5 Steps to Accomplishing Your #1 Goal

Guest post by John Lee Dumas

Accomplishing goals can sometimes seem like the most unattainable, frustrating thing on earth. We know exactly what we want, so why can’t we make it happen?

It’s quite simple to set goals – even though most of us take the shortcut and don’t make them S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) – and perhaps that’s the first mistake we make.

But to make matters worse, (and this is why accomplishing goals can sometimes seem so unattainable and frustrating), we follow up our first mistake with several more… a lot of humming and hawing around things like:

Creating a plan to follow;
Making sure we have checkpoints in place;
Reviewing our progress along the way; and
Holding ourselves accountable.

After interviewing over 1,200 successful entrepreneurs, I’ve realized there is one thing every single one of them has in common: they know how to set and accomplish goals.

So I set out to create a resource to help those who aren’t currently setting and accomplishing goals make it happen. It’s called The Freedom Journal, and it guides you to accomplishing your #1 goal in 100 days.

Here’s how it works, in 5 steps.

1. Set your S.M.A.R.T. goal

No more shortcuts.

In order to accomplish your goal, you have to know exactly what it is you’re after. Setting a S.M.A.R.T. goal not only helps you get really clear on the ‘what’, it also helps you figure out what the ‘how’ is going entail.

Specific: you know exactly what it is you’re after
Measurable: you have a metric to help you track progress
Attainable: you know that with a plan in place you can get there
Relevant: it makes sense in relation to where you’re at
Time-bound: you have a deadline

2. Create a plan

Now that you have a S.M.A.R.T. goal, it’s time to put a plan in place to help you accomplish it.

Let’s say you’re a veterinarian who is passionate about helping dog owners keep their dogs healthy, and your S.M.A.R.T. goal is to:

Write a book on how to be a great dog walker (Specific & Relevant) that’s at least 100 pages long (Measurable) and that you’re going to publish on Amazon in 100 days (Attainable & Time-bound).

Now in order to write a 100 page book in 100 days, it seems like you can just commit to writing 1 page a day, and then you’ll be good, right?

Not quite.

There are a lot of other smaller steps that need to take, and milestones you’ll need to accomplish, in order to actually get this book published.

But because our goal is S.M.A.R.T., we know exactly what’s involved.

So, next steps is to create a list of all the things we’ll need to know / have in place in order to accomplish our goal:

Research other dog walking books to see what might be missing;
Learn how to publish a book on Amazon;
Hire a designer to help with the book cover;
Create an outline of the book (intro, chapters, conclusion);
Create a launch plan to help market the book;
and so on…

Now that you have all the steps written out, creating a plan involves putting them in a logical order, and setting a timeline for yourself for each step.

An example: by day 10, I will have completed my book outline and found a designer.

3. Set checkpoints

Now we have our S.M.A.R.T. goal and we have a plan in place; next up: we need to set checkpoints.

Depending on your deadline, these checkpoints might be 10 days apart, or they might be 2 weeks apart.

I like to use 10-day sprints as my checkpoints because 10 days is definitely enough time for me to complete a specific step, and it’s not so far in the future that I might lose sight of where I’m at.

Each time I come up to a checkpoint, I’m going to look at my notes, confirm whether or not I’ve hit my micro-goal (just one step on my journey to accomplishing my BIG goal), and adjust my plan moving forward if needed.

For example, if my goal on day 10 was to have completed my book outline and found a designer, and I’ve completed my book outline but I still haven’t found a designer, then I need to account for that time in my next 10-day sprint.

4. Review progress, reflect

Checkpoints are also a great time to review your progress and reflect on the work you’ve done thus far.

Three important questions to ask yourself during your review & reflect period are:

Am I where I should be right now, progres-wise?
What am I doing that’s working well?
What am I doing that’s not working well?

The first question is going to help you determine if you need to speed up your timeline in order to hit your deadline, or if you’re on pace. Example: not having found a designer by day 10 like you had planned means that you’ll need to account for that time during your next sprint.

The second question will help you double down on the actions and steps you’re taking that are helping you make progress towards your big goal.

The third question is going to help you determine where you need to pivot. If something isn’t working, then stop doing it and find a better way that is going to help you make progress towards reaching your big goal.

No plan is perfect, and so it’s important to stop and review your progress and reflect on your actions to ensure you continue moving forward towards your big goal.

5. Accountability

It’s the last step here, but it’s something that has to be happening every single day you’re working towards accomplishing your goal, starting on day 1.

Lucky for us, accountability is built in to each step before it:

Your S.M.A.R.T. goal is a constant reference point for you, making it easy to check back on exactly what you said you were going to do;
Your plan gives you specific steps you can follow, so there’s no “guessing” when it comes to what the next step is (no excuses!);
Your checkpoints force you to sit down and hold yourself accountable to completing your micro-goals on time;
Your review & reflection periods keep your overall progress top-of-mind – you’re constantly reminding yourself of where you are, and where you said you’d be.

Accountability is the biggest struggle I see individuals experiencing when it comes to accomplishing their goals, and it’s why I know The Freedom Journal will impact many.

Setting goals is simple, but actually accomplishing those goals isn’t easy.

It takes preparation, planning and dedication to achieve what it is we want most, and in my experience, no matter what your goal, it’s contributing to the freedom you want to see in your life.

So, is your freedom worth it?

Visit TheFreedomJournal.com today and accomplish your #1 goal in 100 days.

John Lee Dumas is the founder and host of EOFire, an award winning Podcast where he interviews today\’s most successful Entrepreneurs 7-days a week. JLD has interviewed over 1200 Entrepreneurs and EOFire generates over 1 million monthly listens. John continues to inspire Fire Nation to conquer their fears and take the Entrepreneurial leap!