Do you set yourself goals?
Do you take time out and give careful consideration to what you want to achieve in your life?
Do you make a point of writing down your goals and referring to them regularly?
If your answer to the three questions above is “no” then you are missing out on an essential tool for success.
Goal setting is a key component of success. Your ability to clearly and systematically create goals, and plans for their achievement, will help you more to achieve success and happiness than any other skill you could develop.
Many avoid setting goals because:
1. A pessimistic mindset. Always seeing the pitfalls rather than the possibilities.
2. Fear of failure. What if I don’t make it? People feel subconsciously that if they don’t set goals and if they don’t make it, then they haven’t failed.
3. A lack of ambition. This is a result of limited thinking and a lack of desire to step out of their comfort zone.
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4. A fear of rejection. If I don’t make it, what will other people say?
5. Procrastination. Tomorrow never comes, we always put things off
6. Low self-esteem. A lack of self confidence not only holds you back but cuts off any inspiration for the future,
7. Lack of understanding of goals. Until you realised the importance of goals, you will never benefit from their power.
8. No goal-setting system. Not having a step-by-step system to follow through on for setting goals makes it very hard to do properly.
Over the coming weeks and months of 2012 wouldn’t it be fantastic if your life could be powered up by the magic of setting goals?
Setting goals is such a simple process. All you have to do is set aside a small amount of time to focus your attention to what you want to achieve, who you want to be, what you want to have, and what you want to do.
Only once you have taken time out to set your goals you will a direction for your life.
Your starting point is to develop absolute clarity about your goals and objectives. So much time is wasted, let alone effort, by the fact that you have lost sight of what you are trying to accomplish, or forgetting what you set out to do. It doesn’t matter where we are. What really matters is in what direction we are heading. Effort and courage without purpose is wasted.
Setting your goals and objectives clearly, and prioritising your actions so that you perform with a single-minded focus on the most important things you can possibly do to achieve them.
“Written goals transform you from a wandering generality into a meaningful specific.” Zig Ziglar
Increase your success rate by 1000% this year when creating your New Year Resolutions. Those who write down their resolutions, will have a far better rate of success and achievement than those who had just thought about them.
On the 1st January every year people all over the world set resolutions. It seems to be a common trait among people that compels them to start a new year with a list of things they want to achieve. It might be anything from losing weight to finding a new job, buying a car, studying more diligently or having a more optimistic outlook on life. The way most do it makes them as not really goals, but loosely defined objectives
However, all resolutions can be constructed into SMART goals. Let me introduce you to the SMART formula.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable or Attributable, Realistic, and Timed. Let me explain briefly what each letter of the SMART Goal formula means.
S = Specific
Your goals mustn’t be vague they must be as specific as they can be.
M = Measurable
As well as being specific your goals should be measurable. If your goal is related to money you might set a goal to “Earn over £100,000” or maybe to “Increase your monthly income by 25%”.
A = Actionable or Attributable
There’s no point in setting goals that are not actionable or attributable, i.e. you have
no direct control over the outcome.
R = Realistic
When setting goals you need to be realistic. Setting a goal that is possible, within your reach, and capabilities.
T = Timed
A well thought out goal must include a timescale and must not be open ended.
Goals can be:
1. short-term–up to one year.
2. mid-term–up to three years.
3. long-term–up to five years.
Goals can be longer than five years but then they become a purpose of life. And having a purpose is very important because without one, it is possible to develop true fulfilment. Goals lead to purpose in life. All of us in this world have a purpose in life. And that purpose may vary from person to person.
You have to dream big dreams! Only big dreams have the power to motivate and inspire you toward the fulfillment of your full potential. Only big dreams liberate your imagination and energy, and give you the drive to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that you will experience on the path to your goal. Only big dreams can keep you excited and working enthusiastically every day toward their accomplishment.
There are several questions that you can ask yourself to help you determine your major definite purpose. These questions force you to think through who you are and what you really want to do with your life.
If you became an instant millionaire, tax free, what would you do differently in your life from what you are doing today?
• What would you start doing that you are not doing right now?
• What would you stop doing?
• What would you do more of or less of?
• Where would you go?
• Who would you see?
Alternatively, project yourself forward to the end of your life and imagine writing your own biography. If you could design your life in advance, and write your own story, what would you want to happen in your life? What kind of a person do you want to become? What sort of things do you want to achieve? Imagine that you could write the script of your own life, and if you were not happy with the script, you could tear it up and write a new script.
Finally, imagine that you could write your own eulogy, to be read to your friends and relatives at your funeral. What would you want it to say? What would you want people to think about you after you pass away? How do you want to be remembered by the most important people in your life?
When you ask these questions, and imagine writing your own life story, or your own obituary, you free up your mind to see what is really important to you. You develop “long-time outlook” and begin to become clear about what you really want to accomplish with your life.
Your ability to classify the one ‘special’ goal that you would dare to commit yourself to if you were guaranteed of success will often be the one that will take you to fulfilling your purpose. This is the one goal you are meant to accomplish, and which can have the most positive impact on your life.
Tomorrow I will complete this piece with my goal setting system!
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Lexi, it’s not just about determining ‘what you want’, its of even more importance to know exactly ‘why you want it’. When the why is strong enough, then this alone can fuel you to just keep going until you succeed. When you want something enough, i assure you, you will find the answers.