Break down big, broad goals into smaller, achievable objectives.

Image Description: A poster written in black texta on white paper, with four drawn boxes. The words “Step 1, Step 2, Step 3,” and “Your Goal” are written in a different box. The boxes go up in a staircase form. There is a black arrow drawn in black textaon one side of the boxes and a hand holding the black texta on the other side.

If you’re new to the NDIS or even if you’ve been part of the scheme for years now, having goals that maintain or improve your quality of life are fundamental to getting the right funded supports. Everything comes back to your goals, so getting them right can set you up for smooth sailing. But in contrast, getting them not-quite-right can cause a lot of headaches along the journey of your plan.

Here’s our take on making broad goals (to open up possibilities with funding rather than create limits) but then personally breaking them down into smaller, more achievable objectives so you can make the most of your supports.

A goal is something you want to achieve, often within in a specific time frame like:

‘This year, I want to increase capacity to live independently and actively contribute to the community in a meaningful way though my art.’

Sometimes, when we set goals, two things can happen:

1. We’re not clear enough of what we want; and

2. They can feel really big and overwhelming – so instead of being excited to achieve them, we push them aside and forget about them.

Both of these situations can leave us feeling stuck, lose momentum and, potentially, not fully realise our goals.

The trick is to break goals down into smaller objectives.

If you took the original goal of ‘I want to increase capacity to live independently and actively contribute to the community in a meaningful way though my art’; that’s a strong goal, but it’s not very specific.

But, if you broke this goal down, it could look like:

• I want to get an art mentor funded under the capacity building budget in my NDIS plan;

• I want to use my NDIS budget to purchase specialty equipment to practice my craft; and

• I want to connect with the peak industry body for arts and disabilities in my state.

These smaller objectives are much more specific, and when you have specific objectives, you can take decisive action like:

• Spending 3 hours per week with an art mentor who can coach and create you a plan to grow your practice;

• Purchasing specialty equipment to practise your craft like canvas and brushes; and

• Connecting with a peak body like Arts Access Victoria to actively participate in the local community, and spot new opportunities to grow and develop.

Simple, right?

There’s nothing flashy – just short, simple steps to make your goals achievable.

Here’s another simple example - broad goal to specific objectives.

If your goal was, “I want to increase my capacity to remain independent and safe in my own home”, the supports you may need could look more like:

• Support to attend to personal care needs;

• Assistance to learn budgeting, so you can shop independently and manage your finances;

• Assistance to organise your time and daily activities; and

• Support to learn to cook healthy meals, and use household appliances effectively and safely.

Some of these supports may be funded through your NDIS plan (i.e. support workers) and some may be mainstream supports (i.e. attending a local association to learn healthy cooking skills). But, if your goals are well constructed, you will have more flexibility with what you can spend your funding on.

In short, your goals are a critical part of your plan.  They help the NDIA determine where funding should be allocated for you, and importantly, well thought-out goals provide you with more flexibility when it comes to how you allocate your funding.

Effective goal setting takes practice.

Spend some time thinking about your goals before your NDIS planning meeting and review. It’s a good idea to go to these meetings with a clear idea of your goals and the strategies you want to use to achieve them, to get better outcomes. And don’t forget, you can change your goals whenever you want.

Having trouble wording your goals or matching supports to them?

Head to Kinora and post your questions or even your goals up in the chat, and our coaches can work with you to see which supports would qualify as reasonable and necessary and which ones potentially wouldn’t. Log into Kinora  

Want some more inspiration?

We were inspired by the beautiful story of Louise Marson, shared to us by our friends at My Plan Manager. Enjoy the read. It's a great positive way to approach your NDIS journey. Read Louise's Story

Looking for new or different service providers to help you achieve plan goals?

Browse Kinora's new service provider marketplace. Log into Kinora and click the Service Categories menu at the top of the navigation. Browse Marketplace  

Write goals to have greater SCOPE to maximise funding flexibility.

Most people lean on the SMART goals approach to write goals, but one of our Kinora Coaches suggests a different perspective with great practical tips so that you can get more from your NDIS budget. Tips for Setting Goals