Have you considered what you'd want to be doing, or what you'd like to have achieved in 3, 5 or 10 year's time?
Are you clear about what your real and important objectives in life, work and play is?
Do you know what you want to achieve by today?
If you want to get somewhere, you'll definitely need to set goals. Without goals, you will lack focus and direction, and not get to where you want to be.
Setting goals helps to steer your direction in your life as well as provide you a reference point for you to determine if you're achieving what you set out to achieve...and it also shows if you didn't.
Think about it, really. Nothing is more real proof when you have 1,000,000 dollars in your account if one of your goals is to store riches, right? Of course, goals can be all sorts, not just about amassing money - it can be snagging that promotion, that guy or girl you like, going for a cruise or holiday, giving family or charity an amount - whatever your priorities are.
To achieve your goals, you will need to know how to set them - just saying "I want" or "because I want" doesn't mean it'd happen. Setting goals is a process that needs to be started with careful considerations of what you want as well putting in the sweat and blood and effort to get it done.
In each goals there needs to be "mini-goals" that are well-defined and described that helps you create achievable goals.
When you set goals for yourself, you need to set goals that motivate you. They need to be important and of value to you in achieving them. If you have little to no interest in the outcomes, or if they are not relevant on a macro perspective, then the likelihood of you putting in the effort to make them work is low.
Set goals that are high priorities in your life. With this in mind, you will end up having very focused and achievable, important goals that you can devote time and effort to. Achieving goals require a lot of commitment, so choosing goals that are important will increase the likelihood of success. If you don't have the "I will do this" attitude in mind, you then will risk putting off what you need to do to get what you need to do done to make the goal a reality. If that happens, you will end up very disappointed and frustrated...as well as adopting a defeated attitude of "I can't achieve anything."
To ensure that your goal is motivating to you, try writing why it's valuable and important to you.
It's likely that you would have heard of the term "SMART goals" before.
They are good terms, and when used, they make goals very powerful.
SMART stands for:
Your goal must be clear and well defined. They cannot be general or vague - that's not helpful because vague goals don't provide clear direction or instructions. The job of goals is mainly to show you the way. Make it as easy as you can to get where you want to go by defining precisely where you want to end up.
Include incremental and measurable data in your goals, such as amounts, data and dates so that you can measure your achievements. If your goal is to increase your revenue, how do you know when or how successful are you? If you set a goal to earn 10x more in 10 months, then you know that you need to keep earning 1x more each more, and you'd achieve your goal in 10 months. Without a way to measure your success and achievements you won't know when you have arrived.
Your goals needs to achievable and possible, If you set a goal that you have no chance, hope or possibility of achieving, you will only serve to demoralize yourself and still not achieve it.
In the same category, also do not set goals that are too easy to accomplish - over-easy goals are, for the lack of a better word - too "blah" to bother trying. There's no real sense of achievement.
Try to set goals that are slightly outside of your comfort zone - not what you had done before but just more than what you've done before - some stretch is good. These goals are a little stretch goals that forces you to "up the ante" and bring more personal satisfaction.
Goals need to be relevant to the direction you want your life, business, career etc to be heading. So you need to ensure your goals are aligned with your directions. Focus.
Your goals must have a timeline and a deadline. This is to keep you on-track and accountable, and ensure you achieve what you set out to achieve.
The physical process of writing your goal makes it "more real" and "more tangible", rather than just some whimsical idea in your head. By writing it down, you then no longer have an excuse such as "you forgot".
As you write, use words such as "I will" or "I must". An example is "I will increase my revenue by 25 percent by December 2014. Don't write something vague such as "I hope or I may increase revenue..."
Write with conviction and visualize your goal.
Frame your goal statement positively. If you want to improve your retention rates say, "I will hold on to all existing employees for the next quarter" rather than "I will reduce employee turnover." The first one is motivating; the second one still has a get-out clause "allowing" you to succeed even if some employees leave.
If you use a To-Do List, make yourself a To-Do List template that has your goals at the top of it. If you use an Action Program, then your goals should be at the top of your Project Catalog.
Post your goals in visible places to remind yourself every day of what it is you intend to do. Put them on your walls, desk, computer monitor, bathroom mirror or refrigerator as a constant reminder.
This step is a very vital step, yet it's the most often missed step in goal setting. Everyone likes to dream, but not everyone can make the dream a reality. It's your action plan that gets the dream "done".
Write down each goal and their corresponding actionable that is required to achieve the goal, and strike out each achieved action as you achieve them - it'd show how you're progressing towards the bigger goal.
Goal setting is an ongoing activity. Set up reminders to keep yourself on track and make regular time slots available to view and review your goals. Stay the game until the goal is finished, then only move on.
Goal setting is much more than simply saying you want something to happen. Unless you clearly define exactly what you want and understand why you want it the first place, your odds of success are considerably reduced. By following the Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting you can set goals with confidence and enjoy the satisfaction that comes along with knowing you achieved what you set out to do.
So, what will you decide to accomplish today?
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Take action TODAY: One year from today, you'll be one year older. What would you have done by then?