It doesn’t matter if you’re setting goals for your personal life, for your business, for your health, or even for your spirituality: setting clear and concise goals is the first key to achieving them successfully. Without clear objectives, it is very likely that you will end up misguided about what you want to achieve. This misdirection could easily lead you down the path of stagnation.
o Crystal Clear goals will give you significant motivation, increased drive and intensive purpose in your life.
Here are five important tips to help you define those clear goals for your life or business:
– Be aware of what you want to achieve. First, if you want to define clear goals, you must know exactly what you want to achieve: where you want to be, what you want to have, and what you want to do. You will never know how to get there, if you don’t know where THERE is.
Once you know where you want to be and what you want to accomplish, you can come up with the goals that will help you get there.
o Where what to be in 1, 3, 5 and 10 years from now?
o What kind of work do you want to do?
o What kind of relationship do you want to be in?
or where do you want to live?
These are just some initial ideas for you…
o Take time to sit down and brainstorm your long-term dreams and desires.
– Set the clock. A goal with no deadline is a wish or dream that will easily evaporate like morning dew when daylight falls on it. Setting deadlines will delay procrastination and prompt you to take action to achieve your goals. Having a timeline for your goals also helps clarify them because now you not only know what you want, but you also know when you want it.
o Create goals that you want to accomplish in a month, a year, and even five or ten years from now.
o Chronologically nest some small goals to form a larger goal achievement: Example: I will walk 3 times a week starting this week, I will jog 1 mile a week by x/x/2009, I will run 5 miles a week by x /x/ 2009, I do 3 hours of cardio a week by x/x/2009, I run 5 miles a day by x/x/2009. All of this could lead to a bigger goal of “I’ll run my first marathon by x/x/2010.” – you get the image
o Create a MAP (Massive Action Plan) to stay on track, BUT, don’t set your map in stone! Allow modifications along the way, but always keep your sight always focused on the main objective.
– Keep it real. With realistic goals, you can almost guarantee that you will be able to achieve everything you want. Set yourself a goal that’s a little out of reach… then when you reach it, you can go further to reach the next one. This way you won’t get stressed trying to achieve something that is out of your reach. A clear goal is a realistic goal, make it a broad goal (don’t go too easy on yourself), but certainly make it possible.
o As I mentioned earlier, you’ll want to break long-term goals into smaller goals and the smaller goal into bite-sized, achievable action steps. Completing the action steps and tasks toward your goals will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to continue on your journey toward your primary goal.
– Be crystal clear. Specify your objectives with the details of exactly what you want. Avoid vague generalities. Have you hand a stranger a piece of paper that you handed your one sentence goal written on it, they will know exactly what you were trying to accomplish. Also, they might know if you have already achieved it or now. When you set a specific goal, you’ll be better able to achieve it, not to mention you’ll know WHEN you’ve achieved it.
o Specific objectives allow you to build your timeline and define your action steps. There is no guesswork involved when it comes to details.
o Example, “make money online” is too vague a goal. You would have to come up with a specific goal, such as “I earn $1,000 more per month, by x/x/2009.” This objective is specific, measurable and realistic. Also, keep in mind the time of the goal. It is written in positive present tense.
– Review and Refine your goals. Your life will go through changes, so your goals must remain constant. If you think about it, when you were younger you thought and believed things that you can’t today. You have changed as a result of the inputs, actions and activities that have taken place in your life. So too can your goals change as your life changes. During this review and refinement process, discard the goals you no longer crave and re-prioritize the ones you do. Again, make them more specific, realistic, and achievable.
o It’s okay to refine your goals several times in your life! What’s important right now might not be as important to you nine months or nine years from this minute. Embrace change, heck, even embrace it. Review your goals at least once a year and make new plans if necessary.
Many wander through life, not knowing what they want to achieve or what their purpose is. That won’t be you! Give your life crystal clear meaning by giving some thought to what’s important to you. What goals do you want to achieve? What actions will you take to make your dreams today your reality tomorrow?
