Goals: How To Set & Get Them

IT’S FINALLY TIME TO CONTROL YOUR GOALS.

BY SOPHIA AMORUSO
People talk a lot about goal setting.

But few people know how to execute on them. Having

intentions is the easy part—but getting the damn thing
done? Not so easy. Goal setting naturally comes with a lot
of highs and lows. It feels great to set them. You know what
you want and are ready to bust out.

We all know that so much is out of our control. But it’s

also important to remember that so much is, and that
the right (and clear) intentions, paired with a healthy dose
of discipline, can set you into motion that can manifest
things you’d never imagined. But here’s the catch: each
time a goal slips through the cracks (and they will at
times), discouragement grows. That discouragement can
spread like wildfire and stop you from pursuing new goals.
However, with small mindset shifts, that shit can
be controlled.

Here’s the good news: There’s no one correct way to set

and manifest your goals. You have options.

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through a variety of

techniques you can use to set goals and drive them all the
way home. Will you meet every goal you set even if you
follow my advice? Of course not—life happens. But you will
learn how to hone in on the goals that truly matter and how
to make a game plan for accomplishing them. The rest is
up to you.

Let’s begin.

Sophia

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 Goals matter.
Here’s why.
Going with the flow is easy when we find ourselves invited on
a spontaneous trip or shifting dinner plans. However, there are
other times when we have to happen to life, rather than let it
happen to us. When it comes to your career, business, health,
money, and bucket list, it’s important to think strategically
about how to achieve everything that you want to. While life will
sometimes do you a favor and drop what you’re looking for into
your lap, most of the time inaction leads to a life half lived.

And who wants that? Nobody.

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 So what are goals, anyway?

Goals are a representation of commitments we make to ourselves

with the intent of achieving something. Goals provide focus and
motivation, as well as a framework to guide us. A goal can be a major
undertaking, like paying off a large amount of student debt, or can be
as simple as drinking hot water with lemon before bed each night.

A 2006 study by Locke & Latham found that setting goals leads
to higher motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence, and autonomy.
Essentially, setting goals is the first and most important thing you’ll
do on the path to self-realization. Why? Because goals guide your
focus and the momentum behind them.

Goals allow you to dream, yes, but require some dreamy framework.
They encourage you to look forward and to ask for more out of life.
Investing in setting and pursuing goals is a form of self-care that
doesn’t get nearly enough credit. While we’re all a bit tired of hustle
culture, overcorrecting and chilling too hard isn’t healthy either.

The trick to striking the right balance? Committing to goals that are
truly achievable.

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 How to identify if a goal is
worth pursuing or if you’re
just fucking with yourself.
If you’ve ever found an old list of New Year’s resolutions in the
back of your desk drawer, then you know just how outlandish
some past goals can seem. What’s dangerous, however, is
setting goals that were motivated by the wrong reasons in the
first place. To help weed out the wrong goals, you want to ask
yourself a few key questions.

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 Do you have goal contagion?

Goal contagion refers to a phenomenon surrounding how we can

unconsciously feel pressured into adopting the goals of those around
us. This isn’t something we do consciously, and is often the result of
thinking that if someone we know is pursuing a specific goal, then we
should be too. It’s fueled by FOMO, and social media can make this
a vicious addiction that will leave even the most capable of us feeling
like shit.

I’ve done it many times. Sometimes goal contagion can come from a
feeling of peer pressure, but for me it’s often fueled by competition.
Early in my career I fell prey to setting strategic goals for my business
because someone else was doing them and because it would “look
good” instead of what I was inspired to do or what the right thing for
the business actually is. That’s dangerous, and also downright bad for
your business.

When you catch someone else’s goal, it can be exciting, especially

since you can get a sense of camaraderie out of it. It’s really easy to
let goal contagion affect you if you see someone you admire setting a
goal you think you can replicate, but once that excitement wears off,
the motivation to really pursue it can as well. Just because a coworker
is adopting a new fitness routine or your friend is starting a business
doesn’t mean those are the right goals for you to adopt, as admirable
as they may be.

The first step to identifying if a goal is worth pursuing is to think

critically about why you want it in the first place. Is it something you
sincerely want to achieve or is it a vanity goal to impress others
around you? And that’s where vision comes in.

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 How to create a
vision statement.
Every good goal setter needs a vision statement to guide them.
After working your way through the following exercises, you
should be able to create a concise statement that explains what
your vision is.

While working through this, think about what kind of life you want
to have and how the goals you set fit into that bigger vision.

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 Step 1: Create a vision board.

Now, it’s time to embrace the bigger picture and bust out those
magazines you never get around to reading.

To create a vision board, start by cutting out any words or photo-

graphs that resonate with you. Don’t be precious! Let it rip.

Once you’ve gone all Edward Scissorhands, let it marinate for a bit.
Walk away and come back to it. What stands out to you? Is a life
full of travel top of mind? Is it serenity? Fun? Spontaneity? Family?
Give the board a chance to guide you.

Step 2: Put pen to paper.

Once you have some clarity, jot down what you’ve uncovered on the
back of the vision board or another spot you can easily reference,
like a journal. Taking the words out of your head and onto paper
helps bring them to life. Here’s where you shift from consideration
to intention—these are your goals and they’re out in the world now.
To take things up a notch, share those goals with your friends,
coworkers, or your social media followers. Again, it’s about putting
your goals out there, and sometimes telling others about them can
help hold you accountable.

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 Step 3: Identify what your motivation is.

When you set a goal, knowing why provides you with context around
whether or not it fits within your vision. The clearer your reasons are
for setting a goal, the more clarity you’ll gain around whether or not it’s
worth pursuing in the first place. By identifying what your motivation is
and how it fits within your greater vision for your life, you will be able to
live with not just intention, but with something even more important:
integrity. Now is also the time to write down that vision statement
you’ve been working on.

Here’s a quick template to get you started on your first vision

statement.

I want to [your overarching vision] so that I

can [smaller motivations within the overarching vision].

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Example:

My vision I want to live life as fully as I can so I can grow my reality to

statement match my internal growth, and die with no regrets.

Goal Make $50,000 from my side hustle in one year

Primary Secondary What will I need to

motivations motivations do to meet this goal?

To make extra money To generate a second Work 10 hours a week

so I can afford a home source of income for outside of my full-time job
renovation more stability

To work toward making

enough to quit my job

Does this IF THE ANSWER IS YES, IF THE ANSWER IS NO,

help fulfill Move forward and start working Start over and think about WHY
my greater towards meeting your goal. you’re setting that goal and if it
vision for
my life? needs to shift.

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Your turn!

My vision
statement

Goal

Primary Secondary What will I need to

motivations motivations do to meet this goal?

Does this IF THE ANSWER IS YES, IF THE ANSWER IS NO,

help fulfill Move forward and start working Start over and think about WHY
my greater towards meeting your goal. you’re setting that goal and if it
vision for
my life? needs to shift.

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 Do the ends justify
the means?
Once you know what your whys are, you’ll have a pretty
good idea if a goal is worthwhile. Setting goals doesn’t make
them magically happen—they require a lot of work, and often
sacrifice. Take a look at your whys. Is all the effort needed to
make that goal a reality worth what you’ll need to do to achieve
it? Sometimes that’s a yes, and that’s okay.

As great as that example goal of making $50,000 from a side

hustle is, if meeting that goal requires you to sleep only four
hours at night, forgo time with family and friends, and causes
stress related health effects, then the ends likely don’t justify
the means. Or maybe that’s okay with you and that’s okay too.
I’ve been there and for me, and as controversial as it may be to
say this, it was (temporarily) worth it.

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 Structure,
structure,
structure.
Knowing exactly what you want to achieve is an achievement
in and of itself, but to get there, you need to take action.

How do you know what action to take? Well, that boils down
to structure.

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 Why does structure matter?
Research by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham that spanned over 20 years
found that when people pursued both specific and challenging goals, they
experienced higher performance 90%of the time.

For example, if your goal is to generate $100,000 in revenue your goal is

likely challenging. However, it is too vague.

To make the goal more specific, you can establish action items to help
you reach the goal.

Break down how much revenue you need to generate each month
($8,333) and how many products or services you would need to sell to
earn $8,333 a month.

Knowing exactly how many products or services you need to sell each
month makes it a lot easier to make a game plan for achieving results.
You’ll know that if you need to sell 100 products a month to meet your
monthly revenue goal, you would need to sell about 3.5 products a day.

What daily steps are necessary to sell that amount? If you know from
experience that sending a daily email promotion, posting once a day
across your social channels, and paying to promote your social posts
can lead to 3–4 sales, then you know what you need to do each day to
make progress.

See how much clearer this goal is coming into focus once you add
some structure?

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 What is a SMART goal?

Now let’s get more specific about the specifics. You can see how
much more clarity comes when you set specific and structured goals.
That’s why the SMART goal method is so popular. For the record, I did
not invent this framework, but I’m including it because it’s very tried
and has worked for many, many people. SMART stands for:

Specific goals have clear answers to questions like what

Specific needs to be accomplished and the steps necessary to
achieve a goal.

When goals are measurable, it’s easier to track your

Measurable progress and to make sure you’re actually on your way
to meeting the goal.

To make real progress towards a goal, it has to be within

reach. Investing time, effort, and money towards a goal
Achievable can help move the needle, but only so much. Before you
set a goal, ask yourself if the objective is reasonable
to accomplish.

This is when you can circle back to your whys. Why is this
Relevant goal important to you? Why is it worth pursuing? How is
it relevant to your bigger vision?

Setting a deadline will help you stay on track to reach not

Timebound just your overall goal, but the smaller achievements that
lead to the goal.

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 The SMART method is a great way to pinpoint whether or not the
goals you’re setting are reasonably obtainable. We’re all for dreaming
big, but you don’t want to set yourself up for failure.

With SMART goals, you set a clear timeline for achieving the goal, as
well as milestones that make it easier to track your progress as you
tackle a longer term goal. If you commit to the SMART method, you’ll
create an actionable plan that will help you eliminate the guesswork
that so often slows us down as we execute on our goals.

Here’s a closer look at how the SMART goal method works.

My goal is to grow traffic to my e-commerce site by 1,200,000 visitors

(specific) by December (time-bound), by attracting 100,000 visitors a
month (measurable). I believe I can meet this goal as I have a budget
of $5,000 a month to spend on Google Ads and I have 100,000
social media followers (achievable). It’s important that I accomplish
this goal because increasing my website traffic will lead to more
sales (relevant).

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 SMART Goal Grow e-commerce site traffic

Specific I will grow traffic to my e-commerce site by 1,200,000 visitors

Measurable I will attract 100,000 visitors a month to accomplish this

I believe I can meet this goal as I have a budget of $5,000

Achievable a month to spend on Google Ads and I have 100,000 social
media followers

It’s important that I accomplish this goal because

Relevant
increasing my website traffic will lead to more sales

Timebound I want to meet this goal by December

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 Set your SMART goals!

Once you have a goal in mind, you can start to establish what it
would look like structured as a SMART goal. If you find by the end
of this exercise the goal is no longer something you’re interested in
pursuing, that’s okay. Part of what makes SMART goals so effective is
they can help you weed out the goals that aren’t a good fit.

SMART Goal

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Timebound

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 It’s manifestation
time baby.
There are many different ways to manifest your goals. Here are
a few ideas to get you started, ranging from obvious methods
to leaning into your intuitive side ranging from the woo woo
to the totally logical.

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 Embrace visualization.
Try a form of mediation called visualization, which involves
picturing certain images, ideas, or symbols while you’re in a
relaxed state. You can also embrace affirmations or mantras
during visualization. Use this visualization time to embrace your
goals, not push them away. Instead of focusing on clearing the
mind, visualization embraces engaging your imagination and
creating imagery in your mind that can inspire and guide you.

TRY THE OPEN APP

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 Jam out with the moon.

Moon rituals center around the belief that the phases of the moon
influence growth or decline of life and are more common in some
cultures than others. The intent of a moon ritual is to quiet yourself
and to plant seeds of intention, alongside being one with nature.
Ideally, a moon ritual will help you escape distractions and find clarity.

There are eight different phases of the moon, but the full moon phase
in particular is a great time to manifest goals. It’s thought that the full
moon’s strong gravitational pull on the Earth makes it an ideal time to
embrace creative energy and to achieve an intuitive breakthrough. To
conduct a full moon ritual, follow these simple steps.

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 Create the right environment.
Clean your space and get rid of clutter (which was on your to-do
list anyways) to set the right tone for the event. Dim the lights,
burn incense, turn on music, or do whatever you need to create a
soothing environment.

Connect to the Divine.

Now it’s time to call on whatever source of energy you feel guides
you. For some, that may be the elements of the earth. Others may
choose to lean into a divine connection. Focus on whatever you
feel will help guide you.

Write it out.
Sit down and write out what you wish to bring into your life and
what you want to release. This can be barriers you’re facing,
fears, or any sort of feeling. You can also focus on external
circumstances such as relationships or job opportunities.

Declare your desires.

Once you identify what you want to bring into your life, say it out
loud. Call your desires into your life and embrace the emotion that
can come with speaking them out loud.

Meditate and end your moon ritual.

You now know what you desire, so sit with it for a while. Focus on
your breath and visualize these desires becoming a reality. Set
an intention to remain open to these desires coming into your
life, as well as any moments of growth that need to happen on
this journey.

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 Make goal crushing
part of your routine.
Goals take work—there’s no way around that. That being said,
there are ways you can make working towards a goal not feel
so labor intensive. When you make working on your goal a part
of your routine, you’ll make progress faster and that progress
will feel easier to obtain.

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 How to incorporate new goals into your existing routine.

The trick is to make the smaller repeat steps required to meet your
goal a habit. Let’s look at an example of how you can break down
components of a large goal into smaller routine steps.

Goal Add 10 new clients to your consultancy roster in 6 months

• Share a thought leadership post on LinkedIn (daily)

• Email a cold sales pitch to 10 prospective clients (weekly)
Routine task
• Follow up with warm leads (weekly)
• Attend a networking event (monthly)

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 How to incorporate new goals into your existing routine.

One way to incorporate these steps into your routine is to piggyback

them onto other tasks that are already a core part of your routine. For
example, if you clear out your inbox every day at three o’clock sharp,
spend an extra 15 minutes afterwards following up with warm leads. If
the first thing you do every morning is check social media, share your
daily LinkedIn post then.

To get started, map out where you can add these steps into your routine.

Routine task Existing task to piggyback on

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Quarterly

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 How to check in on your goals.

We’re back with—you guessed it—more structure. Setting and

forgetting goals has never done anyone any good. I recommend
making checking in on your goals a regular habit. This isn’t to say
you have to take action every time you check in on your goals, but
regularly thinking about them will make your pursuit of them more
focused and mindful.

Daily. Write down the goals you’re currently working on and reference
the list every morning before you really start your day. The point of
this daily check-in (which may seem extremely repetitive) is to help
you set intentions for the day and to keep your goals top of mind.
You won’t take action on each of your goals every single day, but by
referencing them every day you’ll never let them slip by.

To step it up a notch, take a page out of Daymond John’s playbook.

Daymond is a businessman, investor, television personality, author,
and motivational speaker, who most of us have seen closing deals on
“Shark Tank”. He shared with Business Class participants that he sets
goals for six months, two years, five years, ten years, and 20 years. He
reviews all of those goals every single morning and night. Daymond
told Business Class participants, “My goals are my dashboard. If I
don’t have my goals, then I let others take my goals from me or fill my
head with their goals.”

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 Daymond’s goal setting technique involves:

• Being very transparent with yourself and setting clear and

concise goals

• Reading 10 goals before he goes to bed at night and the

same 10 when he wakes up in the morning

• Setting 6 goals that expire in 6 months, 4 goals that expire

in 2 years, 5 goal years that expire in 10 years, and 5 goals
that expire in 20 years

Monthly. The end of every month is an ideal time to take stock of

the progress you made on your goals. You can reflect on what steps
you took that helped you reach your goal and what actions (or lack of
actions) drive results. That way, you can make the necessary changes
to be more effective next month.

Quarterly. That monthly review is a great time to make small

changes, but once a quarter you should prepare to make a bigger
pivot if necessary. Sometimes, you need more than a month to see
how things are shaking out. Especially since you might not see the
efforts of some of your actions for many weeks. It can take months to
close a deal, finish a rebrand, or make a change in your personal life.
Pulling back at the quarterly mark and looking at the bigger picture
over the past three months can help you identify if certain events
were a fluke (like an unexpected car repair slowing down your savings
progress) or if a clear trend is emerging (like your Pinterest marketing
plan simply not paying off).

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 Annually. You don’t have to wait for January 1st to roll around to set
goals or to do an annual review of your goals. Starting today is the
best day to start.

Celebrity hairstylist and entrepreneur Jen Atkin makes a point every

year to set a variety of goals. If you’re looking to set new annual goals,
but don’t know where to start, her preferred method is a simple way to
get the juices flowing.

This year
I want to

Quit

Learn

Have

Start

Stop

Be

If you happen to set all of your major goals on the same day each
year, such as your birthday or work anniversary, then it’s easy to
remember when to do your annual check-in. If you create new goals
throughout the year, add an annual reminder for each goal to your
calendar so you don’t accidentally forget to review your progress.

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 How to make the most out
of these check-ins.
The point of checking in on your goals isn’t always to confirm you’re on
track or to try to get back on track. Sometimes, the point is to reveal that
it’s time to adapt your goal or to move on. There’s a time to hold yourself
accountable for your goals, but there’s also a time to move the target, even
if it’s a major move.

For example, if it was your goal to save $50,000 for a down payment on a
home in two years, you would need to save $4,167 a month for two years.
If you check in on this goal quarterly and find you’re only managing to save
$3,500 a month on average, you have a few options for how to proceed.

If you still want to meet your original goal, you can increase the amount you
need to save each month and make a major change to your budget or plan
to increase your income. If that isn’t doable, you can choose to change your
timeline. You can recalculate how long it would take you to save enough for
your down payment by saving $3,500. Adjusting your timeline and waiting
a bit longer to reach your goal is a way more effective choice than thinking
you’ve failed and giving up.
Be honest when you do these check-ins. Is there something in your control
that you can change to make meeting your goal more obtainable? If you fell
off the wagon and need to simply get back to doing the work, don’t be afraid
to push yourself and to embrace accountability. But if you need to pivot, it
doesn’t mean you’re doing things wrong. It just means that it’s time to shift
a little as you continue learning about what works and what doesn’t.

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 Reminder:
be reasonable
and resilient.
While I wish I could tell you anything is possible, sometimes
that’s just not true. No matter how hard you work, not every
goal is going to be obtainable the first time around. We’ve
already talked about why you need to set reasonable goals, but
I want to wrap up with a friendly reminder to stop being so hard
on yourself. If you’re setting goals that aren’t reachable, you
need to cut yourself some slack. You’re human and progress
takes time.

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 As entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, “You
cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your
direction overnight.”

Take your time. You can set goals that will take years to meet.
Whether your goal is to buy a home, transform your business, or see
the world, achieving these things takes years of commitment.

Expect to hit some roadblocks along the way—it’s entirely normal.

Resiliency is key here. Be prepared to take a hit and bounce back up.
Better yet, when you “fail”, you’re actually making progress. But only
if you commit to learning from your failures just as much as you learn
from your wins. Whether you achieve your goal or not, take some time
to reflect.

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 Post-goal reflection worksheet

Here’s a worksheet to help you along. You can copy this into your journal or planner
to reflect on at the end of each period.

Goal Goal Goal Goal

Did I succeed
or fail?

What went
right?

What went
wrong?

What would I
do differently
next time?

What would I
do absolutely
the same?

When all else fails, don’t be afraid to hit the refresh button. Just because you
weren’t able to meet a goal in the past, doesn’t mean you’ll fail to meet the same
goal again. Start fresh, make a plan, adjust when needed, and crush it!

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 I do more than
free guides.

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and founders-to-be. Our e-learning universe provides a best-in-class
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With Business Class, you’ll gain lifetime access to:

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 About Sophia Amoruso

Sophia Amoruso is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, New York

Times Bestselling Author of #GIRLBOSS, online educator, and mom
to three small poodles.

Called “One of the most inspiring entrepreneurs in America” by the

Huffington Post, Sophia made her mark when she founded fashion
retailer Nasty Gal, bootstrapping it to $30 million in annual revenue
and eventually scaling the business to over $100 million.

Sophia has been featured on the cover of Forbes magazine and fea-
tured in the Fortune 40 under 40, Forbes 30 under 30, Inc. 30 under
30, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, and Inc. 500
lists—and named one of Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women.

Sophia’s mission is to use her 15 years of hard-won experience to

further the next generation of creative entrepreneurs.

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