“You go as far as you can see and when you get there you will always be able to see further.” Zig Ziglar
One thing that I am just beginning to learn and implement in my life is goal setting. Goals don’t have to be on a large scale and they don’t need to please anyone else. It is so important to set daily goals and even write them down if you need to (I find this very helpful). Sometimes my goal for the day is to shower and if I accomplish that tomorrow I can add putting on make-up to my list!
Of course there is a thousand things we would like to do during the day but it just isn’t realistic. Sometimes it is helpful to think on a smaller scale and take things one baby step at a time. After all, it is baby steps that create the outcome of our lifetime goals.
Here are some great goal setting tips from Mind Tools…
- State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively – ‘Execute this technique well’ is a much better goal than ‘Don’t make this stupid mistake.’
- Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
- Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.
- Write goals down: This crystallizes them and gives them more force.
- Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Derive today’s goals from larger ones.
- Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to set goals over which you have as much control as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control. In business, these could be bad business environments or unexpected effects of government policy. In sport, for example, these reasons could include poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.
- Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (employers, parents, media, society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to achieve a particular level of performance.
