How To Set Goals For Life
Elliott Kosmicki
Famous speaker Jim Rohn said, "If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. What ever good things we build end up building us."
No one ever said goal setting is easy. Each goal you want to achieve starts as a thought - so take some time to think about it. Make sure that the goal you've thought of makes sense for the situation you're in, or the chances are, you'll never achieve it.
Don't let the 5-steps listed here fool you, it's much more simple than it appears!
Five Step Goal Setting Made Simple:
1. Make Reachable Goals - Get yourself to your limits, then push them.
2. Define Your Objectives - Attention to detail is critical.
3. Put your tasks in order - One thing at a time.
4. Define Your Time Frame - Give yourself time to achieve, but not slack.
5. Follow Through - What good does an unaccomplished goal do for you?
Make Reachable Goals
Figuring out your personal, financial, educational or business goals take a lot of thought on your part. Consider what you want to accomplish and journal notes along the way - even if you think it's a small detail, it could be a critical part in your decision making later on.
"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it." - A quote by Henry Ford.
Take a while to think things through. If you watch a word-worker make furniture, they might say "measure twice, cut once." If they don't do the measurements - and then fall short, the furniture will take much longer to complete because they didn't do the measuring right the first time. They have to use more material, more time measuring again, all which will make the goal more difficult to obtain.
If you set your goals too high, you might be setting yourself up to fail. You want to challenge yourself with the goal, but give yourself enough slack so you don't get disappointed - all without making it too easy on yourself!
Make a List of Objectives
Give yourself clear and defined goals plus subgoals. Make sure you have time set aside for each goal when you're writing out your plan. You should also by this time have clear notes about how you'll reach each goal and subgoal.
Put Your Tasks in Order
Be very clear with yourself about what you must do to reach your goals. Take great notes. Make lists of what you're willing to give up to turn your goals into a reality. Decide which goal is most important to you and put it at the top of your list. The tasks needed to reach that goal are now your number one and only priority. Once you reach that first goal, move the next one up the list!
Set a Time
Make sure you have worked out a realistic time frame for your goals. You're the only one who can get yourself though this - you don't want to look back in 5 years and be upset at yourself for not sticking to the plan. Remember that you want to challenge yourself, but don't make it too difficult and costly that you'll never make it though.
Follow Through
Besides actually getting your goal on paper, this is absolutely the most critical step - and the one that most people fail with. If you can't finish, you will unfortunately never get to your goals. If one of your goals is to lose 15 pounds, you can't let yourself to stop at 14. If your goal is to get an A on your final exam or get a raise at your job, don't stop until you've got what you wanted!
The author, Elliott Kosmicki, is a motivational blogger that started Becomng.com - the http://becomng.com/ personal development blog for those who can't live without the web. Leave a comment and find other http://becomng.com/topics/goal-setting/) personal goal setting posts from Becomng.com.
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