How to Become a Successful Goal Digger
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  • Writer's pictureShannon Wiggins

How to Become a Successful Goal Digger

Updated: Jun 11, 2019



Yes, I’ll admit it. I am a self-proclaimed goal digger. I not only focus on the present when achieving goals, but I am also trying to stay a step ahead with future goals. I’m that person that also has at least three major projects going at one time, and has every intention of being successful with them all. And you know what? Unusually, I am.

I’m serial entrepreneur that’s started several businesses, some of which have been very successful. I’m a mom that makes sure her baby girl is well cared for. I’m the lucky wife of an awesome husband with whom I have an insanely happy marriage. And I’m a therapist, my life long dream job.

Wow, I felt kinda stuck on myself typing that, but I really wanted to illustrate a point. My life was NOT always like this. Reaching goals just wasn't something I seemed to be good at. I was not confident. I wasn’t able to juggle the many demands life threw at me. And I felt like I didn’t even have a purpose. Honestly, I didn’t like myself very much. But, I got sick and tired of feeling stuck. And that’s when I decided I needed a plan. More than a plan, I needed to figure out how to set goals and how to achieve goals.


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The key to goal planning is simple. You just need to be SMART about it! Smart goals to be exact. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This is the formula I use for planning my goals. It’s also the one I use when working with clients.

So, for instance, if you and your spouse set a goal to improve your marriage, your SMART goal breakdown might look something like this:

Specific: We’d like to spend more quality time together.

Measurable: We’d like to spend at least an hour a day, just the two of us.

Attainable: We can work up to spending an hour a day over the next month.

Realistic: We will spend one hour on Monday, Thursday, and Friday this week.

Time-Bound: We will start spending one hour of quality time together three days this week and then work up to five days in two weeks.

And this can be done for any goal you can imagine! Examples of goals are endless. Being specific about your goal means you won’t get distracted by things that keep you from meeting the goal. Having a measurable outcome helps demonstrate your progress. Making your goal attainable and realistic takes the pressure off of you and stops you from setting yourself up for failure. And making your goal time-bound gives you focus and helps to keep you accountable to yourself. Using this formula will make your goal setting so much easier.

So there you have it! Your step by step guide to becoming a successful goal digger! Have you tested the SMART goal format? Do you have another planning system that works well for meeting your goals? Let me know!


Would you like to work with me? Reach out via phone at 910-745-0303 or fill out the contact form on the website.

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