Why setting goals will make you more successful in 2024

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Setting goals helps you get clear on the direction your business is headed… so you can prioritize the right tasks, stay focused on what matters most and avoid wasting time on unnecessary activities.

Do you feel like you are constantly being pulled in 100 different directions all at once? Do you feel there is always too much to do and never enough time to do it? Do you feel like, no matter how hard you work, you just never see the kind of success that you’ve been hoping for? Do you feel overwhelmed, frustrated and demotivated?

OK, time for some tough love…

Because here’s the thing… Not every task on your to do list is going to move the dial by the same amount. Some tasks will move the dial a lot, while other tasks will only move the dial a little… and some won’t move the dial at all.

The trouble is, many bloggers and online business owners focus far too much time on the tasks and activities that barely move the dial, and far too little time on the tasks and activities that move the dial a lot.

In fact, all too often, the tasks and activities that would move the dial the most are the very activities that languish at the bottom of the to do list… and NEVER GET DONE!

Which means you never even get close to the kind of success you’ve been hoping for…

And this results in feelings of frustration, overwhelm, demotivation and stress.

So what is the solution?

The solution is to SET GOALS.

Here’s why setting goals will make you more successful…

Closeup of a dartboard with one arrow stuck in the board.

Setting goals helps you define success

The first reason why setting goals will make you more successful is because it forces you to define success.

What does success look like to you?

One of the big reasons why bloggers and online business owners are not more successful is because they’ve never spent any time thinking about what success actually looks like.

If you have never done this before, I recommend you spend 5 minutes with your eyes closed imagining your business in 12 months’ time. Imagine that you have had a really successful year:

What does your blog/business look like?
How much money are you making?
How many hours are you working?
Who is your business impacting?
What sort of impact is your business having on those people?
How much are you enjoying what you do?
How do you feel about your business?

Now, with your eyes open again, write down what you imagined.

This short activity will help you define what success means to you, which in turn will help you figure out what your Big Picture Goals should be.

Setting goals helps you decide which tasks to spend your time on

One of the biggest reasons why bloggers and online business owners are not as successful as they could be is because they spend far too much time on the wrong activities and far too little time on the right activities. It’s all too easy to get bogged down in day-to-day activities and lose sight of the bigger picture.

But here’s the thing, until you know which direction you are heading in, how can you know which are the right activities to focus on?

However, once you have done the visualisation exercise above, got clear on your own personal definition of success and defined your Big Picture Goals, you can then make much better decisions about which blogging tasks and activities will get you to where you want to be.

Setting goals helps you to get clear on the direction you want to go, which in turn helps you identify which tasks and activities will help you get there.

Once you have got clear on your Big Picture Goals, I recommend you spend some time looking at all the tasks on your to do list and decide which of those activities will get to your goals the fastest – then make sure you prioritize those activities going forwards.

(Need some help with this? Grab yourself a copy of my ebook Blog Smarter Not Harder, where I take you step by step through how to identify and focus on the tasks that truly move the dial.)

Setting goals helps you avoid spending time on the wrong activities

One of the big problems with blogging is that there are hundreds of activities you *could* be doing but there are only a limited number of hours in the day.

This can make blogging feel like the impossible challenge… constantly juggling a hundred and one things and never actually achieving anything.

One of my favourite productivity quotes is from a book called Willpower Doesn’t Work, by Dr Benjamin Hardy. He says…

‘Success isn’t that difficult; it merely involves taking 20 steps in a singular direction. [The problem is] most people take one step in 20 different directions.’

If you don’t set goals, you will end up taking one step in 20, 30, or even 40 different directions but you’ll never actually GET anywhere – and consequently you’ll never see the success you’ve been hoping for.

And that’s what happens to most bloggers… they feel constantly pulled in dozens of different directions, and so they try to do a little bit of everything… and ultimately end up achieving nothing… because they are taking one step in 20, 30 or even 40 different directions.

If you want to be successful in business, you don’t just need to get clear on your definition of success and decide which activities to prioritize to get you there… You also need to decide which activities you are NOT going to do.

Because here’s the thing – no matter whether you have 5 hours or 50 hours a week to spend on your blog – you will NEVER have enough time to do everything you *could* do as a blogger… so don’t even try! (If you try, you’ll end up spreading yourself too thinly and never actually achieving anything.)

Instead, pick a direction (your definition of success), pick which activities will get you to your goals the fastest… and STOP doing everything else.

Setting goals helps you feel less overwhelmed

Want to know the best way to stop feeling overwhelmed all the time? SET GOALS.

By setting goals, you will get crystal clear on where you are headed… which in turn will help you decide which tasks to focus on… and which tasks to STOP doing.

Without goals you will naturally feel like you have to do EVERYTHING – every tiny little blogging task that there is in existence, every blog-related task that you see other bloggers doing, every blog-related task that you have ever thought you really *should* be doing…

But if you set goals and then use those goals to decide which tasks are going to move the dial the most, you can give yourself permission to STOP DOING the tasks which move the dial less… or don’t move the dial at all.

Setting goals gives you the clarity of mind to see that not all blogging tasks were created equally and that trying to do everything is actually HURTING your business.

This means you can give yourself permission to STOP doing lots of low impact activities and ‘busy work’, so you have the time and energy to focus on what really matters… thus reducing stress and overwhelm and helping you feel more organized and in control!

READ MORE >>> Do you really need yet another blog post?

Me (Eb Gargano) looking overwhelmed and fed up

Setting goals helps you stay accountable and motivated

One of the biggest benefits of setting goals is the sense of accountability it provides. When you have a clear plan for what you want to achieve, you’re more likely to follow through on your plans… because you know that every task you do is taking you one step closer to your goals.

Having clear goals, and a clear plan to get you there, will also keep you motivated… because you know how each task fits into the bigger picture. Without goals it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture or get discouraged by setbacks along the way. However, by staying focused on your own personal definition of success and reminding yourself of the benefits of achieving your goals, you can stay motivated and overcome the obstacles.

Setting goals helps you celebrate successes

Being clear on your definition of success will also help you to know and appreciate it when you actually get there!

Without clear goals, you have no yardstick to know when you have ‘succeeded’… which leads many bloggers and online business owners to feel constantly like they have ‘never quite got there’ – or worse, that they are constantly failing.

On the flipside, if you take the time to define success and set goals, you will have a clear yardstick by which you can measure your success. And by setting clear plans for how to get there, you’ll be much more likely to actually achieve your own personal definition of success too!

Being able to identify and celebrate your successes will give a huge boost to your self-confidence and further motivate you to set even bigger goals and see even greater success!

Me (Eb Gargano) doing a thumbs up gesture

Why setting goals will make you more successful – wrapping it up

Setting goals helps you get clear on your own personal definition of success and identify which tasks – out of all the hundreds of possible activities you *could* be doing with your time – will actually get you there.

Setting goals also helps you identify which activities will not move the dial… which, in turn, allows you to give yourself permission to STOP doing those activities… reducing stress and overwhelm.

And finally, setting goals helps keep you accountable and motivated… and helps you know when you have actually achieved your goals… so you can celebrate your successes and be motivated to set even more ambitious goals and see even greater success!

Need help with this?

Need help figuring out your goals and setting clear plans to get there? Then grab yourself a free copy of my ebook Blog Smarter Not Harder, where I go through the whole process in detail… with lots of examples and worksheets!

Over to you…

I’d love to hear how setting goals has helped you to be more successful! Let us know in the comments below.

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