Have you set goals that have no deadline? Often people set generic goals like ‘To become a bestselling author’, ‘To get a new job’, To lose a stone’ or ‘To buy a house’.
Now don’t get me wrong setting a goal with a deadline is better than nothing, but I know you don’t want to set mediocre goals. To set great goals you need to be including a deadline and keep reading to find out why.
1) A deadline will help you create a clear action plan with milestones.
When you have a clear deadline you are then able to make a more detailed action plan as you can include timings on when you need to take actions and the milestones you need to hit. Think of how a marathon runner prepares for a marathon. They know by a certain date they need to be able to run the 26.2 miles. They then consider how far they can run at the moment and then create a training schedule that includes milestones of certain running distances. This sort of training schedule means they know exactly when they should be running, but also they can be monitoring their progress so they are ready for their deadline. If you are serious about your goals you should be creating an action plan just like a marathon runner’s training schedule. Set time in your diary to take action and clear markers so you can review if you are making the necessary progress to action your goal on time.
2) A deadline will help you prioritise
It is likely that you have more than one goal. In fact, you should have goals to be supporting the different sides of your life. However, with limited time, money and other resources there will be times when you have to prioritise. Having a deadline means you can quickly assess what goals are the most important at the moment and what should be a priority over others.
3) A deadline should help motivate you
When you set a goal without a deadline it is easy for you to keep pushing it back. Next week, next month, next year. We all know that person who says they are going to do something and another year rolls around and they haven’t done anything to make their dream more of a reality.
Setting a deadline should help mean that when you are tempted to skip doing the necessary work you think twice. If you have left minimal wiggle room for achieving your goals you should feel the pressure to keep on taking action and achieve your goal on time.
There is no doubt that setting deadlines will help you achieve your goals
By now I hope you can see how setting a deadline will help you achieve your goal. If you haven’t set any goals yet you can grab the PropelHer #GoalDigger Guide to help you set and achieve your goals.
I would love to know in the comments below what impact setting a goal in the past has had on you.
