Finding it too easy to hit your goals? Maybe you have goals that do not challenge you.  That means it is time to level up.

When it comes to making goals that help you overall, it is important to ensure that they are progressive. By that, I mean that they are stepping stones to greater success.

If you would like to embrace more challenging goals, take a look at this 5-Step process to ensure that your goal planning will result in the success you want.

Step 1. Think About What Matters Most

Before you jump into any huge goal setting strategies, it is important to think about what matters most – to you, and no one else.

What is your top priority?

What do you want to accomplish?

What does it look like to live a life without regrets?

Many people start off by looking at their goals from a monetary perspective, only to find that when they get the raise, they have been working for brings them no more success or happiness.

What is most important to you? Structure your goals around what matters most to you.

Step 2. Think Long-Term, Plan Short-Term

Thinking long-term allows you to see the big picture, so you can set short-term-goals that feed/promote/foster the long-term goals.

It is highly effective to plan short-term goals that are centered around your long-term thinking. Each short-term goal, achieved one by one, brings you closer to what you want in the long-term.

Step 3. Use Key Results

No goal setting is complete without key results. Key results are the action steps to your goals.

For example, if you want to save five thousand dollars for next year’s vacation, what are the actual key results? What can you set up to find an extra $27.40 every day for the next year? What do you do for this to happen? You bring your lunch to work instead of eating at a restaurant.  Maybe you work an hour of overtime every day. Maybe you ask for a raise. Maybe you spend weekends at home instead of going out.

Constantly ask, what are the steps needed to reach this goal? Each goal you have should contain specific action steps.

Step 4. Think 10x Bigger

Thinking bigger makes a bigger impact.

For example, you hear investment bankers talking about percentages – finding 1% better here, 5% better here. Small percentages work for them, but the average person may not see actual, measurable benefits from low numbers.

Instead, challenge yourself to think ten times bigger. We often do not think just one of anything matters too much. “Oh, it is just 1 donut.”  Multiply that by ten. If I ate ten donuts, would that matter? Everything we do matter. Small actions lead to big consequences.

Step 5. Think Ahead

Making a constantly progressive goal requires you to think ahead.

Understandably, sometimes you cannot think about all the outcomes of a particular situation. I am a huge fan of planning for contingencies. When I travel for work, I carry two computers, four dongles, and backup computer chargers. You have to plan for changing situations because change is always happening. When we expect change, we are more resilient, and negative circumstances do not bother us as much.

Thinking ahead allows you to plan for undesirable situations. You can plan for likely obstacles and determine solutions ahead of time in the event the obstacles materialize.

When we plan for contingencies, an obstacle that would cause others to stop moving forward is merely a slight detour.

What can you plan for today that makes you more successful both now and in the future?