are you ready for an · we all have dreams. ... it’s like procrastinating, except ... this step...

This is the stuff they don't teach

you in school. Yes, reading,

writing and arithmetic are

important subjects, but what I'm

about to share with you is the

very foundation for achieving

your dreams.

This will take you step by step

through setting up goals that you

can achieve. By the time you

finish reading, you will have the

keys to reaching your dreams.

A quick word of warning… once you know the secret for setting amazing goals,

you will be unstoppable.

Are you ready for an

amazing life?

© 2014 GirlsCantWhat.com How to set AMAZING GOALS and achieve them! Page 2 of 16

It starts with vision

We all have dreams.

I'm not talking about the

ones where you’re

standing in front of your

class giving a speech in

your underwear and

then you wake up. I'm

talking about the things

you want to achieve in

your life.

Some dreams are wild and vivid and others not so much, but every dream starts

with a vision. The clearer you can see your dream, the more likely you are to

actually achieve it.

Successful people start with a clear vision of what they want and what they don't

want. They write down their goal in as much detail as possible so that if someone

else were to read it, they would have no trouble imagining every detail.


Writing about your goal is very important. It gives your brain the freedom to

explore and create your future life. Imagine how you will feel when you achieve

your dream. What does your life look like? Who are the people in it? What

changes will you see in yourself?

Make notes of everything you can think of.

The other reason this step is so important is that you need to know what success

looks like so you know when you have arrived. When your goal is clearly defined,

you will know the moment you reached it.

Dream big here if you wish or focus on a smaller, short‐term goal. It's your life.

You get to choose. What are you aiming for?


Measure

Don’t set a goal like "get in the

best shape of my life" because

you can't measure that. Basically

what you want to do here is

attach a number to your goal. The

number is what you will use to

determine if you have achieved

the goal or if you need to make

adjustments to your plan.

Try framing your goal as something with a start and a finish, like "eat a nutritious

breakfast every day for a month". You can easily know whether you achieved

that goal or not because it's very specific. That is a date‐based number. It’s well

defined by the number of times you will perform an action within a specific

amount of time.

Bonus tip: Measurable goals like the one in that example are a great way to kick

start better habits or develop new routines in your life.


Other ways to attach a number to a goal

can include money. With a money‐based

goal, you have to be careful ‐ especially if

you are relying on other people in terms of

sales. However, financial goals are very

achievable. Money‐saving goals or goals

that help you changing your spending

habits can be life‐changing.

You can also use a percentage‐based goal

where you strive to increase or decrease

something. It still boils down to an actual

number but sometimes a percent is easier

to track than an individual number.

Since your goal can be anything you want, use whatever number format attracts

you. Personally, I tend to use both. I like to track my goals in a spreadsheet so I

have a quantity written down and then another column that tells me what

percentage of my goal I have reached so far. It’s very motivating and also very

exciting to watch the percentage go up as I get closer to completing it.

Start by setting a date. Smart goals have dates attached to them. Even smarter

goals have multiple dates attached. At the very least put a start and finish date on

your dream. You can make adjustments later, but pin down a time frame so you

can measure your progress along the way.

© 2014 GirlsCantWhat.com How to set AMAZING GOALS and achieve them! of 16

Break it down

This is where we get down to

business. Goals are awesome

and exciting at first and then

Monday rolls around and it’s

“Oh crap... I promised myself

I’d do WHAT?”

Yeah. We’ve all been there.

So here’s what needs to happen to get over that hurdle. You’ve got to take your

big, amazing dream and break it down into small steps. No, I mean really tiny

steps. Like if your dream is to write a book, then your first task would be to

sharpen your pencil (or open a new document in your word processing program).

The smaller the step, the better.

Why so tiny? Because when it’s Monday and you’re tired and you don’t want to

do the thing you said you’d do because of all the other things you have to do, do

you know what you’re most likely to do? You are most likely to cherry‐pick the

smallest, easiest task from your list. So make sure that the first step toward your

goal is the smallest, easiest task on your to‐do list. It’s like procrastinating, except

you win.


Breaking down goals doesn’t have to be hard. You can be detailed with this or you

can just write out a few basic steps. The amount of steps you need to break out

are highly dependent on the type of goal you have so you’ll have to use your best

judgement here.

Some pointers I have to offer

on this step is to break out the

big chunks first. Then break

down those big chunks and so

on and so forth until you have

some very manageable action

steps. I prefer to make an

outline as I break each step

down. It helps me connect all

the pieces and creates a map I

can follow.

Another great tip is to think through things chronologically. If your dream is really

big with a lot of steps, try to lay it out so you can see the path you need to take.

There may be some steps that can’t take place until other steps have been

completed. This is another reason why I like to create outlines of my goals.

Take your time with this step and if you feel overwhelmed, just start with the big

chunks and only break down the first one. This is your dream so there’s no right

or wrong way to do this.


Schedule

If it's not in your schedule, it won't

happen. Truth.

I used to hate schedules and planning

and all of that stuff. It annoyed me

because I’m an intuitive thinker and I

could instinctively figure out what I

needed to do at each level. But as my life

got crazier and crazier and my dreams

got bigger and bigger, I realized the only

way I could manage them was by

learning to manage my time.

Tip: Setting time‐management goals can help you learn new skills fast and you’ll

pick up some great new habits in the process.

Scheduling your goals means putting everything on the calendar. Yes ‐ everything!

Especially my goals. Mastering a calendar is not that hard. You need to be diligent

in writing down everything that you do in a day. If it takes you 90 minutes in the

morning to workout, shower and grab breakfast, then just block off that time slot

and write “Morning Routine”. You don’t have to go overboard, but you do need

to see where your time goes.


Once you have your basic schedule down, start taking some of the pieces you’ve

just broken down in the previous section and start adding them to your calendar.

Remember to keep them small so you won’t feel overwhelmed or crunched for

time if your day gets out of control.

Smart phones are really great

for scheduling and I will post

some app recommendations on

the Girls Can't WHAT? blog. For

now, use whatever method you

feel comfortable with and start

making your schedule. Most

successful people are very

disciplined with their time. It

takes some practice, but it’s

worth it.

Now we all know that our days never go as planned, right? So why bother to even

create a plan? Here’s the thing... your plan is just a roadmap. Use it as a guide to

get where you want to go, but don’t worry if you hit a detour from road

construction or get stuck behind a really slow truck. It happens. Reschedule and

move on. I treat my goal appointments the same as I would a doctor’s visit or a

lunch date with a friend. If I have to reschedule, then I reschedule. I do not skip

them or delete them.


Review and revise

Doing this step increases my

productivity by 500% every time. It’s

called “The Weekly Review” and you

guessed it ‐ it’s on my calendar.

Reviewing your goals often is critical

to your success. Goals are not always

straightforward. Big dreams require

lots of edits and changes happen

along the way. People change their

minds, ideas shift and life happens.

You will, at some point, need to

modify your plan to make it work.

This step is the one people get the most hung up on. It’s easy to give up and quit

when you have setbacks. But here’s how successful people handle it. They stop,

review the circumstances and revise their game plan. It’s that easy. I recommend

doing this weekly, no matter how big or small the goal is.

Here’s a really cool tip that professional athletes use to breakthrough

performance blocks. They learn how to anticipate the pitfalls. Here’s an

example...


If your goal is to stop drinking soda and you know you’re going to be out with

friends where soda is going to be in your face at every turn, take a moment to

walk yourself through that scenario. Close your eyes and picture yourself

choosing an ice cold bottle of water. Imagine drinking the water and think about

how good you will feel when you make that healthy choice and stick with your

goal. Play that over and over in your head a few times. Repetition is key.

Now when you get together with your friends, press that replay button in your

head and make the right choice. It works! But it only works if you do it in advance.

Trying to exert willpower in your moment of weakness is setting yourself up for

failure. You’re going to have to brainstorm as many scenarios as you can think of

where temptation might throw you off track. In fact, add a brainstorming session

to your calendar and make some notes on what could go wrong and how you will

handle those situations. Be your own superhero!


Celebrate

Right now, I have a reward sitting on my desk. It’s a little gift I’m giving myself for

completing the daunting task of creating this eBook and also for the work it will

take to get it on the Girls Can't WHAT? site, promote it and all the other technical

stuff that goes along with it.

Yes, I am excited about writing this and I’m

motivated to do it, but it still takes a lot of

work. Having a reward waiting makes it even

more fun. So when the last task is complete for

my goal of launching this project, you can bet I

will be diving into that 20lb. box of vintage

LEGO bricks and a celebration will follow.

Reward yourself for crossing that finishing line!

Rewards can be anything you want. They can be large or small. Usually the larger

the goal, the bigger the reward should be. This is another judgement call on your

part. Make it something you REALLY want. If it’s only sort of interesting, then you

won’t push yourself to get to it. Make it worth your effort!


Your reward should also be visible. You should place it out where you will see it

daily. Whether that is a photo on your bathroom mirror or an unopened box of

LEGO on your desk, make sure you are seeing it every single day.

If you don’t have the item in your possession, snap a photo of it and make it the

wallpaper on your phone. Just make sure it’s posted somewhere that you can’t

miss it. Don’t let it get lost on your refrigerator door, either. If you’re posting it on

the fridge, then remove everything else so it’s the only thing you see.


Make It Happen

I hope you’ve picked up some great tips on setting amazing goals and making

them happen. I know this is a lot of information to digest so take it at your own

pace. You can do it!

There’s one more huge tip that I’d like to share, but I’ll give you some time to

work on your main goal and begin to implement some of these ideas before I send

it. You won’t want to miss it so check your inbox in a couple of days.

If you have any questions on setting and achieving your goals, post them on the

Girls Can't WHAT? Facebook page. I’d be happy to help you sort it out! We’d also

like to hear what your crazy, awesome goal is so please post it on our Facebook

page as well so we can cheer you on as you work to achieve it!


http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Ffacebook.com%2Fgirlscantwhat&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH5LZ5ymxEngB9SpCprsC56F5jtAQ

https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgirlscantwhat&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNF8ty32B_UczzMnGLo0wrNpY5eg0w

https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgirlscantwhat&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNF8ty32B_UczzMnGLo0wrNpY5eg0w

Who am I?

My name is Gretchen and I am not

your traditional girl. You won’t find me

in a dress picking flowers and talking

about cute shoes. I am most likely out

doing something that someone said

couldn’t be done.

My childhood experiences prompted me to create the Girls Can't WHAT? website

in 2005. It is here I share my personal experiences along with amazing stories and

interviews from some truly inspirational women. Together, our purpose is to

encourage women to pursue their dreams no matter what roadblocks they may

encounter.

P.S. Did you like the artwork on these

pages? You can make your own

custom Girls Can't WHAT? image with

our ColorizeME designer. Create your

own avatar or order personalized

t‐shirts, hoodies, tote bags and more.

Check it out!


http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.girlscantwhat.com%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEtownCsWeHCVEnKNarts9p6EzmNQ

are you ready for an · we all have dreams. ... it’s like procrastinating, except ... this step...

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