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The Art of Successful Goal Setting
By Janet Schlarbaum Capital Management | October 10, 2008
Posted by: Janet Schlarbaum
By Trisha Webbe
The key to success is YOU.
Do you know what you want in life?
How do you think that you can be successful if you don’t know what you want to achieve?
Try it with something simple, go to your local supermarket with no idea in your head what you want, do you find it easy to walk straight in and come out with something useful?
It never works for me. If I even dare step into my local M & S Simply Food shop I will undoubtedly come out with way more than I bargained for – I need to have a list!
DREAM IT
Your dreams and aspirations for yourself and others can form part of what you want, but it is up to you to make it happen.
Are your dreams based on reality? Do dreams come true? If you ask Oprah Winfrey, Hilary Clinton, Pete Sampras, Tony Blair, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods it would be a resounding ‘yes’.
“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”
Victor Hugo
So what do you do with these dreams?
We have to give them a makeover, we have to design them. We have to give them real life, because we know that sometimes our dreams may not be based in reality.
Think about it, what are your dreams? Write them down. Put them in context. Are they attainable? Do you truly know what that dream looks like? What does it smell like? What will it feel like when you have achieved it? If you had to describe it as a colour what colour is it?
Doesn’t doing this make it seem more real, more possible, more tangible, and more achievable?
DESIGN IT
So what do we need to do to get this show on the road?
Some results oriented goal setting. Lots of people set themselves goals, some achieve them and some don’t. Which category do you fit into? If your desire is to achieve a certain goal and you keep failing to achieve it this is going to lead to dissatisfaction, disappointment, poor performance, stress and in its strongest form depression.
We can accept certain missed opportunities in our lives, but if we have a strong burning desire to do something we want to achieve it 100% of the time.
“Desire is the key to motivation, but its’ the determined commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal, a commitment to excellence, that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
Michael Jordan
The dream that you have for your life is not going to just magically happen. You have to set interim goals to get you there. These goals may be short, medium or long term. Short term goals are usually goals which are measured in days and weeks, medium term goals would be goals which you measure in months, and long term goals are goals which are normally measured in years.
It doesn’t really matter what you consider to be a short, medium or long term goal as long as you have some and more importantly you have them written down. You are not going to get very far without them. The goals you set yourself are the stepping stones to achieving your dreams.
A useful technique to help you set your goals is a SMART one. Your goals need to be:
Specific
Measurable
Action oriented
Realistic
Timely
Your goals also need to be personal to you. For example if you want to lose weight and get fit one of your goals may look like this:-
I want to lose 6lbs in weight and be able to comfortably run 5km by 1 July, so that I not only look better, but feel more confident.
DO IT
So, what next?
We know that we are the key to our own success. We know that we need to achieve our dreams and be SMART with our goals, but seriously, how is it all going to happen?
We have to implement these plans we have to take action, somehow, somewhere, sometime.
In order to do this you need to be focused and inspired and therefore motivated. If you are to be all of things you need to be clear about what it is you want to achieve, know and have people around you that inspire you (idols, role models, family, friends, the dream itself).
We need to keep our eye on the ball and on the challenges and obstacles you will face on the way, because trust me they will be there!
Preparation is the key. It is much easier to stay on your chosen path when you have anticipated obstacles and interference, eg emergency procedures to evacuate building, planes etc. Where would we be without these.
When we tap into what truly motivates us and what is really important to use we are able to summon up great strength, which we often never thought, we had.
Topics: Janet Schlarbaum, Mark Schlarbaum, Schlarbaum Capital Management | Comments Off
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