
2. Establish Realistic Goals (Achievable)
One crucial aspect is setting goals that align with your capabilities. Whether it's personal goals like managing time, studying, completing tasks, or exercising, ensure they match your individual capacities. For business goals, grasp the financial resources, personnel, and other aspects of your enterprise to set appropriate targets. For example, if you work for Oppo or HTC, avoid goals like 'Capture 95% market share in the smartphone segment in Vietnam' or 'Outperform Apple, Samsung'...
If you don't have a divine singing voice, don't set a goal to become a music idol. Remember, setting goals to push yourself beyond limits is excellent, but they should still be achievable. If your high jump record is 1 meter seven, setting a goal of 2 meters is within your reach, even if you haven't achieved it yet. However, aiming for 3 meters might be too ambitious.

3. Goals Must Be Quantifiable (Measurable)
For clarity and specificity, goals need to be measurable. Take the example of the goal 'Achieve excellent student status' mentioned earlier. At first glance, it may seem immeasurable, but in reality, it is. To achieve excellent student status, you must attain a specified score, and that numerical value becomes the unit of measurement for the goal. If you're a marketer or salesperson, provide a specific figure for your sales target. It could be a number like 100, 1,000, 1,000,000... or percentage ratios like 50%, 75%, 90%...
If your goal is to wake up early, don't just say 'I will wake up early,' but be clear that 'I will wake up at 5 AM' or 'I will wake up at 6 AM,' depending on your concept of 'early.' Remember, quantification is crucial when setting goals. These numerical targets will give you clear milestones to surpass and guide you on what to do to overcome them.

4. Set a Deadline for Goal Completion (Time-Bound)
Lastly, all goals you set must have a deadline. When goals have a timeframe, you'll know how to organize your tasks to achieve them, and you'll feel the time pressure to reach those goals. Goals without deadlines are goals 'to be considered tomorrow'; you'll keep postponing and postponing until you get frustrated, and the goal will never be accomplished. If your goal is to 'Lose 10kg,' meeting all four criteria mentioned above, but lacking a deadline, you might think, 'I'll just enjoy today's meal, and I'll start losing weight from tomorrow.' And that tomorrow will forever remain just a tomorrow, it will never come.
If you set a goal to 'Increase sales by 10%' without specifying which month, year, or the duration, you won't know how long it will take to achieve a 10% increase in sales. Without a timeframe, every day you make a little progress without pressure, the 10% target will never be reached unless it's too easy or luck-driven. Time not only helps you determine how long it takes to achieve but also helps you plan, creating the pressure to strive for that goal. If your goal is to score 10 points, attach a timeframe like 'In the upcoming test.' If your goal is to lose 2kg, set the target within a week.
If your goal is to go on an adventure to the Northwest, set a deadline within this year. Remember, time is the most crucial factor in goal-setting; it will determine the success or failure of achieving your goals.

5. Avoid Setting Unrealistic Goals
Sometimes, you set goals that are unrealistic, and this is highly dangerous because if you set such goals, you won't be able to achieve them. Think of it like this; setting a goal like 'I will become a superhero, I will fly in the sky' is an unrealistic goal. Similarly, goals like 'Lose 10kg in 2 days' are entirely impractical.
So, how different are unrealistic goals from overly ambitious goals? Overly ambitious goals are those that your abilities can't achieve but others might. Samsung can set a goal to surpass Apple, and they'll strive to achieve it. A kid like Nhật Minh in The Voice Kid can set a goal to become a music idol. Unrealistic goals, on the other hand, are simply goals that nobody can accomplish. These could be goals like 'Run at a speed of 50km/hour,' 'Lift 600kg,' 'Reach a height of 3 meters,' 'Sleep 2 hours a day'...

