Christmas is over for another year, so it’s time to look forward to 2017 – and now’s a great time to think about your goals for the new year! We all know that goal setting can form the building blocks of success, but it’s important how we outline these before we prepare ourselves for achieving them.

Here are some examples of ways how NOT to set out your map towards victory, and why this type of approach is not always that helpful.

10 Common Goal-Setting Mistakes

1. They’re Unrealistic

Setting unique goals specific to your own journey is imperative. But aiming for an unrealistic goal within the time frame target is demotivating, and can often lead to the vicious circle of “Let’s do this!”, while you put in a great effort, only to not achieve the goal, then give up and try again with the same approach, when it becomes to painful again.

2. They’re Someone Else’s Goals

You can only truly achieve your very best when it’s YOU in mind. Forget what you believe others want you to do and write your goals based on what gets you excited. You will be far more likely to reach the bullseye when you are the one making the rules.

3. Too Many Goals

Be smart about how many things you are taking on and prioritise what’s most important to you. As an overview, you may have a list of things that you would like to work on, but be practical about how much of your time and attention is needed to achieve each task.

Also read: How to Spring Clean Your Kitchen

4. Not Enough Goals

Conversely, not having enough to work on can lead to over analyzing and dissection of what you are focused on, and by doing this, you may indeed go backward with paralysis by analysis!

5. Not Reviewing 

How can you measure where you’re at if you don’t stop to look at how you’re progressing. Reviewing is essential to move in a productive manner and not waste valuable time barking up the wrong tree.

6. Not Breaking Goals Down

Some goals are simply too big to work on from starting point to completion. Just like your 12WBT Mini Milestones, this approach works wonders for any area of your life and offers you a much ‘lighter’ sense to the task being doable. Looking ahead to the big picture can seem like a maze, so break it down into sections to make sure you’re able to hit each milestone and watch yourself move closer towards your goal.

7. Not Accepting Periodic Failure

You may not always succeed the first time and that’s OK! The opportunity for growth quite often comes from failing to meet a target and then working out HOW to do it next time. Giving up at the first hurdle will hinder you ever moving past this point, so stick with it and you’ll never look back!

Also read: Letting Go Of All-Or-Nothing Thinking

8. Negative-Based Goals

To set a goal with a negative connotation to it is like asking the universe for that exact thing to happen! Turn your negative into excitement and instead of saying “I hate this 20 kilos of extra weight”, try, “I am going to look even better when I wear my new dress to show off my hard work and I’m excited!”.

9. They’re Too Generic

“I want to lose weight, get fit and tone up” are all loose and generic statements. What does this mean really? Being generic can let you off the hook while you work on your goals as they are no indicators or ways to measure or hold you accountable.

Also read: Are These The 10 Worst Diet Tips Ever?

10. Being Inflexible

Assuming that you absolutely MUST do something a certain way to reach a goal and will fail otherwise can be very unhelpful. As you learn about yourself, develop new skills and your talents improve, you may find a better way to success than originally planned.

Go for it in 2017!