Do you ever feel overwhelmed or confused about goal setting? Especially when you’re trying to make progress daily, life gets busy as it usually does, and you end up with a long list and nothing accomplished, or maybe you accomplish something but it’s not exactly relevant or what you were supposed to do. In this post, I’m sharing with you 5 easy tips that you can start using to set your daily goals (and achieve them!)

If I had 1£ for every time someone told me they didn’t know how to start setting their goals, by now I would probably be rich.

The common denominator in what many people have told me, has always been: setting goals and achieving them is too hard.

Friends, today I’m here to tell you that goal setting doesn’t have to be difficult at all, and in fact I’m going to prove it to you in this post to make sure you start believing that too.

By the time you will be done reading this blog post, I know that you will have clear steps to put in practice right now.

Why is setting daily goals important?

Before we start, I wanted to talk to you about why I’ve decided to write specifically about setting and achieving your daily goals. First of all, I published a whole post last week about setting goals for the new year, so if you want to read that first, you’re welcome to do it then come back here, because the two things tie together.

Secondly, I am a huge believer that the big success and results are achieved through our daily actions and habits. Just like you need to get your workouts in every week for a few months at least to start seeing the result you want, this is exactly the same for every other area of your life.

Do you want to have a successful business? Start from the basics, educate yourself, do a few small tasks every single day consistently and you will start seeing results. Do you want to save £20k in 5 years? Guess what, you will need to have a plan and save a small amount of money every day/week/month.

I think you get my point by now, so let’s talk about why many people think that setting daily goals is hard.

1. They set unrealistic expectations – The truth is, a day is only made of 24h, so as much as we can try to squeeze everything in, that won’t be possible or sustainable.

2. They are not clear on where they are going – As I mentioned in my previous blog post, you need to have a vision and know where you are going, in order to take small steps daily and weekly to get to that.

3. They don’t know how to prioritize – this is probably the biggest struggle people face. They are working a lot so they think that must be good, but in reality, what they are doing hasn’t moved the needle in their business or life.

These are the 3 of the main reasons why many think it’s hard to set daily goals because truly they are just overwhelmed with where to start. I know that if you are reading this, you are probably struggling with it too, and I don’t want you to feel bad about it. In fact, I want to encourage you and let you know that it’s totally fine to not have a clue, what matters is that you are willing to learn and apply the tips I’ll share with you so that you can see an improvement in your life.

So if you allow me, I’m going to share with you my 5 super easy tips now.

5 easy tips to set your daily goals (and achieve them!)

1. WRITE A TO-DO LIST

I include this as a first step, because you need to know where you are going before you start taking any action. Ask yourself: what do I need to achieve today? What are my responsibilities? What deadlines do I have? And think about any other thing that comes to your mind that you need to accomplish on the day. If you want to make sure that you write an effective to-do list, you can check out my post to get some useful tips.

2. WRITE A NOT-TO-DO LIST

This comes right after step 1, because as much as you need a to-do list to know what you need to do, you will also need a not-to-do list, to make sure that what you’re doing actually matters. Let me explain… Have you ever worked for hours and hours and thought that because you were so busy, you were surely being productive, only to realize you hadn’t been so productive after all? That’s why a not-to-do list is so needed, because it will help you avoid doing things that you think are important, but they are actually going to make you procrastinate. I don’t want you to fall into that trap of thinking that being busy means being productive, because oftentimes it’s the exact opposite. So think about some things that you think you might need to do, but that are actually not moving the needle in your life and business, and assign them to a day where you will have the time to make them happen. Another important thing to add to the not-to-do list, is writing down all the distractions that are going to prevent you from achieving your goals; does pointlessly scrolling on social media sound familiar? Then you know what to do!

3. FIGURE OUT YOUR PRIORITIES

Once you’ve written your to-do and not-to-do list, you need to identify your top 3 priorities. Why do I say 3 specifically? Because chances are, when you’ll read your long list and you feel like you have to do it all on that day, you’re likely going to get really overwhelmed and not do anything at all. Instead, by focusing on your 3 priorities for the day (in order of urgency/importance), you will make sure to get those tasks done first, and if you do have time left, you can focus on other things too. But don’t believe that listing everything as a priority will help you be clear on your goals, because it won’t. Evaluate which top 3 are actually relevant to you on a specific day, and tackle those ones first.

4. LOOK BACK AT THE BIG VISION

This is another really important step, because as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, your daily goals are going to help you achieve your big vision and move closer to it. If you don’t know what you want from a specific year, how are you supposed to know what to do on a daily basis? That’s why at the end of every year, it’s really important to spend some time thinking and planning about what to achieve in the following year. Once you have your vision for the year and you check out the list written in step 1, do the two things align? Have you included in your daily list, some goals that will take you closer to achieving your bigger vision? Unless they are admin items (like we all have in our life) then you might want to delete those other things, because they are not aligned with your bigger vision.

5. DO SOMETHING FOR YOU

You might be wondering what on earth does this have to do with setting goals? The honest truth is, everything. The more I’m on this journey and the more knowledge and experience I get on this subject, the more I realize that without doing something for yourself every single day, you will quickly burnout, forget about achieving your goals. Sorry to bring it to you like this, but it’s just the honest truth. When you are not connected to your mind, body, and your needs as an individual before you put on the hat of mum, wife, carer, business owner, student, etc., it will be much harder to know how to set goals for your daily life. If you’re constantly rushing from one thing to another, and never take the time to stop, reflect, and look after yourself, you will not know where to go. You can’t always run on autopilot. So as part of your daily routine, make sure that you spend even as little as 15 minutes a day, doing something for you. That will bring your more clarity, and in turn it will help you to set effective goals to work on each day. If you don’t know where to start, you can read my post on how to practice self-care, to give you some tips and ideas to put in action now.

Related articles:

• How to set goals for the new year

• The number one secret to achieving your goals

I know I’ve given you a lot of information, and perhaps you might want to see this in practice, so here’s a very personal example of something I’ve done in my life.

When I was setting my goals and vision for 2020, I wrote down that I wanted to launch a blog. After some procrastination – and learning to deal with a global pandemic, I finally launched, so here are some of the goals I set for myself daily to make sure my blog can grow and it can impact as many people as possible.

1. Create all my content on Mondays to share on all my platforms

2. Engage with my audience daily

3. Set Friday aside to educate myself on blogging and running an online business

4. Don’t check the analytics every single day – chances are I’ll only get distracted from the more important tasks; once a week/month is completely fine

5. Make sure to spend at least 20 minutes a day reading a few chapters of a book; I need it to unplug, rest, and also grow as a person

I literally apply the same principle in all areas of my life, including health and wellness, my relationships, my career, and any other goals or passions I have. I am sure that you will become an expert at this, remember it’s important to do something consistently to truly master it, so start now and don’t worry about it being perfect.

I know that your life will become a lot easier and you will also have a lot more clarity when it comes to setting your daily goals and smashing them!