Aug 022011
Planning Goals and Progress
If you have never written down your goals then you haven’t lived. The waking up every day knowing that the day before you just didn’t get any closer to where you wanted to be and therefore giving up on them… Oh no that is not what I wanted to say.
Written goals are a must but the goals should be more than just Smart goals (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Real and Timely) You must believe that long term you can do them of course but you need not worry about the fact that they seem so far away. After all how do you eat a blue whale? I think the method usually involves a Japanese whaling fleet first but the saying goes one bit at a time doesn’t it?
A goal gives you a direction. Directions are important. There are many tales of Buddhist knowledge saying that if you don’t know where you are going then it doesn’t matter in which direction you set out and although they may sound trite and patronising the truth is they work. Why would you start going somewhere without having at least an idea of the route beforehand. If I want to go from London to Madrid there is no point starting out by walking to Edinburgh and getting a flight from there to the States.
The goal properly described gives your brain a chance to focus on the prize and allows you to start making small steps to get there.
However you must describe the goal in the right way. Firstly the goal should have a time limit. This puts a lot of people off because if they do not believe that they can possibly get there they give up with the first setback. So start the goal off by saying “by the 31st of December 2010″, for example.
Next it should be something you actually want to do. There is no point in saying I am going to lose ten kilos if you are not going to take any action to do it because you really like cakes too much and actually want to keep overeating. However if you are going to run the London Marathon for example then you may well have a compelling reason to actually do it.
Finally the goal should be totally measurable. “A lot of money” is not the same as $327,568 in my account on that date. Now it may sound silly to be so precise but it gives the brain focus on where you want to go and makes your brain work towards that goal.
Ok I can hear you now telling me that this is just new age woo woo. Unfortunately for you the naysayer it isn’t. Get hold of the book Brain Rules (See Below) and you will see how the brain is. You may well be surprised.
So let’s say as an example that a goal should be written in the following way.
“By the 31st of December 2010 I will have over 1000 subscribers to this website and I will be earning over 5000 dollars per month from the site itself. “
Sounds achievable?
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School
Originally posted 2010-03-17 10:04:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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This is very coincidental that i just joined 43things to track my goals, it is a very good tool [much better than most of the todo trackers i have used in the past]
Without a goal, nothing is achievable. This is a very good blog post and inspirational. Thanks.
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Thanks for the comment Dipankar. Glad you like it.
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Goal setting is very important specially if you want to plan long term.;”,
Goal setting is very important if you want something to be done in a short period of time.~*~
sometimes i am having some problems when setting goals*”*
goal setting is very important in life an also in business.”-
goal setting is sometimes difficult but it should always be done *.;