Archive for the ‘Setting Goals’ Category
Setting Goals – Following the Road to Success
Career Coaching – Goal Setting
When setting goals, many people get so caught up with the final destination that they lose their focus on the road they need to take to get them there. Once they lose the road map, the destination seems to get further and further away and often times it feels like arriving at their goal has become an impossibility. This generally results in frustration and eventually giving up on their dreams altogether.
Instead, if they had only focused on the road map they would have progressed steadily toward reaching their ultimate destination one step at a time. This focus on smaller achievements not only will give you a greater sense of accomplishment to reinforce that you are on the right track, it is also a measurable means to evaluate your progress.
Here are a few tips to help you set and reach your goals:
- Set a daily plan of action. Do at least one thing every single day that will advance you toward your next goal. End your day by reading your goals and setting your plan of action for the next day. Put it on your night stand so it is the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see at night.
- Give every goal a deadline. Unless you have a set date to reach each step you will have a tendency to procrastinate.
- Do a weekly, monthly and yearly evaluation of your progress. Were all of your goals met? If not, why and what can you do to change it?
- Make sure your goals are measurable. If your goal is to make more money, put a dollar amount to it. If your goal is to lose weight, specify how many pounds. Be very specific and make sure you can monitor your progress in a very real way.
- Hold yourself accountable. If you miss a goal do not find ways of blaming it on other people or circumstances. Instead, look to see why it was missed and how you can prevent yourself from being distracted from your goal in the future. If you did not get your plan for the day accomplished because a neighbor dropped in for an unexpected visit do not blame it on the neighbor. Recognize that you allowed yourself to be distracted. You could just as easily have told your friend that you are happy to see them but that you need to get 2 hours of work done that evening so you will need to cut the visit short and maybe make plans to get together at a later date.
- Forgive yourself. There will always be occasions when we do miss goals for one reason or another. Do not allow yourself to focus on the failure. Forgive yourself, put it behind you and focus on getting on track again.
Goal setting is the map to success. Without it you cannot possibly reach your full potential. Be realistic, be consistent and be proud of your achievements.