OK, I wrote recently about not setting any new year’s resolutions and that was really because resolutions are generally missed, forgotten, ignored and never adjusted. They are not written, planned or even thought about that clearly. They are VERY different from goals. So, I’m going to be exploring goals and goal setting, tracking and following goals for the next several articles and I wanted to just introduce a bit about goals and what a difference they can make in one’s life.

Setting and achieving goals is a process, it is not a single event. I think this is the biggest mistake that people make with goals. They set them, leave them and eventually realize when its way to late, that they didn’t achieve them and voila, they no longer believe that goals work. That is simply not true. Goals do work, but to make them work, you also have to work your goals. There is a process that is needed to attend to them, track them, adjust them and even to identify them in the first place. They don’t just happen!

What are Goals Really Good For?

Plain and simply, goals are the one fundamental key to success and achievement. They are the key to accomplishment in every aspect of life. Living without having and utilizing goals means living in the wake of reaction and circumstance. Its living just to live instead of choosing how to live and why to live. Goals allow a person to focus their energy and life for purposes and passions. They help to add value to a person’s life by keeping them on track with what means most to them and they help a person to better understand themselves and what is important to them. Goals are a way to live with meaning and obsession for what brings the most joy and satisfaction to a person. They are something to express passion for, to motivate you and others who see your determinism and they simply bring to your life more of what you want.

Different aspects of Goals

So, the point these articles is that I’m going to reviews goals in a few separate sections. Its a big enough topic its easier to take in pieces and helpful if you are already experienced with goal setting but need some helpful tips in just one area. Goal setting really is important enough (and there are many blogs and series out there to show this) that it can be the sole focus for an entire site or longer series as well. I hope to cover a few specific things I’ve learned from using goals through my life and I want to present it in a short and actionable way so it is easy to help others enhance their experiences with goals as well. So, I’ve broken down a few separate articles into the following sections:

• Setting and Identifying goals
• Tracking and Monitoring goals
• Completing and Closing goals

I believe goals should be focused on achieving life lasting skills, relationships and changed behaviors or habits, not simply temporary or material things. The reason I believe this is because temporary and material things don’t really bring a true lasting satisfaction to anyone, so achieving them doesn’t build on the value of goals nearly as much as goal accomplishment in those other areas. A goal that is remembered and lasts forever will be much higher valued and will re-enforce the value of goal setting in the first place, even more. So, through these goal setting articles, keep focused on behavior impact of your goals, things you want with a lasting impact, not just some new job, toy, or even some dollar figure. What will last for years to come? What will you be most proud of on your death bed? What will help you leave a legacy to others when you pass on? Those are the types of content for great goals and accomplishing them is truly something to be proud of.

Goal Setting Series

Part 1: Goal Setting – Introduction
Part 2: Goal Setting – Setting and Identifying
Part 3: Goal Setting – Tracking and Monitoring
Part 4: Goal Setting – Completing and Close

Posted by Mike King under Success | 8 Comments »

I find it amusing that every year, billions of people set themselves a couple of New Year’s Resolutions in the hopes that they will change something significant in their lives and enjoy the coming year more than the last. Most of those resolutions are long forgotten even half way through the year and many never even had a single action put towards it. Ignored since the day it was made!

So, my challenge is this, don’t make any resolutions for 2008 that are likely to go nowhere. Don’t make those empty yet hopeful promises to yourself of endless amounts of exercise and perfectly controlled eating habits. Don’t worry so much about that job or money or item you’re after, they really don’t matter anyway. Don’t pretend that a resolution or goal that isn’t written down and planned is going to happen, simply forget about it. When new years comes, simply take the night off and stay away from all that forward thinking. Revel in the moment and enjoy the time your spending with others.

New Years resolutions often just stirs up past memories of previous years’ failed resolutions, and what good is that? Why should you be disappointed by a goal not written down? You shouldn’t, because a goal not written down is nothing at all. So, since New Years resolutions are generally utter failures for most people anyway, don’t waste your time this year. Real goals are thought about with time, attention and continual measuring and adjusting them, not a one time event shared with a couple of people once a year.

So, this year when 2008 rolls into action, think about this challenge, don’t make any empty promises or wasted resolutions!

Posted by Mike King under Life | 3 Comments »

Goal Setting

Goals are not easy. There is a lot to read about setting goals and how important they are. Even though this is a VERY common topic, it really doesn’t set in with many people since there are less than 4% of people in North America actually writing down any goals. That is just staggering. I guess people don’t do goal setting because they just don’t believe all the people writing about how important they are and how they can massively and positively affect your life. Well, I’m one of those believers, I’ve seen it, lived it and never going to stop using goals in my life. And this is for those that actually DO set goals. This is not about setting the goals themselves, but getting something out of them once you have set them.

Write them down

A lot of folks believe that they have set goals but then say they are in there head and are not written down. I’m sorry, but a goal not written is not a goal at all. Writing it down puts it to paper so it can’t be ignored, changed (without intention), or even falsely accepted (if its a well written goal). You MUST do this to get anything out of your goals.

Review your goals

Whether you wrote your goals one time in school, at work or are more active and writing goals yearly or even monthly, they won’t do you much good unless you review them. You need goals to be your focus and I suggest reviewing them at least weekly to track progress and to refresh your mind into thinking about achieving those goals continually. Daily review is even better. Our busy lives distract us into a terrible cycle of just “doing fine”, getting buy, paying the bills and forgetting to really live for the things we want to live for, the things in our written goals.

Make a habit of reviewing and reading your goals on a regular basis. Think about what steps you’ve taken to meet each one, put estimates of progress completion if it is a lot of work to get there and consider some simple actions to get you moving toward your goal. Use outlook or another calendar application to remind your and schedule some time to pay attention to reviewing your goals.

Adjust your goals

After reviewing your goals, it might be appropriate to adjust them. If you’ve missed a target date for a goal, adjust it. Don’t just leave it! Change goal and rewrite it so it is again something to work towards instead of a reminder of failure or excuse to not act on other goals. Everyone’s lives change frequently and so should your goals. You can’t plan everything in your life, so don’t try. You learn to live under different circumstances so you should do the same to adjust your goals to properly fit your life and circumstances. You’ll be much happier working on goals that are appropriate than some old goal you no longer believe in.

Be accountable to goal progress

You should always be making some steps towards your goals. When reviewing your goals, make note and records about the steps you make toward achieving the goal. This works best by having a goal partner, boss, spouse, friend or mentor to review your goals with. If you are willing to share your goals and the action plans and commitments to meet them, your goal partner will be able to expect progress towards these goals. Having some accountability in someone else you trust and respect goes a long way to keeping your focus on your goals. It can also bring forth discussion about the priority and measures of each goals to make them align better with your life and things you can actually work towards. There are also steps to take towards any goal and another person can help with planning ideas with you.

Write about and share your goals

Reviewing your goals is a great way to focus on them and a partner helps with accountability. Another technique that can really push you to get the most out of your goals, is to write about them or share them with other people. There are s many ways to write about your goals to others such as in letters, reports, email, instant messaging, social network sites, blogs, books, articles, etc. All of these force you to think about the goals and it often brings more accountability since your audience will have some expectation that the goals are something important to you. They might ask and look for some kind of progress themselves so you will feel more obligation to complete them and please your audience.

Take joy in the goals you meet

Keep track of goals that you have met. Keep them handy as you review current goals to help remind you of the many goals already accomplished. Enjoy and celebrate the completion of any goal, big or small. Completing goals is very satisfying and can bring a lot of joy and sense of accomplishment in life. Take hold of that.

And when your done celebrating and being satisfied, use these completed ones to remind you of your success when struggling with other goals. Also, when you complete a goal, look at what new goals to set in that same area of your life and review your other goals to see if things need to be adjusted. Keep moving forward and get right back to working on the other remaining goals.

Posted by Mike King under Success | 2 Comments »