your habits and routines to evolve with your changing goals, and remember that patience and persistence are your allies in this transformative process.

By acknowledging these challenges and adopting a flexible, determined approach, you can effectively embed new, positive habits into your life, paving the way for continuous personal development and lasting change.

How To Develop a Habit

Over the years, a simple, powerful, proven methodology has been determined for new habit development. It is very much like a recipe for preparing a dish in the kitchen.

You can use it to develop any habit that you desire. Over time, you will find it easier and easier to develop the successful daily habits that you want to incorporate into your personality.

1) Make a Decision

Begin by making a firm decision. Decide unequivocally that you’re going to adopt a specific behavior consistently, applying it every time the situation calls for it. For instance, if your goal is to wake up early and exercise, set your alarm for the exact time you plan to rise.

Then, when it goes off, promptly get up, dress in your workout gear, and start your exercise routine. This initial step of full commitment is crucial in setting the foundation for your new healthy habit.

2) Maintain Absolute Consistency

Every habit is built on the foundation of repetition. When you act repeatedly, your brain begins to automate the process, reducing the mental effort required to complete the activity. This automation is what turns a deliberate action into a steadfast habit.

Consistency ensures that this transformation isn’t just a possibility but a guaranteed outcome. It’s the habit-building of repeated action, the daily commitment, that cements your new behavior into your neural pathways, making it a natural element of your life.

3) Tell Others You’re Practicing a New Behavior

Social accountability plays a pivotal role in habit formation, offering a unique blend of motivation, support, and a sense of obligation that can drive you to stick to your new routine. Sharing your goal to form a new habit with friends, family, or even a dedicated support group can create a network of cheerleaders and accountability partners.

The act of stating your intentions publicly increases your commitment and the likelihood that you’ll follow through. It is amazing how much more disciplined and determined you will become when you know that others are watching you to see if you have the willpower to follow through on your resolution.

4) Visualize Your New Habit

Visualize yourself performing or behaving in a particular way in a particular situation. The more often you visualize and imagine yourself acting as if you already had the new habit, the more rapidly this new behavior will be accepted by your subconscious mind and become automatic.

Begin by creating a clear, detailed mental image of the desired habit. Imagine the environment, the actions you are taking, the sensations, and even the emotions you feel. The more vivid and detailed the visualization, the more impactful it will be. Dedicate a few minutes each day to this practice, preferably in a quiet space where you can focus without interruption.

5) Create an Affirmation

Positive affirmations are powerful tools in the habit formation process. They are positive, empowering statements that, when repeated frequently, can help to reprogram your subconscious mind, encouraging it to adopt new beliefs and behaviors.

Create an affirmation that you repeat over and over to yourself. This repetition dramatically increases the speed at which you develop the new habit. For example, you can say something like, “I get up and get going immediately at 6:00 AM each morning!”

Repeat these words the last thing before you fall asleep. In most cases, you will automatically wake up minutes before the alarm clock goes off, and soon you will need no alarm clock at all.

6) Commit to Perseverance

The journey of embedding a new habit into your life is often a test of perseverance. Committing to this process means pushing through difficulties and maintaining your course despite the inevitable ebbs and flows of motivation. This commitment ensures that the habit becomes an integral part of your life, leading to long-lasting change.

Understand that habit formation is not an overnight endeavor but a gradual process that unfolds over time. Acknowledging this from the start can help set realistic expectations for progress and foster a mindset geared towards sustained effort. Keep your eyes on the long-term benefits, allowing your vision of the future to motivate you through periods of waning enthusiasm.

7) Reward Yourself

The last, and most important step is to reward yourself for practicing your new habits. Positive reinforcement plays a crucial role in solidifying new habits, as it taps into the brain’s reward center, encouraging you to repeat the behavior.

Rewards can trigger the release of dopamine, which is associated with feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. So you’ll soon begin to associate, at an unconscious level, the pleasure of the reward with such habits. You set up your force field of positive consequences that you unconsciously look forward to as the result of engaging in the behavior or habit that you have decided upon.

Embrace Your New Habits Each Day

Each step in the habit formation process is designed to build a habit as well as the resilience, discipline, and consistency needed to turn your desired behaviors into automatic practices that enhance your life and propel you toward your goals.

As you implement these steps to building new habits, keep in mind that patience and perseverance are your greatest strengths. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and there will be moments of struggle and doubt. However, if you’re able to overcome these challenges, the true strength of your commitment is tested and your capacity for change is realized.

If you want to learn how to accomplish your next goal of building a new habit, download my free 14-Step Goal-Setting Guide. By following these steps, you’ll eventually find that the habits you form are not just new behaviors but stepping stones to a more fulfilling and purposeful life.

Did you know you can make your dreams and aspirations a reality by focusing on your own individual personal development plan?

Your potential is limitless, and investing in personal development is a way to harness your many talents.

Establishing goals for what you want to achieve — where you would like to go in the short term or long term — can improve your personal development.

In this guide, I’ll help you understand what personal development means and its importance, what a personal development plan is and why you should make one, and how to write a personal development plan.

I’ll also share with you my personal development plan template to get you started on your path to reach your personal development goals, complete with helpful examples and resources to support you.

What Is a Personal Development Plan (PDP)?

A personal development plan is a guideline for your life and your future success.

Personal development is an ongoing process of improving oneself through conscious habits and activities. It is the pursuit of personal growth to enhance your quality of life and to achieve your dreams and aspirations.

When you create a plan, you start to define the kind of person you want to be, the skills you want to have, and the accomplishments you want to achieve. And then you map out your long-term and short-term goals to realize these aspirations and set timelines for when you want to reach them.

Many people underachieve in their careers because they do not realize the areas of personal development that can help achieve mastery in any field.

Effective leaders focus on continual self-improvement and know there is no substitute for hard work.

When you practice self-discipline by setting a goal, making a plan, and working on it every day, you will see personal development and progress within your career.

The Importance of Personal Development

Most of the time, what you think about is what you become. From the moment you wake up until the moment you close your eyes at the end of the day, everything you experience plays a factor in your development.

When you take greater control over your experiences, you can guide your personal development and accelerate toward what you want to become instead of leaving it to chance.

Setting, striving for, and meeting personal development goals opens up a world of new possibilities for you to increase your quality of life.

For example, as a result of creating and following your personal development plan, you may gain more responsibility for work and open up opportunities for higher pay. This growth could qualify you for a better career trajectory to increase your overall happiness, job satisfaction, and ability to provide for the life you want for you and your family.

Focusing on your personal development also gives you better decision-making abilities so you can avoid problems that may have plagued you in the past or are holding you back now.

At the end of the day, personal development helps you create more positivity and harness the power of positive thoughts, which can transform your life.

When you give time to yourself by focusing on your professional and personal growth, you are better able to achieve your version of success because of personal development opportunities.

Personal Development vs Self-Improvement

Recognizing the difference between self-improvement and personal development can be a little tricky.

While they are similar in that they are both very instrumental in achieving your goals and improving yourself, there are key differences between a self-improvement plan and your own personal development plan.

Personal development is the work you are putting in to transform yourself on a daily basis. It’s the efforts you’re making to advance in your work, lifestyle, attitude, physique, and sociability.

Setting personal and professional development goals and creating a plan helps you take full advantage of any opportunity that may come your way and make the most of your potential.

Self-improvement is an inner transformation. It is a self-motivated study to improve one’s character, status, or knowledge by their own efforts.

Self-improvement is a lifelong process of constantly searching for ways to change your habits so you can reach your fullest potential.

The specific efforts you put into personal development lead to self-improvement.

The 7 Categories of Personal Development

Focusing on personal development categories such as personal skills, personal growth, and personal power can create habits for personal improvement.

Personal growth is founded on education and skill. Through education and experience, you increase your skill level and your ability to succeed in your field.

There are seven main categories of personal development.

Personal Skills

Personal skills can be ones you were born with as well as those you gain through deliberate practice. They’re often referred to as soft skills.

Examples of personal skills are decision-making, teamwork, organization, and communication.

If you’re looking to develop skills at work, try working on your personal skills. The highest-paid, top individuals in their field are the ones who focus on growing their personal skills.

Knowing what areas you excel in and which need development is very useful in your personal and professional life.

Personal Growth

Having a personal growth plan is one of the first steps toward bettering yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone.

Humans and the human mind are constantly evolving. Think about it: you are not the same person you were a year ago. You’ve learned more, grown in many different ways, and have experienced more life events to further shape your personality, beliefs, and world outlook.

To experience personal development and have a growth mindset, strive to be a better version of yourself today than you were yesterday.

Personal Power

Personal power is the authority others believe you to have in certain situations and is fueled by your contacts, knowledge, and financial status.

Developing an ever-widening circle of contacts, seeking to learn more, and growing financially increases the number of doors that others will leave open for you to step into.

Expanding your network, knowledge base and financial status will also allow you to help others do the same, further increasing your personal power and opportunities for personal development and growth.

Personal Improvement

Personal improvement stems from good work habits and having a positive mental attitude.

Thinking before you act is critical to developing a strong amount of personal improvement. To help you think first, try to set priorities on a list and consider the likely consequences before beginning.

Working on personal improvement and generating a positive mental attitude will also reduce the amount of time that it takes you to achieve your goals.

Personal Empowerment

Personal empowerment is similar to Personal Power, except empowerment is the power to reflect what you see within yourself, instead of how others view you.

Promoting a positive image and adopting creativity within your daily life can speed up the time it takes to achieve personal empowerment and your goals.

To help you increase your personal empowerment, consider looking for new, creative ways to finish a project in a faster, easier or cheaper way without compromising the end result.

Personal Analysis

It is very important to be conscious of areas in which you are naturally gifted as well as analyze areas in which you need improvement. This is called personal analysis.

Being truthful about where you currently stand is the first step to moving forward. You should be constantly evaluating where you are when achieving your goals and ambitions.

Personal Objectives

Ambition goes to waste when there are no clear goals in sight. Developing clear direction for short-term and long-term goals is a pivotal step in actually accomplishing them and growing as a person.

Having a set plan will help you have a clear understanding of which strategies are necessary to reach your desired destination.

Why Make a Personal Development Plan?

The reason you need to create a personal development plan is that making a plan will help guide you to better decision-making and remind you of where you want to go.

In other words, good preparation increases the probability of success and decreases the risk of things going wrong along the way.

Creating a plan for personal development helps you get a better sense of control over your life and will make you better prepared for whatever comes your way.

Consider these benefits of having one:

• It brings your vision to reality.
• It ensures you take appropriate and logically planned action.
• It helps you improve your time management skills so you can achieve your goals.
• It’s a plan to keep track of progress, which serves to motivate you when you want to give up.
• It’s been proven to reduce stress, improve balance in life, and increase self-confidence.

Developing your personal development plans and goals for work can make the difference between success and failure. Creating a self-growth plan for your personal life can mean the difference between life-long happiness and regret.

Skills & Objectives

The objectives of personal development are continuous personal growth, increased potential for success, and capitalizing on potential opportunities.

You can practice your personal development skills by setting aside time for the important people in your life, performing action exercises that force you to perform at the highest level, and studying growth performances to help ensure you continue to climb the ladder of success.

An action plan has to include measurable objectives so you know the exact steps it will take to reach your goals. Objectives break your larger personal goals into bite-sized pieces so you can know where you are headed and check off your progress along the way.

There are no limits except for the limits you place on yourself with your thinking.

Commit yourself to a life of constant learning. Even if you are at the top of your field, there is always something to learn.

Once you have mastered a new skill, move on to learning another one. Constantly learning new skills keeps your mind fresh and active and opens doors that would otherwise be closed to you.

You will become unstoppable and you will see your entire future open up in front of you if you live a goal and growth-oriented life.

How to Set Personal Development Goals

Before you can set up a plan, you need to do some self-reflection and answer personal goal questions.

A few questions you should develop before laying out an idea for a specific plan of action are:

• What do I want to make out of my life?
• What are my goals and ambitions?
• What is currently standing in my way of achieving these goals?

After answering those questions, you can create a personal plan that contains a few key components.

The key components you should focus on are having a specific outcome that you are constantly working towards, planning and paving a path towards achieving it, being mindful of the obstacles, and understanding the bigger motivation behind your actions.

When developing a personal development plan for work, you should focus on SMART goals. SMART stands for “Specific”, “Measurable”, “Achievable”, “Relevant”, and “Time-Bound.”

By following this easy-to-remember acronym when goal setting, you can improve both your personal and professional life:

• Specific: Write goals that are detailed and clear instead of broad and general.
• Measurable: Set milestones that will let you know you are achieving your goal.
• Achievable: Make goals that are challenging yet can realistically be achieved.
• Relevant: Align your goals with your personal self-improvement plan.
• Time-Bound: Pick an end date by which you want to achieve your goal.

Set Goals for Professional Life

To make progress that you can see and track in your professional life, you need to document a detailed plan of action for your personal development.

Some examples include answering the following questions:

• What do I want to learn?
• What do I have to do?
• What support and resources will I need?
• How will I measure success?

Be as specific with your answers as possible. The more precise, the easier it is to track your progress.

Seeing how far you have come and how your hard work is paying off will give you a boost of confidence and provide a sense of accomplishment.

Some examples of personal development goals for work include the Golden Hour and the 21-Day Mental Diet.

The Golden Hour Rule

The Golden Hour Rule steers the trajectory of your day.

Beginning your day early and investing your first hour in yourself will make a tremendous difference in the way you feel, and you will begin to see positive results in your day.

You will begin to see yourself in a more positive light and improve on your self-awareness and personal development.

The 21-Day Mental Diet

The 21-Day Mental Diet personal leadership plan example means waking up early and investing at least the first two hours of your day in yourself.

With this extra time, set clear goals you can work to achieve in the workplace. This can improve your productivity and efficiency to help you get that promotion or earn a raise.

Your goals may also include education. You need to learn more to earn more.

Try setting a goal to read something educational, motivational, or inspirational every day before you go to work.

Set Goals in Your Daily Life

Outside of the workspace, it’s important to focus on some personal goals as well. Similar to your work plan, your personal plan requires you to focus on key points to achieve your goals.

Here are some sample questions to ask yourself:

• What are the important goals that you want to achieve?
• When is your set deadline?
• What are your biggest strengths?
• Who or what are your biggest threats?

There are several aspects of personal development disciplines that will make achieving success possible if developed correctly.

A few of these disciplines include goal setting, planning and organizing, and concentrating on high-value activities.

Goal Setting

Goal setting can be done in the early morning and take only a few minutes of your day.

It can be as simple as purchasing a spiral notebook and writing out your ten goals at the beginning of each day. This will program them deep into your subconscious mind and help you actually follow through on accomplishing them.

Planning Your Day

Planning and organizing at the end of the day can help you better prepare for the coming day.

When you plan out your day, put it down on paper, you can begin to visualize your important tasks and make sure you are working to complete them throughout the day.

Concentrating On Your High-Value Activities

High-value activities are the things you choose to do throughout the day that will give you the biggest return on your efforts to get you closer to your goals.

Concentrating on your high-value activities will help keep you focused and contribute to your success as much as any other discipline you can develop.

Promoting the highest value activities will make a powerful difference in how quickly you achieve them and the goals they relate to.

Personal Development Plan Template

Creating a plan for personal development will help you get a better sense of control over your life and your goals…and it doesn’t have to be a daunting task!

Follow this template to get started and achieve your goals.

There are six core steps in this template that will help you take action and measure your progress.

Step 1: Set Your Goals

Write a list of the top 10 most important goals you would like to achieve. I encourage you to really write them down somewhere — on paper or on your computer — instead of just keeping them in your head.

People who write their goals and have a clear plan are 30% more likely to achieve their goals.

Search deep within yourself and identify the things you really want out of life. Do not be hindered by thoughts of roadblocks that may get in your way. Open yourself up to all the possibilities that would make you truly happy in life.

These are life goals. Life goals are meant to be challenging, so they may seem huge, overwhelming, or even scary. But that’s why they will be broken down into digestible and manageable smaller goals.

For example, providing for your family is an important long-term goal, but figuring out the steps to get there is the challenge. Your smaller personal development objectives will help you identify those steps so you have a clear road map to follow.

With each of the 10 goals you identify, also define your “why:” Why do you want to achieve this goal? What will it mean for your personal life, your career, your mental health or, your loved ones?

Knowing your why will help set you up for success. It will keep you motivated to continue progressing forward until you have achieved what you want to.

Step 2: Prioritize Your Goals

Once you have identified your top 10 goals, write which of those 10 is the most important to you and why.

Starting with your highest priority goal, identify the short-term goals and steps that are needed to achieve your long-term goals.

What needs to happen today so you can move on to the next movetomorrow?

This may require some research on your part, depending on your goal.

For example, say your goal is to become a leader in your field. Some of the short-term goals you will prioritize to reach this personal leadership plan example may include the following:

• Choose a topic or niche in your industry that you want to specialize in.
• Learn everything you can about the issue by talking to people in your industry, reading about your topic, attending seminars and webinars, and so on.
• Educate others by writing regular blog posts.
• Start a podcast and offer valuable information.
• Give interviews on podcasts, local radio and TV stations, and news outlets.
• Write a book and get it published.
• Become a public speaker at industry conferences or hold your own conference.

Step 3: Create a Timeline for Achieving Your Goals

Setting goals and deadlines in your process is crucial. Without them, your goals can get lost in the everyday chaos of life or forgotten completely.

Write down a specific timeline for achieving each of your goals, but be realistic in your timing and know the likelihood ahead of time of achieving your goal within a certain timeline to avoid discouragement.

While you may want to become debt-free by next year, you will first need to do what is necessary to earn more income or reduce your expenses. This could involve getting more education, finding a better job, or making major life changes, which could take more than 365 days.

Once you assign a due date to each of your short-term goals, tackle the hardest goal first. This will help you realize you can actually achieve your goals faster and give you the motivation you need to propel yourself forward.

If you’re unsure of the timeline you should set for accomplishing your goals, speaking to other people who have achieved the goal you are striving for will help you set a realistic deadline.

Conducting online research could also help in defining a timeline to accomplish your goals.

Knowing that it takes four to five years to earn a Ph.D. in business lets you know how long it will likely take you. If you can only attend school part-time, you know it will take longer, perhaps twice as long.

Step 4: Analyze Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Write down your strengths and weaknesses. Remember that skills like perseverance, positive attitude, and creativity are strengths and weaknesses as much as educational level, experience, and having a strong network of professional contacts.

Focus on the attributes that are needed to achieve your goal. Then, write how your strengths can help you achieve this goal and how you plan to overcome those weaknesses.

Use a SWOT analysis to organize your thoughts and develop a strong strategy for achieving your goal. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Ask yourself questions similar to these to help you develop insights for each part of a SWOT analysis:

Strengths

• What sets you apart from your peers?
• What is your competitive advantage?
• What do others regularly praise you for?
• What do people ask you to help them with?
• What parts of yourself are you confident about?
• What values are important to you?

Weaknesses

• What do you usually avoid doing because you don’t think you can?
• What kind of tasks do you procrastinate?
• Where are you lacking in skills, experience, or education?
• What resources do you lack?
• What areas do you feel you need improvement?
• What gets in the way of your work performance or relationships with others?

Opportunities

• What technology can help you achieve your goal?
• What promotions or financial incentives are available at work?
• Who can help you reach your goal?
• What changes are happening or are projected to happen in your industry or personal life?
• What conferences, classes, or networking events are available to you?
• What are your competitors failing at that you can learn from and improve on?

Threats

• What obstacles do you face that may hinder your progress?
• Which of your weaknesses could lead to threats?
• Who is trying to achieve the same goal that may get in your way?
• What resources do you lack?

Step 5: Write an Action Plan

Write actions that you need to take to achieve your goal. These can be things you need to add to your daily routine as well as things you need to eliminate from it to achieve the success in life that you are looking for.

Doing this will help you to achieve each goal faster.

Whether you use a notebook or your computer, just make sure you’re also physically writing down your plan so you can see it every day and hold yourself accountable.

Step 6: Measure Your Progress

The final step in your personal development plan template is to mark your progress.

Write down what has been working well, what you have accomplished, what you still need to improve, and what skills or knowledge you have gained along the way.

People who set up a system to report on their goals weekly achieve 40% more than people who do not.

To help you in this final step, consider using a tracker to take notes, measure progress, and be analytical about what works and what does not.

Sometimes it is necessary to change courses midstream or add a step that you were not initially aware of. That doesn’t mean you should abandon your goal out of discouragement. It just means you need to adapt, and this is where a tracker can help you determine if it’s time to pivot.

Remember it’s okay to be flexible. Doing so will allow you to make changes when needed that will propel you toward your goal more efficiently.

This could be a good opportunity to use another piece of data about how people who write things down/journal are much more likely to be successful.

Personal Development Courses and Programs

Personal development courses, coaches, and programs can also help you hit your goals.

A personal development program accompanied by a personal development coach helps to keep you disciplined and moving forward.

If you are looking to transform your life, check out these courses and programs that include all of my knowledge, distilled into powerful lessons to help you achieve immediate success in your own life. They will teach you how to stop worrying and stressing out and how to take control of your life, forever.

Power Of Personal Achievement

Learn the right way to visualize your ideal future. This course will teach you how to set your goals and methodically achieve them with more efficiency than ever before.

This program will teach you how to ditch the negative emotions that have been hindering your success as well as how to redirect your energy and resources towards your personal mission.

The Science Of Self-Confidence

In this course, you’ll learn just about everything I’ve learned about self-confidence during the past four decades.

I reveal the secret of the four Cs that teach you how to escape the endless loop of failure. You will find your true self and, as a result, finally feel truly confident.

Maximum Productivity

This course will equip you with the skills to discover your special calling. You will learn everything you need to know how to take the shortest, fastest route possible to your destination.

Ultimate success is achievable when you know how to dramatically improve your productivity.

Create Your Personal Development Plan Today

Don’t wait to start improving your life.

Follow a personal development plan for work and your personal life or use a template to start accomplishing your goals and improving your life.

For the easiest way to get started, download my free Personal Development Plan Template to organize your goals over the next few months and years and optimize your success.

Inspirational quotes can help motivate us and create a positive outlook on life and work when we need it most. They do so by harnessing the power of positive thinking. Reframing our brains to think positively is a key step in leading a happy and successful life.

You make a choice when you decide how you will react to any given situation. If you’re choosing (sometimes subconsciously) to complain and think negatively, your natural reaction will be to dwell on the negatives of every situation.

When you actively choose to think positively, regardless of how absolutely ridiculous it may seem, you will turn the situation into a development plan for growth, helping you become a better problem-solver and leader. Over time and after reframing your mind to think positively about problems, you’ll stay motivated, inspired, and empowered to take on any challenge that comes your way!

While reading through this list of the best motivational quotes in English, I recommend writing down some of the best inspirational and motivational quotes that resonate with you and your current situation. After writing them down, find the most motivational thought or the most inspiring passage, read it out loud, and then really try to understand the meaning.

You may find these inspirational quotes may come in handy when you’re having a hard day and need a little extra encouragement a and motivational line!  So read these, write some down, and refer to them often.

Inspirational Quotes

The power of positive thinking is remarkable. When you think of something that brings you joy, your brain releases endorphins. Those endorphins fill you with the feeling of well-being.

Positive thinking helps you frame your mindset and change your life.

But when we feel down, it’s often difficult to conjure up things that make us happy. That’s why having some positive inspirational quotes or a motivated line on hand can be helpful in situations like that.

From short inspirational quotes and widely relatable anecdotes to motivational quotes specifically about work and life in general, here is a list of some of my favorite inspirational quotes.

Inspirational Quotes For Your Personal Life

1. “People tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if you’re lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.”— Carrie Ann Moss
2. “Some women choose to follow men, and some choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.” — Lady Gaga
3. “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”― Allen Saunders
4. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”― George Bernard Shaw
5. “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot ― it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” ― Maya Angelou

Inspirational Quotes For Positive Thinking

6. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
7. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
8. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
9. “Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you’re willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” —Lou Holtz
10. “The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
11. “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!'” — Audrey Hepburn

Inspirational Quotes For Happiness

12. “You are who you are meant to be. Dance as if no one’s watching. Love as if it’s all you know. Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean
13. “You do not find the happy life. You make it.” — Camilla Eyring Kimball
14. “You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, Love like you’ll never be hurt, Sing like there’s nobody listening, And live like it’s heaven on earth.” ― William W. Purkey
15. “Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.” — Dalai Lama
    
16. “Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

Inspirational Quotes For Dark Times

17. “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” — Aristotle
18. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” -Dale Carnegie
19. “You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character.” — Unknown
20. “Fairytales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairytales tell children that dragons can be killed.” – G K Chesterton
21. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler

Inspirational Quotes From Fairy Tales

22. “Just because it’s what’s done doesn’t mean it’s what should be done!”- Cinderella
23. “With a smile and a song, life is just like a bright sunny day. Your cares fade away.” – Snow White
24. “It’s no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” – Alice, Alice In Wonderland
25. “When we get to the end of the story, you will know more than you do now…” – Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen
26. “The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will’. Consider nothing impossible then treat possibilities as probabilities.” -Charles Dickens

 Inspirational Quotes For Risk-Taking

27. “Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow.” — Mahatma Gandhi
28. “It is only when we take chances, when our lives improve. The initial and the most difficult risk that we need to take is to become honest. —Walter Anderson
29. “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”- Walt Disney
    
30. “Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”- Brian Tracy
31. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”- George Addair

Inspirational Quotes To Build Confidence

32. “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”– Helen Keller
33. “We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action. Fear is nature’s way of warning us to get busy.” –  Dr. Henry Link
34. “The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others.” – Hasidic Proverb
35. “What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle and giving 110% all the time.” – Don Zimmer
36. “Fake it until you make it! Act as if you had all the confidence you require until it becomes your reality.” – Brian Tracy
37. “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”― Marilyn Monroe
38. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela
39. “Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
40. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” —E.E. Cummings
41. “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” Zig Ziglar

Inspirational Quotes To Help You Excel

42. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”— Vince Lombardi
43. “Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality.” –  Malala Yousafzai
44. “The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” ― Walt Disney
45. “Leaders set high standards. Refuse to tolerate mediocrity or poor performance.” – Brian Tracy
46. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” –Vince Lombardi
47. “It is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.” — Queen Elizabeth II

Inspirational Quotes To Overcome Bad News

48. “When one door closes, sometimes we need to turn the knob to open another…” –  J.A. Tran
49. “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
50. “Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today.” – Will Rogers
51. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
52. “Leaders never use the word failure. They look upon setbacks as learning experiences.” – Brian Tracy

Inspirational Quotes For Positive Thoughts

53. “We become what we think about” – Earl Nightingale
54. “There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking.” – Brian Tracy
55. “Inspiration comes from within yourself. One has to be positive. When you’re positive, good things happen.” – Deep Roy
56. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller
57. “Develop an ‘attitude of gratitude.’ Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything you do.” – Brian Tracy

Inspirational Quotes To Stay Motivated

58. “Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.” – Robert H. Schuller
59. “The future belongs to the competent. Get good, get better, be the best!” – Brian Tracy
    
60. “Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller
61. “Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just one step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
62. “For every reason it’s not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and succeeded.” – Jack Canfield

Famous Quotes from Successful People

In your success journey, inspiration guides and motivates you through challenges. Explore the wisdom of successful people who have not only achieved greatness, but have also left a trail of inspiration for others to follow.

Inspirational Quotes By William James

63. “It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” – William James
64. “Belief creates the actual fact.” — William James
65. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” -William James
66. “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”― William James
67. “If you can change your mind, you can change your life.”― William James

Inspirational Quotes By Henry David Thoreau

68. “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”― Henry David Thoreau
69. “Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.”― Henry David Thoreau
70. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ― Henry David Thoreau
71. “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” ― Henry David Thoreau
72. “There is no remedy for love but to love more.” ― Henry David Thoreau

Inspirational Quotes By Oprah Winfrey

73. “You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.” — Oprah Winfrey
74. “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” — Oprah Winfrey
75. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” – Oprah Winfrey
76. “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” ― Oprah Winfrey
77. “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”― Oprah Winfrey

Inspirational Quotes About Life By Ralph Waldo Emerson

78. “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
79. “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
80. “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
81. “Life is a journey, not a destination.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inspirational Quotes By Albert Einstein

82. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”― Albert Einstein
83. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
84. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” – Albert Einstein
85. “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” – Albert Einstein
86. “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

Motivational Quotes

Motivational quotes, like the inspirational quotes above, are meant to inspire action. These quotes have the potential to encourage you to become the best version of yourself.

Let your positivity and optimism inspire you and lead you to find success elsewhere. That’s my favorite way to achieve success.

These quotes are here to help motivate you to reach your peak performance. Read them when you need a push to work towards your goals.

You experience external change only once you change internally. Start today and watch how everything around you begins to change!

Motivational Quotes To Be Successful

87. “When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.” – Paulo Coelho
88. “Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other.”- Brian Tracy
89. “While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.” Henry Link
90. “Imagine your life is perfect in every respect; what would it look like?” – Brian Tracy
91. “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” Chuck Palahniuk
92. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.” – Maya Angelou
93. “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
94. “Reading is to the mind, as exercise is to the body.” – Brian Tracy
95. “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” —George Lorimer
96. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
97. “Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see further.” —Thomas Carlyle

Motivational Quotes To Pursue A New Dream

98. “Waiting insistently in front of a tightly closed door is unfair to all of the open doors! Give a chance to the open doors!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan
99. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
100. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
101. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go. Dr. Seuss
102. “You make a choice: continue living your life feeling muddled in this abyss of self-misunderstanding, or you find your identity independent of it. You draw your own box.”— Duchess Meghan
103. “The key responsibility of leadership is to think about the future. No one else can do it for you.” – Brian Tracy
104. “Make your life a masterpiece, imagine no limitations on what you can be, have, or do.”  – Brian Tracy

Motivational Quotes For Moving Forward

105. “Every closed door isn’t locked and even if it is…YOU just might have the key! Search within to unlock a world of possibilities!”― Sanjo Jendayi
106. “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”— Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa
107. “It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone.” Mahatma Gandhi
108. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”― Robert Frost
109. “I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.” – Michael Phelps
110. “To see what is right and not do is a lack of courage.” – Confucius.

Motivational Quotes To Stay On The Right Track

111. “Life has got all those twists and turns. You’ve got to hold on tight and off you go.”— Nicole Kidman
112. “The effective leader recognizes that they are more dependent on their people than they are on them. Walk softly. ” – Brian Tracy
113. “One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.” – Michelle Obama
114. “Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, ‘It can’t be done.’” – Eleanor Roosevelt
115. “It takes courage to examine your life and to decide that there are things you would like to change, and it takes even more courage to do something about it.” – Sue Hadfield

Motivational Quotes To Stay Positive

116. “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” – Og Mandino
117. “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” – John Wooden
118. “It hurt because it mattered.” – John Green
119. “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” -Zig Ziglar
120. “Make sure your worst enemy is not living between your own two ears…”― Nitya Prakash
121. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton
122. “Life changes very quickly, in a very positive way, if you let it.”  – Lindsey Vonn
123. “Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot
124. “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg
125. “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.” —Muhammad Ali

Motivational Quotes For A Successful Outcome

126. “The only limits you have are the limits you believe.” Wayne Dyer
127. “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” ― Marie Curie
128. “Do what you can with all you have, wherever you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
129. “Change the world by being yourself.” – Amy Poehler
130. “Change the game, don’t let the game change you.” – Macklemore

Short Motivational Quotes

130. “Self-doubt kills talent.” Edie McClurg
131. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt
132. “You get what you give.” – Jennifer Lopez
133. “Your life only gets better when you get better.”- Brian Tracy
134. “Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” – Jim Rohn

Motivational Quotes For Work

135. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” — Michael Jordan
136. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs
137. “Entrepreneurs are great at dealing with uncertainty and also very good at minimizing risk. That’s the classic entrepreneur.” – Mohnish Pabrai.
138. “If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” – Steve Jobs
139. “Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.” – Brian Tracy

Motivational Quotes To Change The World

140. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”— Maya Angelou
141. “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”- Rob Siltanen
142. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”- Mahatma Ghandi
143. “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffet
144. “Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.” – Brian Tracy

Motivational Quotes For The Whole Human Race

145. “War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate.” — Marvin Gaye
146. “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
147. “Light tomorrow with today!” –  Elizabeth Barrett Browning
148. “Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination.”  – Mae Jemison
149. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”― Mae West
150. “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” — Henry Ford

Motivational Quotes by Famous People

In a world that often presents numerous challenges and obstacles, motivation helps push you forward toward your goals. Here, we’ll look at the empowering words of successful people who have made a significant impact on the world.

Motivational Quotes By Martin Luther King, Jr.

151. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
152. “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
153. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
154. “The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
155. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Motivational Quotes By Winston Churchill

156. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill
157. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
158. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”― Winston Churchill
159. “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” ― Winston Churchill
160. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” ― Winston Churchill

Motivational Quotes By Thomas Edison

161. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. There is no substitute for hard work.”  – Thomas Edison
162. “A genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.” – Thomas Edison
163. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”― Thomas A. Edison
164. “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this – you haven’t.”― Thomas Edison
165. “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.” ― Thomas A. Edison

Stay On Track With Daily Inspirational Quotes

These positive quotes can push you towards progress and help you accomplish the goals you create for yourself.

Use these words of inspiration whenever you feel like you need a boost. They can guide you through any challenge and allow you to face any situation head-on. But the encouraging words do not stop here. I have so much more to share with you to boost your confidence and keep your mind focused on all the positive possibilities you can accomplish.

Sign up today to receive my Daily Motivational Quotes Email every day for the next 30 days. These daily quotes are sure to get you inspired for success!

The impact of goal setting is something that cannot be overstated, and deciding to set beneficial goals for yourself is the first step toward improving your life in a significant way.

While setting a goal for yourself is an all-important first step, real progress is achieved when you put your goals into action.

This is why I created the Smart Goals Cheat Sheet – to help people from all walks of life set and achieve meaningful goals in a way that is both straightforward and effective.

If you would like to get as much benefit as possible out of this helpful goals action plan, here are a few tips that you can follow.

1. Set Your Main SMART Goal

A SMART goal is an acronym standing for “Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound”.

In other words, a SMART goal is specific and easy to define, one that is relevant to the progress you are trying to make, one that is not so challenging that it is unachievable, one that allows you to measure your progress and results, and one that is bound by a deadline that forces you to complete the goal within a specific time frame.

SMART goals are the most beneficial type of goal that you can set for yourself, and, as the name suggests, the Smart Goals Cheat Sheet is built around this specific type of goal.

Decide on the first and most important SMART goal that you would like to strive towards and you’ll be ready to begin progressing through your goals action plan.

2. Create Milestones

Most long-term goals can be broken down into milestones, and these milestones equate to short-term “mini-goals”, so to speak, that enable you to define and reach checkpoints along the way.

By breaking down your SMART goal into these milestones and checkpoints, it becomes much easier to motivate yourself as well as keep track of your progress.

Creating milestones for your SMART goal means that you will always have short-term goals to strive toward as you work toward your primary goal.

Breaking down a major goal into these short-term goals can make the entire pursuit seem much more doable as well as provide you with a motivating sense of reward each time you reach a new milestone.

3. Identify Potential Pitfalls

Whatever goal you are working towards, there are bound to be pitfalls and obstacles along the way.

Identifying and preparing for potential pitfalls ahead of time, therefore, is the best way to keep these pitfalls from catching you by surprise and derailing your progress.

Take the time to sit down and visualize what the road to reaching your goal will actually look like, and write down any obstacles that are likely to stand in your way.

By the time you reach these obstacles, you’ll be ready for them.

4. Outline a Schedule

One of the most important characteristics of a SMART goal is the fact that SMART goals are time-bound.

A goal that has no deadline can forever be placed on the back burner, meaning that setting a deadline for yourself is essential if you want to keep yourself motivated.

Meeting the deadline that you set, though, means that you will need to create and stick to a schedule.

Once you’ve broken your goal down into milestones, divide those milestones up into a schedule that promotes steady progress toward your main goal.

Track Your Progress

Having divided your goal up into milestones and having created a schedule for when you would like to meet those milestones, the final step in the Smart Goals Cheat Sheet is to begin working toward your goal and keeping track of your progress.

Measuring your results and keeping track of your progress serves to keep you on schedule as well as keep you motivated.

So long as you are making progress toward your goal and achieving real results, tracking that progress can serve as a powerful source of motivation.

Conclusion

If you have set a SMART goal for yourself, stay committed and get through your next challenge.

By following the tips outlined above, you should be well on your way to reaching the goal you’ve set.

For more help improving your ability to set and reach meaningful goals, download my SMART Goals Cheatsheet today.

The power of positive thinking is remarkable.

In fact, the idea that your mind can change your world almost seems too good to be true.

I can assure you, however, that I have experienced AND witnessed the good and positive light that having a positive mindset can bring.

Both positive and negative thoughts are powerful but have opposite results. Today I want to talk to you about how both can impact you, and how the power of positive thinking can truly transform every aspect of your life.

The Benefits and Power of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking means you look for solutions and expect to find them.

You don’t ignore problems, but instead of complaining about them or letting them overpower you, you actively look for ways to overcome them. You take responsibility for your life on a consistent basis because you understand you are in control of how your life progresses.

A positive thinker finds the benefits — or the bright side — of challenges and expects things to work out well.

We’ve all felt a rush of energy after hearing a speech on the benefits of positive thinking, so let that be your sign that it works!

Having a positive attitude means you have an optimistic outlook. An optimistic attitude means you have hope. You believe things will work out well and ultimately you will have success.

Scientists have been studying the health benefits of positive thinking for a long time. Research suggests that positive optimistic people tend to have better mental health and physical health and even live longer.

Having a positive outlook can give you a reduced risk of having a heart attack, getting a cold, and being depressed.

Positive thinking can lower a person’s risk of death from serious illnesses, including cancer, infections, heart disease, stroke, and lung conditions. It improves the outcomes of patients with brain tumors and traumatic brain injury and boosts your immune system.

A positive state of mind even gives you a higher pain tolerance.

When you have a positive outlook, you are better equipped to take action, cope with stress and hardships, think more creatively, and be better at problem-solving.

Thinking positively puts you in a better mood and as a result, helps you to form positive relationships with co-workers, family members, friends, and new acquaintances.

Signs of Positive Thinking

How do you recognize a positive mindset? People with positive attitudes tend to have a healthy lifestyle. They smile more, are more pleasant to be around, and are more calm under pressure.

Someone with a more positive outlook is often willing to try new things. They have higher self-esteem, love to have a good laugh and point out the silver lining in every gray cloud.

A positive outlook is infectious, and people with a positive outlook can’t help but share it with those around them.

Positive thinkers are always kind to people and don’t talk negatively about themselves or others.

People with more positive thoughts have better coping skills and know how to manage stress better by doing things like exercising more often and having a healthier diet.

The Effects of Negative Thoughts

The opposite of an optimistic attitude and a positive outlook is a pessimistic outlook.

Negative emotions and thoughts put limitations on your brain activity and ability to make choices.

When you are faced with a destructive emotion, such as fear, you can think of little else except what you are fearful of.

This can be helpful when you are in a dangerous situation and you instinctively think of running away from it so you can be safe and protect your well-being.

But fear is detrimental when it prevents you from trying something new that could change your life for good because you are afraid you might be laughed at, rejected, or fail.

The same is true for anger, jealousy, sadness, loneliness, annoyance, guilt, frustration, and other negative emotions.

Negative thoughts prevent us from progressing, and having a negative outlook prevents us from being happy. It affects both your mental and physical health and well-being.

Pessimistic attitudes attract more negativity to you. Complaining, being cynical, not trusting, and blaming make it more likely that disappointing things will continue to come to you.

This way of thinking can cause specific mortality issues as well. A 35-year prospective cohort study conducted with over 13,000 elderly men and women residents of the Leisure World retirement community in California found that people with a negative attitude have an increased risk of death than those with a more positive mindset.

It is also linked to cardiovascular disease. Emotions like worry, depression, loneliness, chronic stress, and anger are characteristics of thinking negatively, and they can all increase your risk of heart disease.

Signs of Negative Thinking

Turn a negative thought into a positive one by recognizing the signs of a pessimistic outlook.

One sign is perfectionism. When you set standards that are impossible to reach, you constantly set yourself up for failure.

Another sign of a damaging attitude is anticipating that the worst will happen without any facts to back that up. You may feel like the whole world is against you and more bad things happen to you than good.

When you get to the end of your day and obsess about the negative events that happened but filter out all the many positive experiences you had, you are allowing a harmful attitude to control your outlook on life.

Those who do not make a habit of thinking positively see a glass half empty instead of half full. They focus on what they do not have instead of being grateful for what they do have. The forefront of their thinking is about what is going wrong instead of what is going right.

People with negative attitudes also tend to:

• Automatically blame themselves when bad things happen
• Blame others instead of taking responsibility for their own thoughts or feelings
• Magnify minor problems into much bigger negative events
• Dwell on past experiences and mistakes instead of looking toward the future
• Focus on minor details instead of seeing the bigger picture
• Have poor stress management skills and do not make their mental health a priority

Practice Positive Self-Talk vs. Negative Self-Talk 

Stop negative self-talk with the positive things you say to yourself, words of encouragement, recognition of your successes, and sincere compliments that build your self-esteem.

Self-talk is the thoughts that run through your head. Sometimes we are not even aware of the stream of thoughts that are playing in our subconscious mind.

But if we tap into our thought processes, we can have more control over whether we are practicing more positive self-talk or the opposite.

If your internal dialogue is mostly positive, you are a positive thinker. If it’s often negative, it reflects in a bad attitude and pessimistic outlook.

Positive thinking creates positive emotions, positive attitudes, and positive results, whereas negative thinking will keep you stagnant.

Let me show you some ways you can replace pessimistic thoughts with positive thoughts:

• Instead of saying, “I don’t want to do that, I’ve never done it before,” say, “I’ll try it because I may learn something new.”
• Instead of thinking, “I’m never going to get better at this,” say, “I’ll try again until I figure it out.”

We tend to be hard on ourselves, but we need to be our biggest cheerleaders.

So when you feel you’ve made a mistake or even failed at something, think instead, “What can I learn from this so that I’ll be more successful?”

Don’t think about what if you fail, think about what if you succeed.

How to Practice Positive Thinking

You can train your mind to think positively by leveraging a simple scientific concept: Your working memory can only focus on a few concepts at a time.

For example, have you ever found it difficult to talk on the phone and listen to someone else at the same time?

So, to help you train your mind, all you have to do is keep it focused on uplifting thoughts until you form the same types of neural pathways that are created when you establish a new habit. With focused practice, you make a habit of more positive thinking.

Practice the virtues of positive psychology, which focuses on building your physical and mental health along with character traits like courage, gratitude, hope, humor, knowledge, and encouragement.

When an adverse event occurs, remember that it’s your response that truly determines the outcome. Always look for a positive response or optimistic lesson when such events take place.

Use the following eight strategies to develop a positive mental attitude and have a more positive outlook on your life and the world around you.

Know Yourself

Identify what your unfavorable habits are so you can assess areas of needed change.

Notice the thoughts you have during the day. Where does your mind wander to when you are driving, walking, or your hands are busy? What kind of internal dialogue do you have when you are faced with challenges, negative situations, or the mundane aspects of daily life?

If your answers to those questions were related to negative thought patterns or habits, start to replace them with positive ones.

Start by identifying the parts of your life that tend to cause negative feelings and thoughts. It might be a relationship, your morning commute, co-workers, a family member, work environment, or other responsibilities.

Then, think of positive ways you can approach these circumstances. Start small by focusing on one issue at a time and apply principles of positive psychology with self-talk and a good attitude.

Are you a glass-half-empty person, or a glass-half-full one?

Get in touch with the inner workings of your mind by asking yourself if you fall into any of these thought patterns:

• All or nothing: I didn’t do it perfectly, so I failed.
• Jumping to conclusions: Things aren’t going well now, so obviously it’s not going to end well.
• Emotional reasoning: I feel she doesn’t like me, so it must be true, even though there is no evidence to back it up.
• Overgeneralizing: I didn’t make my sales quota this month, so I’m a terrible salesperson.
• Mental filter: I got one negative comment on my social media post, and even though there were 20 positive comments, it must have been a bad post.

Find Good in the World

Optimists seem to have different ways of dealing with the world that set them apart from the average.

Optimists look for the good in every problem or difficulty.  When things go wrong, as they often do, they say, “That’s good!”  They then set about finding something positive about the situation.

What we know is that, if you are looking for something good or beneficial in a person or situation, you will always find it.  And while you are looking, you will be a more positive and cheerful person.

An excellent way to find more good in the world is to develop better coping skills. Try some of these ways:

• Make meaningful connections with family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, or groups.
• Focus on finding solutions instead of worrying about the problem.
• Look for opportunities to learn new things.
• Accept change as a natural part of life, and understand you can’t change some things.
• Face challenges head-on instead of ignoring them or wishing they’d go away.
• Keep things in perspective by not blowing a situation out of proportion.
• Take care of yourself by eating healthy, exercising, and relaxing.

Be Clear About Your Goals

Optimists keep their minds on what they want and keep looking for ways to get it. They are clear about their goals and they are confident that they will accomplish them, sooner or later.

Focus on what you want out of life and make a plan to move forward. Don’t allow setbacks to discourage you. Instead, remind yourself that positive things can come out of all situations.

Refrain from comparing yourself to others. You are a unique individual who has your own story to tell.

Successful people define what is most important to them and prioritize the activities of their daily lives so that they will meet their goals, despite tough situations, distractions from the outside world, or the negative aspects or attitudes of others.

Goal setting gives meaning to your life. It gives you something meaningful to focus on and provides a reason to have a daily to-do list of important things to accomplish.

When you reach goals or the small milestones that lead to your final destination, you increase your self-esteem and motivation, both of which make you a more positive thinker.

Practice Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations are positive phrases that can be repeated over and over to teach you how to get rid of negative thoughts and encourage a positive outlook.

Peer-reviewed studies support the health benefits of affirmations. For example, a recent study conducted by members of James Cook University in Australia found that self-affirmations have a positive effect on coping skills and well-being.

A positive person thinks positive thoughts and uses positive words. Choose your words carefully in speaking, writing, and thinking.

The words you choose affect how others respond to you. Stop complaining and make a habit of sharing positive information.

Stay positive by choosing words like “I can,” “I will try,” “It is possible,” and “I am capable.”

Add positive affirmations to your morning routine, such as “I am happy with who I am right now, ” “I am confident,” “I am strong,” “I am enough,” and “I choose to be happy.”

Add Positivity to Your Everyday Life

Positive people help you to change your own attitude to have a more positive approach and outlook.

Surround yourself with people who make you feel confident, optimistic, and encouraged. Identify the negative people in your life and find ways to distance yourself from them or improve the relationship.

Watch and listen to positive media, including upbeat music, news, and social media posts. Read books, articles, and blog posts that boost your positive mindset.

Even colors and images affect your attitude. Pay attention to the way your home and office are decorated. Hang photographs and pictures that make you think positive thoughts and help you maintain a positive attitude. Use colors in your surroundings that make you happy.

I also find motivation from inspirational quotes and messages to be very useful when trying to induce positive thoughts. Keep a collection of positive quotes in a journal, on your Pinterest board, in the notes on your phone, or in a document on your computer, and refer to them often.

Decide to Be Happy and Have a Positive Outlook

While it is healthy to have sad moments when circumstances call for it, you can maintain an overall positive outlook on life.

Resolve from now to see your glass of life as half full rather than half empty. Happy people give thanks for the many blessings in life rather than worrying or complaining about the things they do not have.

Assume the best of intentions on the part of everyone around you.  Most people are pretty decent, honest, and trying to do the very best they know how to.  When you look for something good in their words and actions, you will almost always find something.

Looking on the bright side is most important when things go wrong. It helps you to find perspective, cope, and have hope that things will get better.

Feel Grateful

When you practice gratitude, you look at your life in a more positive way.

You notice the things that are going well, the positive aspects of your life that bring joy, and the random acts of kindness others extend to you.

Spend time each day cultivating a positive mindset by writing what you are grateful for in your gratitude journal. Take note of positive events, feelings, and circumstances.

You will find this one habit will improve your mental health and well-being and soon, practicing positive thinking will be natural to you. Writing regularly in your gratitude journal creates a habit of guiding your thoughts toward what you are grateful for.

So, in the same way that you write down your thankfulness, you will find yourself automatically thinking of gratitude in every circumstance you find yourself in during the day.

Smile, Play, and Laugh More Often

A simple smile can turn a bad day into a good one. Harness the power a smile has on yourself and others by making a habit of smiling more often.

Find reasons to smile and let yourself be happy.

Taking time to play is helpful to maintain a positive outlook. Schedule time for recreation and spending time with people you like doing things you enjoy.

Have a playful attitude. When you stop complaining about negative or stressful situations, and find humor instead, you are able to breathe deeply and diffuse stress.

Smiling, playing, and laughing help reduce stress, which makes you happier and healthier, naturally leading to positive thinking.

Positive Thinking Creates Positive Outcomes

Developing a positive attitude can help you in more ways than you might realize. When you think positive thoughts, you don’t allow your mind (conscious or subconscious) to entertain any negative thoughts or doubts. Positive thoughts can literally be the key to success.

After you learn how to think positively, you will notice amazing changes all around you. Your brain will actually begin to operate in a state of free-flowing feel-good hormones called endorphins, which will make you feel lighter and happier.

You’ll also notice a major boost in confidence and will feel more capable of taking on new assignments and challenges that might have previously been outside your comfort zone.

By reducing your self-limiting beliefs, you will effectively release your brakes and experience growth like you never imagined. Essentially, you can change your entire life simply by harnessing the power of positive thinking.

Begin now to harness the power of positive thinking by practicing these habits to keep a positive attitude. Write down your goals and use my SMART Goals Template to help you develop new skills and create new ideas on how to cultivate and keep a positive outlook.

85% of Americans say they don’t know how to prioritize as well as they would like. Have you ever missed a deadline, forgotten something important, or not accomplished something you’d like to do? If so, learning how to set priorities could be the answer.

Setting priorities is one of the most important skills to master in order to achieve success in life. It can be difficult to determine what is truly important and where to focus your time and energy. This is why it’s so essential to prioritize tasks. By sitting down to think critically about which to-do’s are most important–which ones will “move the needle” toward your goals–you can accomplish your dreams and plans more quickly.

In this article, I will share a practical guide with my best tips on how to set priorities in life to realize success. You’ll learn how to evaluate tasks, determine top priorities, and the best methods of carrying out the specific tasks that are necessary.

The Importance of Setting Priorities in Life

Setting priorities is essential for personal and professional success. Without clear priorities, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks and responsibilities we face on a daily basis. Setting priorities is crucial for effective time management, focus, goal achievement, stress reduction, and decision-making.

Before you get started with your personal priorities, take a minute to look into the future. Where do you want to be five years from today? Create a mental picture of your ideal, best future, and then think about the steps you’d need to take to make it a reality.

Remember, it doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that really matters is where you are going. And making a priorities list–including the daily priorities and even the unpleasant tasks that will help you reach your life goals–is the quickest way to get there.

Essential Steps to Setting Priorities in Your Life

Prioritizing tasks will help you narrow in on the granular, day-to-day work you need to do in order to realize the big picture. Here are the key steps you need to follow to set your priorities and get started with all the tasks that are necessary.

Step #1: Clarify Your Values and Vision

Before you can drill down into priorities and tasks, you need to first identify your core values and beliefs. These are the things that matter most to you in life. Examples might include integrity, hope, compassion, family, honesty, justice, fun, innovation, or health. It’s important to know what these are because they inform the way you live your life.

Next, define your long-term vision and purpose. Think of your vision as your “why.” Vision helps you zoom out and look at the big picture, understanding the most important things that you’d like to accomplish in life. The purpose is similar. Your purpose gives your life direction. Often, purpose relates to your unique gifts or talents.

You should prioritize your goals based on your values and vision. For instance, maybe one of your core values is justice, and you have the vision to start a nonprofit. In that case, your goals might be to figure out what social issue matters most to you and how you could meet the need; choose a name, and mission statement, become incorporated, file for tax-exempt status; and create a business plan.

This is just one example. Everyone has different values and beliefs. However, it’s important to understand that you need to know what matters to you before you can begin prioritizing your life.

If you need help setting the right kind of goals, start with my SMART Goals Cheat Sheet. This free resource walks you through how to clarify your goals and focus your effort. It’s a good starting place for anyone hoping to learn how to set priorities. And from there, you’ll be on your way to success.

Step #2: Evaluate the Importance and Urgency

Sit down and write a list of all your tasks and responsibilities. Include tasks that are related to your job or professional life; your personal life; and any other things you’d like to accomplish. From here, you’ll order your list according to which tasks are most important to help achieve your goals, and which ones are least important.

Once you’ve determined how your tasks rank, start by knocking out the most important ones first. Never give in to the temptation to clear up small things first. Don’t start at the bottom of your list and work up to the important tasks at the top. While this is a natural human tendency, it’s not effective or efficient.

When you begin clearing up your small tasks, you seem to attract more and more small tasks to work on. This doesn’t increase productivity. The longer and harder you work, the more small tasks seem to arise. By the end of the day, you will be exhausted, and you won’t have accomplished anything of value. This is why I recommend always starting with your most important work first.

Step #3: Determine Your Top Priorities

Categorize the tasks on your list into “high priority,” “medium priority,” and “low priority.” Here’s a hint: The items that align best with your values and vision will have the greatest impact on your success.

If you’re struggling to figure out which single task to start with, try using a tactic I like to call the ABCDE Method. Here’s how it works:

• “A” items are the most important and must be done
• “B” items only have minor consequences if they don’t get done
• “C” tasks have no consequences
• “D” tasks should be delegated to someone else so you can focus your energy on “A” tasks
• “E” items are not truly necessary and should be eliminated

Once you have your list written out, start with “A” tasks first. If needed, it’s okay to have multiple “A” tasks. Write them as A-1, A-2, A-3, etc.

Step #4: Assess Potential Roadblocks

When it comes to goal setting, like most things in life, it’s best to be proactive. Brainstorm any obstacles or roadblocks you might run into as you’re trying to complete the most important thing on your list. Then figure out how you will approach those problems to avoid distractions and keep your productivity up.

This problem-solving mentality is a good perspective to have. Unfortunately, life is not smooth sailing all the time–so you’ll save yourself time and headaches later if you tackle your goals and other tasks with solutions prepared in your back pocket.

You can also think about the potential consequences of completing or not completing each task. If a task has serious consequences, make it a high priority. An example of a task with consequences might be a report that your boss needs for an important meeting. If you don’t get this important task done, it will reflect badly on the company and on you. Tasks with consequences should take priority. Easier or smaller tasks can wait.

Step #5: It’s Okay to Say No

Setting priorities also means learning to say no to tasks that are not important or do not align with your goals. This will help you stay focused on your most important tasks and prevent you from getting sidetracked by less important ones.

If you’re like many people, you might have trouble saying no. This could be because you want people to like you; you’re afraid of conflict; or you enjoy staying busy and helping others. While these are all natural reasons, you can’t do everything. And if you feel like you have too many priorities, this could be a sign you need to learn to say no.

Don’t feel guilty about turning down a request. Here are some phrases to use:

• “Unfortunately, I don’t have the bandwidth for that right now.”
• “I’m afraid I can’t. Maybe ask X instead?”
• “I’m honored you asked me, but I can’t fit this in at the moment.”

Step #6: Create A Plan

Once you’ve determined your priorities, make a plan to tackle each task. Break down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable steps, and set deadlines for each milestone. This will help you stay on track and make progress toward your goals.

Remember, the first 20% of any task usually accounts for 80% of the value of that task. Once you begin working on that task, the first 20% of the time that you spend planning and organizing the resources necessary to achieve the task usually accounts for 80% of your success. In setting priorities, always focus on the first 20% of the task. Get on with it and get it done. The next 80% will tend to flow smoothly once the first 20% is complete.

For example, if you’re in sales, getting the initial appointment where you meet face-to-face with the decision maker is the first 20% of the transaction. But it accounts for 80% of the value in the entire sales process. The presentation, the closing of the sale, the follow-up, and the delivery of the product or service represent the second 80% which only accounts for 20% of the value. This is why you need to identify where to start with each task and then dive right in.

Step #7: Re-Evaluate Regularly

Our priorities in life can change over time. This is natural and okay. But it means you need to re-evaluate regularly. This will help you stay focused on your goals, and ensure that you’re putting your time and energy into the tasks that matter most right now.

Schedule time in your calendar on a regular basis to review your goals, set priorities, and plan ahead. You might choose to do this once every quarter. Reflect on your current goals and consider whether they still fit your vision and purpose. If so, continue with your task list full speed ahead. If not, you may need to tweak those goals–or, in some cases, go back to the drawing board to come up with new ones.

Additional Tips to Help You Commit to Setting Priorities

Be Realistic

Yes–there is such a thing as having too many priorities. And if you’re overdoing it with setting goals, you’re going to be vulnerable to distractions, burnout, and negative feelings. A long to-do list is not always better! How many priorities is too many? Stay realistic about your abilities, resources, and energy: I recommend focusing on no more than 3-5 priorities at any given time.

Identify What’s Urgent

An urgent task is something that needs attention right away. This could be a phone call that needs answering, or someone asking you to edit a project. Keep in mind that an “urgent” task is not necessarily the same thing as an “important” task. Tasks that are important help move the needle with your long-term goals and plans. This is why important tasks should usually take precedence over urgent ones.

Make A To-Do List

Put your organizational skills to work and prioritize tasks by always working from a list. When something new comes up, add it to the list before you do it. I recommend taking a few minutes at the end of each workday to write a to-do list for the next day.

Focus on What’s Important

Not all of your to-do list items have to get done right away. Figure out what’s most important and start there. Remember, the one task that is likely the most important at any given time is the one that’s going to contribute to your long-term goals. If a task is both important and urgent, it needs to get done right away. But if the items on your list are either important or urgent, do the important ones now, and schedule a time later for the urgent ones.

Break It Down

Painlessly set priorities by using the ABCDE method outlined earlier in this article. Then give yourself clear deadlines for each task. Working through a series of small, bite-sized tasks feels much less intimidating than jumping headfirst into big ones.

Be Flexible

I wish I could tell you that your plans are going to go off without a hitch, and you’ll easily achieve your goals in no time at all. But you and I both know this probably isn’t true. Life happens. Schedules change. Problems arise. This is why you need to be flexible–able and willing to pivot at a moment’s notice. Make it easier to adapt by proactively coming up with solutions to potential problems.

Delegate

You don’t have to always do everything by yourself–especially certain tasks that might not fit your skill set. Learn the art of delegation to get more done in less time. To delegate effectively, find someone who has the skills and knowledge needed for this task. Then, if they’re available, be clear about the timeline, outcome, and other expectations you’re looking for. Make yourself available to answer any questions throughout the process.

Take Breaks

Taking breaks might seem counterintuitive if you’re working hard to achieve your priorities and goals. But in reality, rest and play are important parts of the process. Take off at least one day each week where you do nothing except rest–spend time with family or friends, move your body, participate in a hobby you enjoy, whatever it looks like for you. You will find that you feel refreshed and ready to jump back in.

Celebrate Progress

All work and no celebration is a fast track to burnout. Don’t forget to stop once in a while, look around at everything you’ve accomplished, and pat yourself on the back. Whether you take a vacation, treat yourself to a nice dinner out, or simply acknowledge that you’re doing a great job, it’s important to celebrate the progress you’re making toward achieving your goals. Congratulations on a job well done!

Learn to Set Priorities For Success

Setting priorities is a key ingredient for achieving success in life. By clarifying your values and vision, determining your top priorities, creating a plan and schedule, and being flexible and adaptable, you can achieve your goals and live a fulfilling life. 

Remember to regularly re-evaluate your priorities, adjust your plan and schedule when necessary, and learn to say no when something doesn’t align with your values and vision. With these practical tips, you can set priorities in life for success.

If you need help setting the right kind of goals, start with my SMART Goals Cheat Sheet. This free resource walks you through how to clarify your goals and focus your effort. It’s a good starting place for anyone hoping to learn how to set priorities. And from there, you’ll be on your way to success.