| |
| |
|
Goal Setting Information |
|
|
|
Stop Procrastinating - Start Achieving Your Goals
It has been said that 60-80% of New Year's resolutions will be broken within the first two weeks. In other words, a lot of people have a hard time making the changes in their life they want to make. So you are not alone. Personally, I am not a huge advocate of New Year's resolutions because I believe in setting and achieving personal goals all year around. That being said, I wanted to share with you the top ten ways to increase the likelihood for success with achieving your goals. 1. Stick to 1 or 2 important goals. Having a laundry list of all the things you would like to change in your life can be overwhelming. Your chances for success are much higher if you stick to 1 or 2 of your most important goals. This allows you to concentrate all your energy and focus on these goals. Once you achieve those goals, you can always set 1 or 2 more. 2. Be realistic. It's okay to think big and want the best, but it is more important to succeed, so be realistic. Ask yourself whether or not your goals are reasonable and possible. It is probably not realistic to set the goal of never yelling at your kids again. How will you feel about your resolution when your children test you on a very bad day and you yell? Certainly one can cut back on yelling and work to find alternative ways to deal with misbehavior, but an all or nothing attitude may set you up for failure, and feeling like you've failed can set you up for more failure. Instead, accept and honor your humanness. 3. Be specific. Be as specific as possible when determining goals. Articulate how you will measure success and exactly what you are trying to achieve. Setting a goal to lose weight is too general. A better choice would be to set a specific and manageable goal. For example say, "I will lose 25 pounds by June 30, 2005." Be specific when answering the what, when and how. 4. Connect to your motivation for achieving your goal. Why do you want to achieve this goal? Why now? Make sure your motivation comes from your heart, and not from your head. In other words, your goal should be something you really desire, and not something you know you SHOULD do. Really connect to why this is so important to you. Pay attention to whether or not you are being driven by fear or love. Beware of setting goals based on what someone else in your life thinks you should do. Your resolutions should come from your authentic self. 5. Examine your belief in your ability to achieve this goal. What do you believe about your ability to achieve your goals? If you have tried to reach the same goal many times before without much success, your confidence could be wavering. You could be feeding yourself negative messages without even realizing it. Be conscious about positive thinking. Remind yourself that you are capable of doing anything you set your heart to. Tell yourself every day that you have the ability to take the steps it will take to reach your goal. 6. Create a detailed plan to achieve your goal. Let's say your goal is to eliminate the clutter in your home. But how will you start when the clutter is overwhelming? It may be helpful to break large goals into intermediate, manageable steps. Make a list of each area you need to tackle. Then break each area into even smaller segments that can be tackled easily. For instance, set time aside to clean out old clothes, then to organize sweaters, then to throw out old shoes, and finally arrange clothing by color or type. Don't forget to specify a time limit for accomplishing each of the smaller steps. Before you know it, the larger goal will have been met. 7. Recognize that you may encounter obstacles. Most people give up on their goals because they run into some type of obstacle along the way. Obstacles can be internal or external. Examples of internal obstacles include negative self-talk, limiting beliefs and discipline issues. Some external obstacles are the lack of time, money or resources. Know in advance what hurdles you may have to conquer. 8. Identify a plan of action to overcome obstacles. If you are trying to give up chocolate (I would never try this!), what are you going to do when you get a craving for chocolate, or when all your friends are chowing down on chocolate cake? Maybe your plan would be to carry a sweet substitute with you at all times. Or perhaps you could involve yourself in a fun activity when the urge strikes. If your obstacles are tougher and you need more support, consider hiring a life coach to help you work through your blocks. 9. Enlist the support of an accountability partner. As you work towards your goals, it can be very helpful to have someone in your life to be your support partner. Consider asking your partner or friend to help you stick to the goals you have set. Use this person when you are struggling and set up a plan to check in regularly with him/her. As a coach, I have the privilege of trading coaching services with my peers. My coach helps me achieve my goals, overcome any obstacles, and celebrate my success. 10. Celebrate success along the way. One of the most important things you can do for yourself is celebrate your small successes as you work towards your larger goals. Don't wait until the end to reward yourself. You deserve to be recognized for your efforts and your commitment, especially when your goals take a long time to achieve. If you don't celebrate on your journey, you will lose your motivation. So celebrate, celebrate, and celebrate! Achieving your goals can be tough work sometimes, but it is also very rewarding. If you fall off your path, remember you can always get back on. It's okay to take a few detours. It's also okay to take a break to rest. Don't beat yourself up or give up hope. Start again where you fell down and before you know it, you will be a pro at accomplishing your goals. Lori Radun, certified life coach for moms. Get her FREE monthly ezine for moms who want healthier and happier lives at http://www.true2youlifecoaching.com. © 2005 True to You Life Coaching, LLC
MORE RESOURCES:
Goal-Setting - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Synergy of Vision Over the years I have experienced some amazing results with people who have been secure enough to view their leadership or personal capacity through the eyes of corporate vision.In one situation, the general manager stood down in preference to his assistant taking his role. Got Goals? Did You Reach Them? Most of us have goals.Big ones, small ones. Magic of Goal Manifestation What goals do you have for your life? If you have goals, is it just in your head? Or do you have a methodology to manifest them?A systematic process to think of anything you want, and ultimately acquire it. Sounds like magic, doesn't it? That is because by using a process, the results are so effective that it seems like something out of a fantastic anecdote. Goal Setting and Goal Getting: Go Use This Stuff! Q. I have always had such trouble with doing this goals thing. Getting ready for a transition? Read the Fine Print of Your Dream "In the factory we make lipstick; in the drugstore we sell hope." That's what Charles Revson, Revlon's founder, supposedly said. Goal Setting Basics - 3 Steps Plus 1 Goal setting seems to be one of the most misundertood, and overly complicated areas of self-improvement. And, well, frankly, it shouldn't be. Cultivating Belief in Your Goals The Belief That You Can Do It and more importantly, That You Will!First, You must choose one goal and commit to it's achievement. It seems that this is always the starting point isn't it? It must be something that you feel you can not live without, or you must develop that feeling for it to work. Share Your True Colors Don't you just love the leaves changing colors in the fall? Here in the Midwest we are almost at the peak of leaf peeping season. The trees are showing their true colors - glorious yellows, reds, and oranges. A Secret Technique that Entrepreneurs Can Use to Almost GUARANTEE Success! If you were to walk up and ask successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs what they did to succeed or fail, most of them would cite some mentor or lack of trait.. How To Keep Your Resolutions and Reach Your Goals Another year has flown by and here you are at the beginning of another year. This is a time when many people assess their life and make "new year resolutions" or set goals for the New Year. Whats Perfect About Imperfection? Let me try something new but please, please, please, let me do it right and well the first time. If we always do things well, always do things right, and people know us as someone who always gets it right, then we've set ourselves up. Writing Goals Down Ties Them Up! Writing goals describes the act of inscribing on a surface characters or shapes that convey thoughts and ideas in relation to that goal. Why is this mechanical act of writing goals so important in the achievement process?Also, what is the best way to approach writing goals for maximum effect?Words are an integral part of the thinking process. One Single Secret to Goal Setting Success Perhaps you have never taken a stock of the most valuable and precious wealth of yours. Every person possesses it since the day of birth. Climb and Summit Mt. Goals Are you trying to reach a goal that feels like a large mountain to climb?Climbing a mountain is much easier than one would think. You start at the bottom, you progress towards base camp, you hit the middle of the mountain, and then you reach the summit. Working on Your Groove We all come to a point in our lives, like in the movie "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" that we lose sight of who we are. Life has a person in so many different roles such as parent; employee and spouse we tend to lose "us" in being there for others. Ingredients That Make A Winner Whether we like to admit it or not, other people's opinions of us really do matter. The opinions we have of ourselves, matters even more. What Do You Really, Really, Really Want? If the 90s British pop sensation 'the Spice Girls' ever get remembered for anything, I hope it's for bringing the question 'now tell me what you want, what you really, really want?' to the mass consciousnessNow you may laugh at this, but when you really, really think about it, is there a more important question you could ask yourself?What is a want?A want is a desire. Whether or not we get what we want is often based upon the strength of our desires. Define Success Have you ever asked yourself why you want to succeed online?If not, .. Reaching for the Goal Can goals be easily reached? This question is in most of our minds. Some tend to think that goals are hard to achieve and that only very clever people can be true achievers!Remember the saying 'If there is a will, there is a way'? I bet many of you do. Are You Willing To Risk It? What would your life be like if you kept doing everything the same way? If you stood still for the next 10 or 20 years and didn't make progress with anything? If you stayed stuck in the same situations that you're in now?If you stayed at the same job, with the same pay, lived at the same apartment? What if nothing changed but the years? You still would have goals and dreams but what if you never took action on any of them?How long are you going to go through the same story lines like the soap operas do? Just changing the names and faces as time rolls on. Is it going to take one, two or even ten years for you to figure it out? What is it going to take for you to realize that you are just replaying the same events over and over again?You say you want to make a change in your life but you are afraid to take that first step.
|
| home | index |site map |
| © 2006 |
