How to Set Goals for Maximum Productivity

When things start to pile up at work or in your daily life, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. With so much to do, your short- and long-term goals and aspirations may be placed on hold in favor of surviving the hustle and bustle of daily life or just getting some much-needed rest. Who can blame you?

You’ve got big dreams! But how could you possibly accomplish such large goals amidst the noise of daily life? There are too many distractions and so many things fighting for your attention constantly. How could you focus on your goals and be more productive?

Setting Measurable and Meaningful Goals

The best way to reach your goals is to redefine them in the context of your daily life. Making sure your goals are reasonable and meaningful to you. Your goals must have a why, or a reason to get them done in the first place. If a goal doesn’t come with its own reason to motivate you, then why spend time doing it in the first place? Reaching your goal will be a lot easier once you determine why it is that you care to do it.

Once you figure out your why, create the right frame for your goal and set a S.M.A.R.T. goal. Your goals must be measurable. If you cannot measure your progress or success against some type of scale, your goals will feel insurmountable. If you cannot clearly see yourself making progress on your goals, reaching them will be like climbing a staircase that seems endless. You will be putting in tons of work with little indication of progress.

Baby Steps

The best way to maximize productivity is to set up your goals in a way that rewards you for doing them. The most effective way to do this is to break up your larger goals into many small manageable tasks. These tasks should be short term things you can do quickly or daily to reach your goal.

By completing small tasks quickly that add up to a larger job, you can watch yourself making progress. This progress will, in turn, motivate you to continue reaching this goal. Manageable tasks will keep you from losing hope when it comes to your goals. As you complete these tasks, you may even change what the original goal is to more fit your needs.

Prioritize your tasks

We live in a world full of deadlines. Tasks need to be completed in a timely manner for jobs to get done and goals to get met. Prioritizing your goal-based tasks will allow you to complete them when it is most beneficial to do so. Adding a numbering system may be a viable way to order tasks by importance or due date. A “1” may mean that a task is urgent and needs to take priority while a “5” could signify that you have a little more time. Prioritizing your tasks is a great way to keep track of a large number of tasks that may seem overwhelming.

When organized the right way, goals that have seemed impossible to meet in the past suddenly become more manageable. Creating a system that breaks large goals into more manageable tasks and rewards progress is a great way to increase your productivity.