No matter who you are and what you do, life is always about setting and achieving goals. These goals can be anything from managing to go to the shops, to running a marathon. If you feel self-conscious or have low self-esteem setting goals can be difficult.

One way to help you to achieve a goal is to consider The SMART approach. All goals must be SMART

Specific

Be clear about what you want to achieve. If your goal is to go camping be specific about what needs to be done to achieve it : Where do you want to go camping? How will you get there – bus, train, drive? How will you pay for the campsite? What about food? You need that kind of detail.

Measurable

You must be able to tell when you’ve completed it. For example a measured goal might be to go for a 1 mile run. An unmeasured goal would just be to go running. To get the most satisfaction out of achieving a goal, you must be able to tell when you’ve done it!

Achievable

The goal has to be reasonable to you. Your goal could be anything from going to the supermarket to climbing Everest. Both of these are possible, but becoming an actor isn’t an option for next month if you are so anxious about socialising that you can’t go out in public. So, think carefully about your goal. It’s ok to aim for something you’ve never done before but if you think it might be unreasonable have lots of smaller goals to help you achieve the big one. So the budding actor might start by going to a club or start a hobby where they would have to meet people, maybe with a close friend to start with.

Reasonable

The goal has to be reasonable to you. Your goal could be anything from going to the supermarket to climbing Everest. Both of these are possible, but becoming an actor isn’t an option for next month if you are so anxious about socialising that you can’t go out in public. So, think carefully about your goal. It’s ok to aim for something you’ve never done before but if you think it might be unreasonable have lots of smaller goals to help you achieve the big one. So the budding actor might start by going to a club or start a hobby where they would have to meet people, maybe with a close friend to start with.

Timeframe

Don’t put off achieving your goals – set a time limit for completing them.

Action Planning

  • Have a list of smaller goals or ‘stages’ that you have to tick off on the way to achieving your end goal.
  • This makes you think carefully about what you need to do to achieve it and helps if the goal you’re trying to reach is particularly difficult!
  • You will then get a confidence boost every time you complete one stage of your action plan.