Setting goals is a necessity if you want to be successful and want to achieve things. There is so much said and written about goals, it’s sometimes hard to know what you should pay attention to and what you should ignore. The simple fact is all you have to do is:
1. Know what you want
2. Write it down
Setting goals doesn’t need to be complicated. It just has to be effective. There’s no point in writing down your goals if you’re going to hide them in a draw and forget about them. Below are some great exercises and tips to help you set goals effectively.
Develop a clear sense of direction
This is where you take your dreams out of the air and turn them into specific, written goals. It has been known for quite some time now that you become what you think about most of the time. This means the more you can focus on your goals, the more likely it is that you’ll achieve them. Take any successful person and they’ll tell you that they spend most of their time thinking about their goals and as a result, they’re continually moving towards achieving them. You must start to think about your goals more often. Think about them in a positive way and don’t spend your time worry about them or thinking of problems, because if you do, it’s more likely that the problems will occur.
Exercise 1:
• On a clean sheet of paper write ‘Goals’ at the top of the page with today’s date.
• Make a list of 10 goals you want to achieve over the next 12 months. Write your goals in the present tense, as though it’s 12 months down the line and you’ve started to achieve your goals.
• Begin each goal with the word ‘I’ to make it personal to you. So, “I earn?10,000 per week.”, “I am extremely happy”, “I drive a Ferrari 430?
By doing this exercise you with be within the top 3% of adults, yes that’s right – 97% of adults have never made a list of goals.
Have a look over your list and ask yourself; if I were t achieve one goal right now, which one would it be? Circle that goal and make it your number 1 most important goal.
With that goal:
• Set a deadline for achieving it
• Take action on your plan
• Do something every single day that moves you towards your goal.
Try and think and talk about your goal all the time. Tell people how you’re going to achieve it.