Easy Steps To Attain Your Goals And Get Results

"You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands - your own.”- Mark Victor Hansen

All month long I have been discussing how to set goals this year using a method that will increase your chances of achieving your goals.

I began this month by having you complete a dream sheet which helped you to release all of your hopes and dreams out of your head and onto paper so that you can see them and meditate on them.

Then we began crafting those hopes and dreams into S.M.A.R.T. goals using the S.M.A.R.T. goals worksheet.

How has your goal setting perspective changed?

Today we will continue using the S.M.A.R.T. goals worksheet focusing on the “A” and the “R” to craft another portion of your goals. In this post we will make your goals Attainable so that you can begin seeing Results.

Are you ready to begin?

• Attainable Goal Setting

           This portion of goal setting refers to the importance of your goals and if they are realistic. You shouldn’t create a goal that is far from realistic, I will give an example later on in this post. The main thing to remember when making your goals attainable is that they should be challenging and take you outside of your comfort zone but no out of reach.

• Result-Oriented Goal Setting

           This portion of goal setting refers to making your goals relevant and results-oriented, meaning it should move you closer to the vision of your ideal life. A goal should support your vision of what you want your life to be like once you achieve your goals. In this section you should be asking yourself the question what result do I hope to achieve from meeting my goals.

Now, I am going to give you examples of each.

Attainable

Bad Example: Even though I have no formal education I am going to pursue a career as a biochemical engineer.

Good Example: I want to change my career to become a biochemical engineer. Therefore I am going to go to school to obtain the necessary credentials and experience in order to pursue this career.

Results-Oriented

Bad Example: I am going to apply for a job as a biochemical engineer and hope for the best.

Good Example: Once I finish my degree as a biochemical engineer in June 31, 2017 I will begin my new career by finding a new job which I plan on securing by September 24, 2017.

In the examples provided I show you how your SMART goals are aligned with your life vision and how they are results oriented. You want to establish your goals with an end-game in mind and by giving yourself a deadline, you are more likely to continue pursuing your goals until you achieve them.

Is the light bulb going off in your head?

Your homework for this week is to take the hopes and dreams from your dream sheet and take the goals your crafted last week using the S.M.A.R.T. worksheet and incorporate the new strategies of Attainability and Results-Oriented into the goals to make them more complete.

By the end of this week your goals should be near completion.  

If you continue to follow this method of goal setting you will increase your chances of achieving all of your goals.

Subscribe to my blog so you won’t miss next week's post where we will begin working on the Time-Bound section of crafting your goals. This will be the final installment of our goal setting methods before we put everything all together.

Also, leave me a comment or ask me any questions in the comment section below. I would love to hear your feedback.

I hope you got a lot of value out of this post. Please share with your friends.

 

*Info in this blog is strictly my personal and/or professional opinion. Posts and comments are not intended to treat, diagnose or replace any medical advice you may have received. Please contact your doctor or therapist if you feel you need help, and in case of an emergency, dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.*

The SMART Way To Craft Your Goals

Failure to plan is planning to fail.

 In order to achieve your goals you must have a clear plan of action.

 

In my last blog post How To Set Goals And Achieve Them, I discussed setting your goals up properly in order to accomplish them. In that post I included a dream sheet for you to complete.

 
Did you find completing the dream sheet to be an eye opening exercise?

 

Now that you have completed your dream sheet, we are going to take those hopes and dreams and turn them into tangible goals by making them S.M.A.R.T. (Specific/Strategic, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Results Oriented and Time Bound).

 

In today’s post we will be dealing only with the specific and measurable aspects of your goals.

 

In order to do this correctly, download my S.M.A.R.T. goals worksheet here.

 

Let’s begin by breaking down what this all means.

 

·         Specific/Strategic Goal Setting

           This portion of goal setting stresses specificity rather than vague and obscure. Meaning your goals need to be clean and unambiguous. In order to make them specific, it needs to be obvious what is expected so there is a clear understanding of the target. The strategic refers to the reason it’s important and what’s involved.

 ·         Measurable Goal Setting

           This portion of goal setting stresses the need for concrete criteria to measure your progress towards the attainment of your goals. If your goals aren’t measurable, they seem unattainable. If you can track your progress it helps you to move further along to completion.

 

Does this make sense to you?

 

Let’s begin crafting your goals.

We will only be working with the “S” and the “M” today.

Subscribe to my blog and you won’t miss next week’s discussion on how to craft your goals to make them attainable/achievable and realistic.

Here are examples of goals crafted using specific/strategic and measurable language.

Specific

 Bad Example: Find a new job.

Good Example:  Obtain a new job as a 10th grade math teacher at XYZ high school in Anytown, USA so that I can show the children that math is a life skill which is fun and easy to learn.

Measurable

Bad Example: I am going to do whatever it takes to get a new job.

Good Example: In order to obtain my new teaching job as a 10th grade math teacher in XYZ high school in Anytown, USA I am going to complete an online job application, I am going to attend the district’s and the school’s job fair. I am going to begin networking with teachers at XYZ school and in my free time volunteer so that I can showcase my skills and desire to be apart of the teaching team at XYZ school.

 

Do you see the difference in those examples?

The bad examples are vague and don’t seem well thought out. In fact they seem more like passing thoughts than actual goals. Whereas the good examples are clear and detailed. You can read those goals and understand exactly which path you will take.

 

Are you starting to catch on? Do you see how this style of goal setting is better than your average style of goal setting?

Great!

 So your homework for this week is to grab your copy of the S.M.A.R.T. goal sheet and complete the Specific/Strategic and Measurable sections.

 

If you continue to follow this method of goal setting you will increase your chances of achieving all of your goals.

Subscribe to my blog so you won’t miss next week's post where we will begin working on the Attainable/Achievable and Results Oriented sections.

 Also, leave me a comment or ask me any questions in the comment section below. I would love to hear your feedback.

I hope you got a lot of value out of this post. Please share with your friends.

How To Set Goals And Achieve Them

 

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible to the visible.” Tony Robbins.

 

Do you set goals each New Year? How many of those goals do you accomplish?

Have you ever wondered why your momentum loses steam and you never reach your goals?

Would you like to learn a system of goal setting that will help you stay committed and on track to reaching your goals this year?

This month is going to be all about goal setting, how to do it properly and how to follow through. We can set goals all day long but if we don’t follow through they are just thoughts in our head.

I am no different from you, each year I set goals and in the past I haven’t always stayed committed to reaching my goals, that is until I found a method of goal setting that I will be sharing with you today.

One of the problems with goal setting is that most people confuse hopes and dreams with goals. A study done by the University of Scranton in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that 50% of the U.S. population sets goals each new year but only an astounding 8% of that population achieves their goals.  

The method of goal setting that I will be sharing with you this month will help to increase the likelihood that you will meet all the goals you set for yourself this year.

Goal Setting Method - Step 1

The first step is to create a dream sheet. Complete this dream sheet and keep it with you because we will be using this all month long to create your goals for the New Year.

In the dream sheet you will find four sections…

     ·         Have

In this section list all the things you would like to have. Imagine that you have accomplished all of your goals and begin listing the things you will have as a result of accomplishing your goals. For example, you have a goal of finding a better paying job, so now that you have found a better paying job what do you have? Do you have a new car? What kind? A new house? Where? Are you kids in a better school? Which one? etc. List everything, use your imagination, this is why it is called a dream sheet. You are only limited by your imagination.

   ·         Being

What type of person will you be now that you have found a better paying job? Will you be a more active PTA member at your children’s school? Will you be a better investor? Will you be someone who shops more or go out more with your friends?      

                                                                                                           

·         Doing                                                                                                                               

What will you be doing now that you have found a better paying job? Will you be traveling more? Will you be working from home more? Will you be going back to school?

 ·         Top Priorities

Prioritize your list from 1-3 with 1 being of the utmost importance and 3 being the least important.

 Once you’ve determined your most important goals take all of your “1s” and list them from 1-5 with 1 being the goal that you are most determined to achieve and 5 being the least.       

One of the main reasons people don’t achieve their goals is because they are not crystal clear about their goals, they have a vague sense of what they want to accomplish but no definitive plan.

By completing this dream sheet you will be one step closer to achieving all the goals you will set for this year.

 In next week’s post we are going to discuss how to break down your highest ranking goals into actionable items so you don’t want to miss it. Go ahead, if you haven’t already done so and subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss anything this month. It’s going to be powerful and valuable.

If you haven’t already grab your dream sheet now, complete it, and store it somewhere safe. As I mentioned before you will be using it all month long to define your goals and ultimately achieve them. ​