Lifestyle - December 31, 2020

Have you set 2021 Goals? Here is Why and How you Should do it + Apps that Can Help

December 31, 2020

5 min read

Today is the 31st of December and everybody is hitching to shout a happy new year by midnight. Unfortunately, most people don’t have a clear-cut plan for 2021. They would just take each day as it comes – the same things they’ve been doing for years. Reckless!

The importance of goal-setting cannot be overemphasized. We are in a chaotic world, each day comes with its storm and distractions. Goals bring orderliness, precision, and keep us focused on what’s most important.

Goal-setting is also an essential tool for self-motivation and fuels self-drive – both on personal and professional fronts. It helps you move from where you are to where you want to be and gives meaning to your actions and the purpose of achieving something higher.

Look at it this way, if you live in Kafanchan, a Christian-dominated town in Kaduna, Nigeria and you need to travel to Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, for better opportunities; there is no way you can get to that destination without a roadmap. That’s exactly what goal-setting is for our lives. It’s a roadmap of where we are heading and the right way that would lead us there.

According to Rick McDaniel, goal-setting is a plan that holds us in perspective – the more effectively we make the plan, the better are our chances of achieving what we aim to.

A study conducted on working professionals by Edwin A. Locke, a pioneer in the field of goal-setting, found that individuals who set ambitious goals had a better performance and output rate than those who didn’t.

However, it is also imperative to know that goals without timelines are wishes at best. Frank L. Smoll, a Ph.D. and a working psychologist at the University of Washington identified three essential features of goal-setting in his research, which he referred to as A-B-C of goals.

To determine if your goals are effective, Smoll said it must be:

A – Achievable
B – Believable
C – Committed

Even though Smoll’s studies focused more on athletic and sports-oriented goal-setting, it’s the same for goal-settings outside sports.

7 Goal Tracking Apps

It’s one thing to set effective goals, it’s another for you to follow them religiously and track your performance. These Apps have dashboards and metrics that give a visual representation of the goals you set for yourself.

See the Apps below:

While we hope this helps you begin the new year on a good note, it is also highly recommended that you appoint a reliable person in your network who can give you a hard backslap when you’re deviating from your goals.