How To Set and Achieve Weekly Goals (+ 30 Goal Examples)
Udn Webber
Editorial Coordinator
Setting new goals for yourself sounds great until you actually have to make an effort to achieve them. 😅
And some of these can be vague, over-the-top life goals that we think are attainable.
But they only make us feel disappointed when we can’t hit them.
Like the FRIENDS episode where Ross resolved to do something new each day.
If you feel you’re like Ross when it comes to goal setting, no, you’re not a failure. You just need to set weekly goals first.
In this article, we’ll tell you why and how you should set weekly goals . We’ll also list down the action steps to achieve them consistently.
Bonus : We’ll also give you a list of 30 weekly goal ideas for some inspiration.
Let’s go. 🚀
What Are Weekly Goals?
Weekly goals break down a larger goal into smaller tasks that you want to achieve within a week.
If you’re new to goal setting, it’s a good place to start.
For example, let’s say you want a big house, drive a swanky BMW, or make a six-figure salary.
These are great ideas for a long term goal . But you can’t really attain them in a week.
It’s like Rachel saying she will become financially independent with no source of income.
Instead, goals with a weekly focus can be more casual and less stressful, making it much easier to achieve them.
Let’s take a closer look at why you should set weekly goals. 👀
Why Set a Weekly Goal?
To not have life goals is like sleepwalking through life.
Weekly goals help us wake up from this sleep and take measurable steps to achieve our life goals over a defined period.
Fair enough.
But why a week ?
A week is long enough to carry out several tasks and make significant progress towards your bigger goal.
Yet, it’s short enough to tweak your actions if you go slightly off track.
However, most of us give little thought to these small steps and aim for the bigger goal without any roadmap. But if you break them down, your ultimate goal becomes more manageable and achievable.
Another great thing about setting week goals is that they’re flexible . 🤸♂️
You can adjust and align them to take care of activities or bad work habits that may prevent you from achieving your personal goals.
For example, setting weekly goals can be useful if you’re a procrastinator. You can assign a short term goal for each day and do things daily rather than rush towards the end of the week.
Moreover, achieving weekly goals sets the momentum for progress and motivates you to stick to your plan.
If you’re all game and want to try this fantastic weekly goal setting method, here are some weekly goal ideas to get you started.
30 Weekly Goals Examples
From career goals to focusing on self-care, you can set weekly goals for all walks of life.
If you’re yet to decide on which area to focus on, here are some weekly goals ideas to help you out:
Career goals
Want to grow at work and get ahead of others? 🌱
Try out these career goal ideas:
Financial goals
Saving money is on everyone’s wishlist. 🧞♂️
Here’s how you can do it with weekly goals:
Health and fitness goals
Don’t envy that fit coworker or friend. Instead, get going with these fitness goal ideas:
Self-care and mental health goals
Here’s how you can take care of yourself with weekly goals amidst a hectic work life:
Relationship goals
Nurture your relations with these good weekly goal ideas:
Fun goals
Want to try something new?
Try out one of these fun examples of weekly goals:
How To Set Weekly Goals and Achieve Them
No matter what stage of life you are at, weekly goals will always “ be there for you. ” 🎶
Let’s help you set a good weekly goal and also achieve it because we’re your friends. 😉
Have a weekly focus
Before you start working on a weekly idea, decide on a weekly focus .
Your weekly focus could be anything, a phrase, a quote, or a poem. Something that inspires and gives you the motivation to set a better goal.
Like Chandler said, “no jokes for a week .” 🙊
Dedicate a specific time every week to decide your weekly focus. Ideally, it should be before the week starts, probably a Sunday afternoon or evening.
Use this time to spotlight yourself and think about what you want to achieve in the upcoming week.
It could be personal project management or a professional goal . Additionally, review your goal weekly with regard to your monthly goals or a quarterly goal.
Mark this time on your calendar and try to stick to this weekly regimen. The idea here’s to turn setting weekly goal ideas into a habit.
Use the SMART goals framework
To achieve your goals, you need to have a SMART objective.
The SMART goal framework stands for:
For example, instead of saying, “ I’ll increase my sales this week, ” you could say, “ I’ll arrange ten product demos this week. ” 🙌
That’ll give you a specific, measurable, and attainable goal. It’s relevant to your company’s objective of increasing monthly sales. And you’ve made this goal time-bound by giving yourself a week.
Wondering how goals are different from objectives?
Check out our detailed goals vs. objectives guide.
Write down your goals
Once you have a good weekly plan using the SMART goals framework, you must write it down.
Why?
It’s got to do with your brain’s science .
When you think about your weekly goals, you usually use the right side of your brain associated with imagination and creativity. Basically, you just imagine stuff.
But when you write it down , you tell your left brain (the logical side) that you want to do something about it. This knock-knocks your subconscious, which helps you create an actionable plan.
Writing goals also gives you the satisfaction to tick off those tiny boxes on your checklist. ✅
To write different goals, you can get yourself a fancy weekly planner or organizer. You can also find a printable planner template online. Even better, you can use an online goal tracking tool.
Just ensure you have access to this weekly planner or tool throughout the week.
Break down a bigger goal
To achieve your bigger goal, you must break it down into smaller, manageable goals. This makes it easier to achieve .
For example, you could start with a quarterly goal and set milestones for each month.
Then, have weekly goals to inch towards each milestone. You can even break them down further into daily goals .
But when you break down goals, ensure that each mini goal (whether it’s a weekly or daily goal) ties back to a bigger goal. This will help you think of the bigger picture and get the motivation to achieve your goals.
Stay accountable with goal setting
If you struggle to stay on track, you could rope in an accountability partner. It can be your team lead, manager, or even a friend. 👯♀️
Like how Monica helped Chandler lose weight.
Okay, maybe a friend who’s less obsessed with reaching your goal. 😂
For those going solo, you can set accountability statements that remind you of the present and upcoming week goals. These are action items or milestones you commit to and complete within a given time frame.
Make sure they’re specific and measurable so that you know when you’ve achieved their purpose.
Another way to stay accountable is to use a goal tracking app.
Use a goal tracking tool
If you like to plan things in detail, like Monica planning the Thanksgiving dinner down to the table setting , you can use a goal tracking app or goal tracking software .
The conventional pen and paper methods are great. But chances are, you may get busy with your daily life and fail to look at your weekly planner. 🙈
A goal tracking tool like UDN Task Manager can help you stick through and crush your goals week by week.
UDN Task Manager is one of the highest-rated project management software used by teams and individuals to manage their personal goals or professional weekly goals.
It offers several goal tracking features that let you set measurable targets, track your progress, and conduct a weekly review.
In fact, at UDN Task Manager we set weekly goals to break down our business goals into smaller achievable tasks.
How do we do it?
By setting up weekly scorecards using Goals in UDN Task Manager .
Viewing weekly scorecards and progress percentages in UDN Task Manager ’s Goal folder
These scorecards help our teams break down their work into smaller action steps and give them a sense of purpose every day. Each team member sets four to five Targets to know what they need to accomplish on that day.
Weekly scorecards also let our project managers know what each member is working on and if their efforts culminate into our bigger business goals.
Here are some of the goal tracking features in UDN Task Manager that you can also use to reach your weekly goals:
Creating a checklist within a task in UDN Task Manager
We know the Monica in you is loving it already. 😇
Weekly Goals FAQs
Here are some questions that most smaller goal setters are curious about:
How do you use daily goals to achieve a weekly goal?
You can divide a good weekly goal into smaller tasks or daily goals to make it more manageable. Then, list out every task under the smaller goal that you need to do for the day.
As you continue to accomplish these goals day after day, your weekly goal will become much more achievable.
How does the 80/20 rule help you achieve weekly goals?
As per the 80/20 rule, 20% of your efforts are responsible for 80% of your results.
The math may not exactly be the same, but you can apply this rule to weekly goals too.
When it comes to your weekly goal planning, you need to identify the 20% of your daily tasks to help you reach your goal faster.
These are your Most Important Tasks (MITs) that’ll have the most significant impact on your weekly goal. Completing these first will give you a sense of accomplishment and set the momentum for the week.
“ How You Doin’? ” With Your Weekly Goals?
Remember, your weekly goal doesn’t need to be perfect. It should just be smart enough to help you make a little goal progress every day.
A smart goal tracking tool like UDN Task Manager can be of great help here.
From setting all sorts of Goals with weekly scorecards to keeping a tab of your tasks with Reminders , UDN Task Manager is that friend who will help you every step of the way.
But the best part is most of these features are available for free !
Why wait then?
Use UDN Task Manager for free to organize your weekly goals, and we bet no one can stop you from doing your victory dance. 🕺
