How to Get Specific When Setting Goals

It’s easy to lose your way when you’re trying to achieve a big, ambitious goal. But with the right plan, like the one Dr. Heidi Grant offers on Oprah.com, you’ll stay focused and steadily move forward. Grant suggests these five steps.

First, write down your goal. Lose weight, get a promotion, or what ever you have in your sights.

Then ask yourself, “How will I know I’ve succeeded?” Describe the end point.

Next, go back and rewrite your goal using the details you’ve just uncovered.

Now think of two positive aspects of reaching your goal and two obstacles that lie in your way. Finally write a few sentences about what it will be like to experience each of the positives, followed by a few sentences about how you imagine the obstacles will affect you.

This mental contrasting will provide the clarity you need for your next step, and the many more that will follow until you hit your mark.