Goal-Setting

Goal-setting is an extremely important element to anyone who wants to get ahead in life. Goals are incredibly important because they are your road map to success. After all, how do you know how to get there, if you don't know where you're going???  The fact of the matter is, people who know what their goals are and who manage them properly are extremely more likely to achieve those goals.

Goal setting is an important method of:

* Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life.

* Separating what is important from what is irrelevant or redundant.

* Motivating yourself and getting ahead.

Here are a few important tips to keep in mind when setting your own personal goals.  It is essential that goals follow the following s.m.a.r.t. criteria:

S. Specific

M. Measurable
A. Attainable
R. Relevant
T. Timely

Specific
Goals should be straightforward and emphasize what you want to happen. Specifics help us to focus our efforts and clearly define what we are going to do.

Specific is the What, Why, and How. For example, instead of having “save more money” as a goal, it is more powerful to say “I want to save $150 by the end of every month by setting up an automatic deduction from me checking account."
WHAT are you going to do? Use action words such as direct, organize, coordinate, lead, develop, plan, build etc.
WHY is this important to do at this time? What do you want to ultimately accomplish?
HOW are you going to do it? (By...)

Measurable
If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.  When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goals.

Attainable
Goals you set which are too far out of your reach, you probably won't commit to doing. Simple as that! When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop that attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them.

A goal needs to stretch you slightly so you feel you can do it and it will need a real commitment from you.

Realistic
Realistic means do-able.It is important to set goals that you can achieve. This happens when you don't know what exactly is involved when you set those goals.

Timely
Set a time frame for the goal: for next week, in three months... Putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to work towards.

If you don't set a time, the commitment tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there's no urgency to start taking action now.

Remember:

State each goal as a positive statement- 'Execute this technique well' is a much better goal than 'Don't make this stupid mistake.'

Write goals down- This crystallizes them and gives them more force. I recommend writing short term goals (within the next year) and long-term goals (within 5 years) and your method of achieving or action plan for these goals.

Remember to update your goals at least once a year and that goals turn your dreams into a reality, so get going!!!

photo via ICT_photo from Flickr