Setting and achieving personal goals in our 40s is all about improving our lives making us feel more fulfilled, and allowing us to live a more authentic life.
The 40s are a fascinating period of time. By the time you reach your 40s, chances are, you’ve gathered a fair amount of experience. You have already weathered so many challenges. And, you have developed a solid sense of who you actually are. But, there is still a lot ahead. All of this helps to make the decade the perfect time to take a closer look at where you are going in life.
Goalsetting at this stage is an empowering act. It is all about designing the future on your own terms. Whether you are looking to chase your dream or create a healthier habit, setting goals can change your life for the better. But, it’s important to remember that this process is not always going to be smooth sailing. There will still be many obstacles like priorities, time constraints, and self-doubt that will get in the way.
Nevertheless, when you choose the right strategies, you can still set meaningful goals and actually achieve them.
The Importance of Clarity in Setting Personal Goals
Before we start discussing how to achieve your goals, we should spend some time asking why you should set them to begin with. After all, there’s no real sense in setting goals if you don’t actually know what you want out of life.
Defining What Truly Matters
One of the biggest obstacles in your midlife, is deciding what you really want from society and the people around you. It’s at this point in time that you need to define what truly matters to you, and what others expect from you.
Identify Your Values
Take the time to ask yourself what is most important. Do you want to improve your family? How about your career? Maybe your health? Or do you want to grow personally? You need to take some time to reflect on what your core values are, and how they align with your current lifestyle. This will help you identify what you cherish the most.
Separate Expectations
Remember, when we set goals for personal growth, we need to be able to separate our own personal goals from other’s expectations. While it is easy to feel pressure at any age, your goals should cater to you, and not serve someone else’s idea of success.
Pro tip
One of the best ways to define what truly matters is to start a journal. Journaling is incredibly helpful. It allows you to write down your thoughts, and notice the reoccurring themes in your life. These provide us with clues and they will help us define what really matters.
Creating SMART Personal Goals
Now, once you have determined what is important, it’s time to start getting more specific. One of the best ways to set goals is to use the SMART framework. Although this framework is a classic, it’s still a popular option because it works.
Specific
The S in SMART goals stands for specific. You need to be specific about what exactly you want to achieve. If you simply say that you want to get healthier, this is way too vague. But, if you state that you want to walk 10,000 steps a day, this is a very clear goal.
Measurable
The M and SMART stands for measurable. Anytime you set a goal, you need to be able to measure it. After all, how do you plan on tracking your progress? Can we measure with numbers, timelines, or other tangible markers? If there’s no way to measure it, then it’s not a SMART goal.
Achievable
The A in SMART stands for achievable. While it’s great to aim high, always make sure that your goals are realistic. They must be something that is within your immediate reach. That is, your goal must be something that is achievable.
Relevant
The R in SMART stands for relevant. In order to achieve your goal, it must be something that aligns with your values and priorities. If the goal is irrelevant to your priorities, then it’s easy to get sidetracked. This will prevent you from actually achieving it.
Time-Bound
Lastly, the T in SMART stands for time-bound. You need to set a time limit on your goal. It’s one thing to set a goal that is measurable, achievable, and specific. It’s a completely different thing if you set one that has to be completed within a certain period of time. Instead of simply stating that you want to save money, you should be more specific by stating that you will save $5000 by the end of the year by setting aside $200 every paycheck.
Steps to Achieve Your Personal Goals
Let’s face it, big goals can often feel overwhelming. This is why we generally break down larger goals into smaller, more manageable steps.
Breaking Goals Into Smaller Steps
You should think of your personal goals as a staircase. Every step you take will get you closer to the top. It’s impossible to simply jump to the very top of the staircase, but you can easily fall down.
Start Small
As a result, in order to be achievable we need to start small. Don’t focus on the big picture, rather focus simply on the next immediate step in the process. It is long as we are not focused on the entire staircase, walking up one step at a time, can be a lot easier.
Celebrate Milestones
And just like walking up any flight of stairs, you will eventually reach a platform for resting. Take the time to celebrate reaching these milestones as they will boost your confidence and keep you motivated. A good example is if your goal is to run a 5K marathon, then your first step might be to simply walk for 20 minutes a day, three times per week.
Developing New Habits
In order to achieve your goals, you may need to develop new habits. And, let’s face it, developing new habits is no easy task.
Habit-Stacking
Start by tying your new habit into an existing one. For example, let’s say you want to start meditating every single day. Well, tie into your current habit of brushing her teeth. As soon as you finish brushing her teeth, sit down in a comfortable spot in your bedroom, and meditate for 10 minutes.
Be Patient
Always remember to be patient. It will take time to form new habits. You will need to give yourself a bit of leeway because you are bound to slip up from time to time. What’s important, is that you always get back on track. You want to focus on consistency, not perfection. Because even the small changes can add up to bigger results over time.
Tracking and Reviewing Progress On Our Personal Goals
Remember the importance of tracking your progress. A SMART goal must be measurable. If you’re not tracking your progress, how will you ever know if you are getting closer to your goal?
Regular Check-Ins
One of the best ways to track and review the progress is to set aside time every single week or month in order to review just how you’re doing. This will allow you to reflect on the progress that you made, and help make a new set of smaller goals that will help you to get to the top of the staircase.
Adjust as Needed
And, always remember that life will continue to go on. You will need to tweak your goals from time to time. In fact, it is fairly common to have to change your timeline or tweak your goals in order to realign them with your busy schedule.
Celebrate Small Wins
But, never forget to celebrate those small wins. Every single small step forward is worth recognizing, no matter how minuscule it may seem. For example, if you have already saved half of your goal amount, then why not treat yourself to a small reward? Of course, don’t spend all your savings as this will derail your progress.
Overcoming Common Roadblocks with Personal Goals
Now, we need to come to the realization that there will always be hurdles and roadblocks that will make it difficult for us to achieve our goals. So, let’s talk about these hurdles, and how to get around them.
Managing Time and Avoiding Burnout
One of the biggest hurdles to achieving any personal goal is time management. In our 40s, we have to deal with work, family, and countless other commitments. Finding time for your goals can feel virtually impossible. We don’t want to feel burned out, but we still need to focus on finding time to work towards our goals.
Prioritize
We can do this by prioritizing what matters most. Chances are, if you look at your long to-do list, you can probably find a lot of less important tasks that don’t really serve any real purpose in life. We can often free up time simply by letting these unimportant tasks go.
Batch Tasks
At the same time, if we have a bunch of smaller, similar tasks, we can batch them together. When we are able to group similar tasks together, we can save a lot of time.
Schedule Self-Care
And always remember that burnout is real. You need to set aside time to recharge. And keep in mind, that it’s better to make slow progress than to push way too hard and give up entirely.
Confronting Self-Doubt
Let’s face it, we’ve all doubted ourselves. We have all, at one point in our lives, wondered if we are good enough. We have wondered if we are smart enough. And, we have often wondered if we are capable of completing the task. Self-doubt is one of the most common hurdles that prevent us from reaching our goals.
Reframe Negative Thoughts
Instead of saying to yourself that you can’t do this, try repeating to yourself, I am learning as I go. It’s important to remember that Edison failed thousands of times when he was creating the incandescent light bulb. But he didn’t stop trying. We don’t learn from successes. The only way we can learn, grow, and improve in our lives, is by failing from time to time.
Seek Support
Where possible, seek support to help you along the way. Reach out to friends, family, or a mentor for more encouragement. But, be cautious. One of the other big hurdles that we often face when pushing to attain personal goals actually comes from our support group. They tell us that it’s a bad idea. Or, they make other statements that put us down in one way or another. So, just be careful about who you share your goal with, and how you share with them.
Focus on Growth
More importantly, you need to focus on the growth itself. Remember, we learn from our mistakes. This is why it’s often said that every challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow. The more challenges that you overcome, the more you learn in the process. You can easily overcome just about any challenge if you put your mind to it. And, when you do, it will help you grow as a person.
Successfully Achieving Your Over-the-Hill Goals
Ultimately, setting and achieving personal goals in our 40s is a whole lot more than just checking boxes. It is a process that is designed to improve our lives, make us feel more fulfilled, and make our life feel more authentic. It’s not a race to see who gets to the finish line first.
But, you will never be able to reach any goal, if you’re not willing to take that first step. So, start by defining what truly matters to you. Then, break it down into more manageable actions. Take the time to celebrate every bit of progress you make along the way. And, if life throws you a curveball, adapt, and keep moving forward.
Always remember, that it is never too late to chase your lifelong dreams.
