This article is in addition to the other two that I’ve written about goal setting (’Setting Monthly Goals‘ and ‘Setting Daily Goals‘), so be sure to give those articles a read as well. I’ve already rambled on about the importance of goal setting, and now I’m going to conclude the trio of goal setting articles with the last important topic: setting weekly goals.

Weekly goals differ from daily goals or monthly goals in that they are segregated into four sections - one for each week - and that they combine to become a larger monthly goal. Many people, including myself, find it easier to reach our weekly goals than daily or monthly goals, and for this reason having them is quite important. Weekly goals act as a fail-safe, allowing you to balance out your goal setting and hopefully reach some kind of base level.

Weekly goals should be more complex than daily goals, but not as complex as monthly goals. The monthly goals, after all, are the culmination of an entire months worth of work. Meeting your monthly goals means that your work throughout the month, as well as your daily and weekly goals, have been completely successfully. Successful completion of anything is worth a pat on the back, as it’s the first step towards long term success.

My Weekly Goals

I, for example, focus a lot on weekly accomplishment- even more than I do on daily accomplishment. I do this because I know that what really matter to me in the long run is the combination my weekly deadlines and long-term projects.

My weekly goal sheet looks something like this:

Month:

Week One:

Week Two:

Week Three:

Week Four:

That’s it. No insightful quotes, areas for self reflection, or wasted space. All it shows is a list of things that I want done come the end of the week.

When filled out, my goal sheet looks something like this:

Month: August, 2008

Week One:
- Complete copy writing obligations for current clients (85 articles)
- Update AffiliateWeb five times.
- Generate eight new copy writing clients.

Week Two:
- Compleye copy writing obligations for new clients (unknown quantity)
- Update AffiliateWeb eight times.
- Finally finish simplifiedSEO.com

Week Three:
- Generate eight new copy writing clients.
- Put three new websites online.
- Begin SEO process for simplifiedSEO.com.
- Redo my office so that it is more organized.
- Hire two new employees to better manage content orders.

Week Four:
- Complete copy writing obligations.
- Take a week long hiatus on any new projects.

Why Weekly Goals are Important

Daily goals are smaller tasks or accomplishments that have been broken down and spread out over the course of several days. Usually, a daily goal does not have much long term significance on its own, as it is part of a much more significant whole.

A weekly goal, however, is the culmination of a full weeks worth of daily goals, and because of that it carries more significance. It ties in with the monthly, yearly, and even multi-year goals in that it is a standardized measurement. A year can be broken down into 52 weekly goals, which is much easier to manage than 365 daily goals. The weekly goal can then be broken down even further into 7 daily goals.

If anything, weekly goals simply serve as a reminder of what you want to have finished by the time the week is over. If you are able to continually meet them you are likely to experience more success than if you operated without them.