Goal Setting That Works!

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8 years ago

I'm a new member with WA and excited to get started. This is my first blog ever, but I have to start somewhere and thought I would share something that is helping me.

Goal Setting That Works!

We’ve all heard to set your goal you need to:

1.Make it a Big goal, but still attainable.
2.Write it down.
3.Make it measureable.
4.Set a time frame to achieve it.

We’ve also probably all done this multiple ties (especially with our New Year’s Resolutions), but how many times have we not followed through and actually achieved our goals?

If you’re like me, you’ve probably fell short most of the time.

Why is that? We’ve followed the steps. But we still didn’t get the results we were looking for.

Here is how I am trying to Set Goals That I Actually Achieve:

1.Go through each area of your life and brainstorm all the goals you would like to achieve.

Financial/Work

Health/Fitness/Personal Development

Things/Possessions (To-Do or To-Have)

Family/Relationships

Spiritual

Contribution

Take several minutes in each area and write quickly all the things that come to mind. Don’t try to determine if they are possible or totally outrageous at this time, just keep writing.

2.Set a timeline for achieving these goals.

Put a 1 in front of those you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, 2 if it’s 2 years, 5 if it’s 5 years, 10 if 10 years, etc.

3.Now go through each of these areas and pick the top 1-3 goals you really want to achieve this year in each area. Make them goals that are big enough that at the end of the year’s review, you will be able to feel “That was a worthwhile goal that I achieved that really made a difference in my life.”

4.Now the Most Important Step that I think we have been missing - making these goals Motivating.

Story of Socrates and man seeking wisdom
One day a man came to the great Greek philosopher Socrates, and asked “Will you
teach me the secret to becoming a great success?”

“Certainly” replied Socrates and led him out into the sea.

Then Socrates suddenly grabbed the man’s head and plunged it under water.

The man kicked and struggled and finally, after several minutes, was able to fight

his way to the surface gasping for air.

The man was appalled and asked Socrates why he would do this to him when he

had come asking the great philosopher for his advice on the secret to success.

Socrates simply said to the man, “When you want to succeed as much as you

wanted that next breath of air, you will be a great success.”

We need to make our goals as important to us as that next breath of air.
We need to leverage ourselves so our goal is not A Should, but A Must.
Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker, self-help author, Life Performance Coach (if you haven’t read any of his books or listened to any of his programs, you really need to!) gives these tips on how to leverage yourself to achieve your goals:
Tony believes everything we do is based on either “Avoiding Pain” or “Gaining Pleasure” or a combination of these two.
For each goal you have, list all the Pain you will get by not following through in achieving that goal.
ie. How will it affect your health? How has I hurt you so far?
How has it hurt your finances? Your time? What has it cost you in the past?

How has it hurt your family, relationships? What do/will other think of me it I don’t follow though on these goals? What is it going to cost you in the future if you don’t achieve that goal?Etc.

Make it emotional so it will cause you massive pain if you do not follow through on your goals.

For each goal, list all the Pleasure you will gain by following through on your goal.

ie. What will I gain financially, emotionally, etc.? What will it mean to the people I love

and those around me? How will I feel? How will others feel?

Again, get detailed and emotional about the massive pleasure you will receive by following through on your goals.

If you can’t leverage yourself into being very emotional about the massive pain you will experience by not changing, and the massive pleasure you will receive by achieving your top 1 year goals, then you probably need to look at your list and find a more worthwhile goal.

5.Specific-Measurable Goals

Break each goal into specific, measureable steps with a time frame. Write in the positive instead of the negative.

ie. Not: I want to lose weight

Instead: I will replace my snacking on junk food with healthy snacks and lose 5 pounds

over the next 30 days (give a specific date).

If you miss one of these “mini” goals, just re-set this step with a new time frame. Never quit or give-up, just keep making daily progress.

6.Goals must be Written down. (If it’ not written down, it’s only a dream.)
7.Review these goals daily. Take Action daily. (Decision without action is just an idea.)

This is the other area where I think we drop the ball which causes us to not achieve our goals.

We can’t just list our goals at the beginning of the year and expect to follow through on them. We must make a habit of seeing our goals every day and reviewing our progress on them at least weekly.
Put them on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator (especially great if eating healthy and/or weight loss is a goal), in your car, etc. I like to put them in a Google calendar app on my phone so it pops up a reminder for me each day. I also will put a small sticky note on the corner of my computer monitor as a reminder.
Take some action, no matter how small, every day to keep the momentum rolling forward on your goal.

I could go into a lot more detail on goal setting, but these are just a few ideas I found very helpful in getting me on better track for achieving my goals.

Be sure to share your thoughts and any tips on what works for you.

Thanks,

David