Should You Set Time Bound Goals?

You have probably heard of a setting a SMART goal.  A goal that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound.  But, what if setting a deadline wasn’t actually helping you to achieve your goal?  Instead, it’s putting added pressure on you to either achieve the goal by that date or get down on yourself because you didn’t.  Goals take a while to achieve and that happens through daily consistent action.  Here is why setting a time bound goal is not always beneficial.

Time Bound Goals

Time bound goals have a deadline when you will achieve the goal by.  But, this deadline can put undue pressure on you.  It also brings the believability that you will achieve your goal down.  Big goals can already feel really overwhelming to achieve.  When you add the extra layer of stress by having a deadline, you very well may have just set yourself up for failure.  If you don’t achieve your goal by the deadline, you beat yourself up.  You then proceed to tell yourself all the reasons why you knew you couldn’t do it to begin with.  Don’t give up on your goals and dreams just because you missed a time bound deadline.

School Projects

Time bound goals can be hugely detrimental to your goal progress.  Think about when you went to school and you had an assignment due.  You had a deadline for when you needed to complete your work.  If you’re like most students, you procrastinate and put off working on your project until you’re right up against the deadline.  It becomes crunch time and you get down to work, frantically working to complete the assignment in time.  You might even tell yourself that you work well under pressure.  However, this methodology is not building up your belief that you can achieve your goal.

Consistent Action

You don’t just frantically work on your goal right before the deadline.  Instead, it takes time, patience, and consistent daily action.  You can’t expect to squeeze achieving your goal into a few days right before your time bound deadline.  Yet, this is what happens.  You procrastinate or come up with all the reasons and/or excuse why it’s just not the right time to work on your goal.  You don’t work on your goal every now and then or just right before the deadline.  You have to be consistent and work on it every day.  You have to commit to establishing the habit to take daily action towards your goal.  This will also help you to believe that you can achieve your goal.

Believability

Big goals are difficult to believe that you can achieve.  It feels so far out in the distance that you’re unsure how you’ll achieve it.  But, daily consistent action builds up your believability that you can in fact achieve your goal.  Simply focus on taking one next step and then the next step after that.  As you do, you’ll start to see progress and proof that you can achieve your goal.  Taking these small steps and achieving little milestones along the way builds momentum.  Celebrate your tiny wins and success because it will keep your spirits up!

Let go of setting a time bound deadline and ask yourself if you believe that you will figure out how to achieve your goal in your lifetime. If you believe it, it will happen.  But, in it’s own time.  There’s no need to worry or fear.  Setting a time bound deadline will only put added pressure on you that you simply just don’t need.  The best course of action is to get to work without a deadline.  Build up your belief that you can achieve your goal by taking daily consistent action towards it.  Daily consistent action shows you progress and builds momentum so that you believe you’ll achieve your goal on your own time.  Don’t let your goals and dreams die just because you missed a time bound deadline.