Goal setting is daunting: you must balance reality with pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Goal setting often gets trite and instead of staying motivated, you start ignoring the goals completely. It is important to find the balance between setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) and motivating goals. As a financial mentor puts it, a goal such as starting a business is a marathon, not a sprint. We need to make sure to keep pacing ourselves and acknowledge the small milestones. Living to accomplish goals is not fully living. Make time to enjoy the important aspects in your life. This will happen when you create mindful goals that incorporate your values.

In addition to goal setting, you should also be working on time-blocking. These ideas go hand in hand because goals require specific time and attention. You might have a certain goal, for example, exercising three times a week after work for 30 minutes for the next three weeks. However, if you keep watching tv every day after work and do not “block” 30 minutes to exercise, that goal will not be accomplished.

Another strategy to incorporate with time-blocking and goal setting is habit building. Those who are the best at the latter, will be in a great position to improve in time-blocking and goal setting. This becomes even more relevant when we are passionate about a venture – on a personal note, for me that is my financial coaching business right now. In the end goal setting, time-blocking, and habit building are the tools that enhance the most valuable areas in our lives one step at a time.

Editor: Melinda Kovacs