The Power of Realistic Goals

How Being Intentional with Your To-Dos Can Increase Your Productivity

If you’re anything like me, you pack your to do list with a plethora of goals every month, week, and day. No minute is wasted on a daily basis. In fact, you cram more onto your list than you know you’ll be able to accomplish figuring if you happen to finish all the “must do” items, then at least you have a handful of other items to choose from. There’s no real use in figuring out what’s possible to actually complete on any given day when there’s an endless number of things you need to accomplish. Right?

This was my mindset for the longest time. I have so many things I need and want to accomplish, that it felt like I was being neglectful to not add everything to my list every week. But then, inevitably, week after week, month after month, I sat down with my planner and was faced with all the things I didn’t accomplish. And, of course, the number of things I didn’t accomplish diminished my enthusiasm for what I did accomplish. It always felt discouraging that no matter how much I might have accomplished, there was always more waiting for me, more that I hadn’t gotten to.

So several weeks ago, I began to approach my monthly and weekly to do lists differently. Instead of throwing everything imaginable that I wanted to accomplish onto the list, I prioritized my goals. I gave myself permission to move some things to the back burner for the moment and instead cultivate a smaller, more intentional list of goals that I had a better chance of accomplishing in the time I had available. And while it’s only been a few weeks, I’ll admit I’m a little surprised at the huge difference this has made for me.

It certainly hasn’t been easy to make this change. Every Sunday when I sit down with my planner, I’m tempted to throw everything on the list again. Some nights, I feel like a slacker for how small my list is. “That can’t really be all I’m going to do this week,” I think to myself. “I must be missing something important.”

But forcing myself to be realistic about what I can accomplish has allowed me to focus on the most important tasks and feel a lot more accomplished at the end of the day/week when I look at what I’ve done. Because now, instead of staring at a slew of things didn’t get done, there’s usually only one or two. Most things get accomplished because I was realistic about what I could do in the time I had available. And, as an extra bonus, I’ve felt much less chaotic and scattered throughout my week and instead feel like my time has been spent intentionally making progress towards my goals rather than making minimal progress on a million different things. The end result is I feel more accomplished and I’m actually seeing my hard work pay off.

So, how can you be more realistic in your goal setting?

My first bit of advice is to be intentional in what goals you add to your list. Narrow down your overall goals for each month to those that 1) matter most to you in this moment and 2) will have the largest impact on your life. This means that while some things may be important to you, they may not be the most important right now, and that’s okay. Put them on a “for later” list, know that you’ll come back to them when the time is right, and put your focus and energy on those things that are most important right now. Then, when you set your to dos for the week and individual days, ask yourself if those to dos support the overall goals you set for the month. If they’re tangential, ask yourself if they really need to be done right now or if they can wait so you can instead use that space for something that does support your overall goals. Using intentionality in all aspects of your goal and to do planning takes more time upfront, but it has the payoff of ensuring that the time your spending daily is really going towards things that support your overall goals.

My second piece of advice is to be honest with yourself about the time you have available. We tend to over-estimate how much time we have and underestimate how much time tasks will actually take to complete. This leaves us often over-scheduling ourselves simply because we expected to be able to do much more than we were ever capable of. Sit down and really calculate how much time you have available to work on your goals, and then try to realistic in determining how long each task will take you. Then add a bit more time since tasks more often than not take longer than we expect them to. Add up how much time you have available, then add up how much time your tasks are estimated to take and see how close the two are. If your available time is significantly lower than the estimated time to complete your tasks, you need to go back and cut some tasks from your to do list. 

Lastly, give yourself permission to let go of some things, either temporarily or permanently. There may be some things you’re doing only because you think you “should” be doing rather than because they’re truly important to you. Evaluate those things and consider whether they’re really things you need to be focusing on. If the only reason you’re doing them is because you think you should be and they’re not bringing you any joy or real progress towards your goals, give yourself permission to drop them. There may be other tasks that do matter to you, but they don’t support your focus goals for the month. Give yourself permission to put those on the “for later” list and come back to them when they align with your focus areas.

It’s okay not to always be doing “all the things.” Focused effort on a handful of things can reap larger rewards and feel more productive than half-heartedly rushing through tasks just to check off more boxes on your to do list.

I’d love to hear about your goal setting process and whether you, too, are a victim of too many things on your list. And if you give the realistic goals approach a try, I’d love to hear your thoughts!