The Art of Goal Setting

Important Rules to Set Yourself for Success

Have you ever thought about what you want to achieve in five years' time?... Are you really clear about what is your main objective at work at the moment?... Do you know what you want to achieve by the end of today like before Dec 21 2012?

If you really want to succeed, you need to set your goals. Without a goals you will lack focus and lost direction. Goal setting is not only allows you to take control of your life's direction; it also provides you a guideline to determining whether you are actually succeeding or not. Think about it: Having a million dollars in the bank is only proof of success if one of your goals is to amass riches. If your goal is to practice the acts of charity, then keeping the money for yourself is suddenly contrary to how you would define success.

To accomplish your goals, however, you need to know how to set them. You can't simply say, "I want." and expect it to happen. Goal setting is a process that starts with careful consideration of what you want to achieve, and ends with a lot of hard work to actually do it. In between there are some very well defined steps that transcend the specifics of each goal. Knowing these steps will allow you to formulate goals that you can accomplish.

Here are our Five Rules of Goal Setting:

The Five Rules

Rule #1: Set Goals that Motivate You When you set goals for yourself, it is important that they motivate you: This means making sure it is something that's important to you and there is value in achieving it. If you have little interest in the outcome, or it is irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of you putting in the work to make it happen are slim. Motivation is key to achieving goals.

Set goals that relate to the high priorities in your life. Without this type of focus you can end up with far too many goals, leaving you too little time to devote to each one. Goal achievement requires commitment, so to maximize the likelihood of success, you need to feel a sense of urgency and have an "I must do this" attitude. When you don't have this "must do" factor, you risk putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality. This in turn leaves you feeling disappointed and frustrated with yourself, both of which are de-motivating. And you can end up in a very destructive "I can't do anything or be successful at anything" frame of mind.

Rule #2: Set SMART Goals
You have probably heard of "SMART goals" already. But do you always apply the rule? The simple fact is that for any goal to be achieved it must be designed to be SMART. There are many variations on what SMART stands for, but the essence is this - Goals should be:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time Bound

Set Specific Goals
Your goal must be clear and well defined. Vague or generalized goals are not achievable because they don't provide sufficient direction. Remember, you need goals to show you the way. How useful would a map of the United States be if there were only state borders marked on it and you were trying to get from Miami to Los Angeles? Do you even know which state you are starting from let alone which one you're headed to? Make it as easy as you can to get where you want to go by defining precisely where it is you want to end up.

Set Measurable Goals
Include precise amounts, dates, etc in your goals so you can measure your degree of success. If your goal is simply defined as "To reduce expenses" how will you know when you are successful? In one month's time if you have a 1% reduction or in two year's time when you have a 10% reduction? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you actually achieved something.

Set Attainable Goals
Make sure that it's possible to achieve the goals you set. If you set a goal that you have no hope of achieving you will only demoralize yourself and erode your confidence.

However, resist the urge to set goals that are too easy. Accomplishing a goal that you didn't have to work very hard for can be an anticlimax at best, and can also make you fear setting future goals that carry a risk of non-achievement. By setting realistic yet challenging goals you hit the balance you need. These are the types of goals that require you to "raise the bar" and they bring the greatest personal satisfaction.

Set Relevant Goals

Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your life and career to take. By keeping goals aligned with this, you'll develop the focus you need to get ahead and do what you want. Set widely scattered and inconsistent goals, and you'll fritter your time - and your life - away.

Set Time-Bound Goals
Your goals must have a deadline. This again, is so that you know when to celebrate your success. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker.

Rule #3: Set Goals in Writing
The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. You have no excuse for forgetting about it. As you write, use the word "will" instead of "would like to" or "might". For example, "I will reduce my operating expenses by 10% this year." Not, "I would like to reduce my operating expenses by 10% this year." The first goal statement has power and you can "see" yourself reducing expenses, the second lacks passion and gives you an out if you get sidetracked.

Post your goals in visible places to remind yourself everyday of what it is you intend to do. Put them on your walls, desk, computer monitor, bathroom mirror or refrigerator as a constant reminder. You can even post them in the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club forum and share them with other members, for added motivation.

Rule #4: Make an Action Plan
This step is often missed in the process of goal setting. You get so focused on the outcome that you forget to plan all of the steps that are needed along the way. By writing out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off as you complete it, you'll realize that you are making progress towards your ultimate goal. This is especially important if your goal is big and demanding, or long-term. Read our article on Action Plans for more on how to do this.

Rule #5: Stick With It!
Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity not just a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep you on track and remember to review your goals continuously. Your end destination may remain quite similar over the long term but the action plan you set for yourself along the way can change significantly. Make sure the relevance, value, and necessity remain high.

Key Points

Goal setting is much more than simply saying you want something to happen. Unless you clearly define exactly what you want and understand why you want it the first place, your odds of success are considerably reduced. By following the Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting you can set goals with confidence and enjoy the satisfaction that comes along with knowing you achieved what you set out to do. What will you decide to accomplish today?

SMART Goals

SMART Goals:
A very useful way of making goals even more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic. While there are plenty of variants, SMART is usually stands for:

• S - Specific
• M - Measurable
• A - Attainable
• R - Relevant
• T - Time-bound

For example, instead of having “to be rich” as a goal, it is more powerful to say “To be millionaires by December 31, 2015.” Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of preparation has been completed beforehand!

How to do Goal Setting

How to set your goals? On these pages we will focus on the most important principles. If you were to actually put some effort and action, you would produce radical changes in your life.

Tips on setting goals 1: Think Big

Your current reality is limited by the size of your thinking. Big dreams excite you and give you tremendous energy and it's motivated you; small dreams will only bored you and leave you far from motivated to being achieve your goal.

Ask yourself this question, “What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?” The answers can surprise you, but have faith in the power of your mind. Barely a century ago, no one would have thought of being able to fly on the sky, or even one day walk on the moon. Every great achievement of Mankind started with a seemingly impossible dream. Remember 'Impossible' can be definite as 'I M Possible'. This dream was then converted into a goal to be achieved with much determination and persistence.

Tips on setting goals 2: Have a defining goal

Express your vision in a sentence, and let this be your defining goal. A defining goal is the most important of all your goals. If achieved, it will also allow you to accomplish many of your other goals. Let this vision be the powerful motivator that drives you through every day to achieve your goal.

Tips on setting goals 3: Think in terms of what you will be, do and have – in that order.

Many people think in the opposite direction. That is a more difficult way to achieve success, as you would be motivated extrinsically instead of intrinsically. What you want to be – who you see yourself as – is almost always a more powerful driving force than the more shallow material desires.

Tips on setting goals 4: Review your goals regularly

A technique Brian Tracy suggests, and which I fully recommend, is to review your goals daily. Get a notebook or a laptop in which you can write and rewrite your goals daily. Once you wake up in the morning, spend five minutes to review your goals. This short power-up session activates both your subconscious and conscious minds and leaves you much more sensitive to the opportunities around you.

Tips on setting goals 5: Practice the Standard Affirmation Technique

This technique works like this: with a stack of three by five inch index cards, write your goals on each card. Throughout the day, whenever you have free time, review your index cards one at a time.

As you read your written goal, concentrate on the words on the card as if you were trying to take a photo of these words with your eyes. Think about a few things you could do to achieve that goal, then move on to the next card.

How to set goals that powerfully motivate you? If you are able to persist in the above two techniques, your subconscious mind will gradually believe that your attainment of those goals is inevitable. You will begin to see those goals as your current realities, and they will indeed soon become your present reality.

Why do successful people do Goal Setting

Why set goals and Why is Goal Setting is so Important to us in-order to achieve our dream? Here are the most important reasons.

Why is Goal Setting is so Important: In-order to join the Top 0.1 percent Successful people all around the world

Did you know that less than 3 percent of the people had clearly written their goals? These three percent who happen to have written goals are also the most successful people in their own fields. If you review your goal setting on daily basis, you will be able to join the top 0.1 percent of the successful people.

Why is Goal Setting Important? Absolutely clarity

Success begins with a crucial trait: absolute clarity. Are you absolutely clear about what you want to achieve in your life? Once you are absolutely clear what you want in every area of your business and in every area of your life, you will succeed for certain. The clearer you are, the faster you can achieve your dreams. But unfortunately, most people getting stuck in the rat race because they live their lives aimlessly and they prefer to stay at their comfort zone, day by day or year by year.

If you want to set a goal, be absolutely clear that this is the goal that you must achieve, and fill yourself in all the details of exactly how and what your life will be like when you achieve your goal.

In the words of Napoleon Hill, “There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to achieve it.”

Dreams OR Goals

Before you do goal setting, Firstly, you must understanding the difference between dreams and goals. Almost all people have dreams, but these dreams will always remain as a dreams because they do not take any action to achieve it.

Rich people have goals – how do you turn a mere dream into a goal to be achieved? Through persistent action of course. But only persistence itself is not enough, you must combined with a dare to fail attitude and it will help you to achieve any goal you want.

Goals motivate and empower

Why set goals? Because big goals motivate and empower - big goals challenge you but do not set your goal too high until yourself can't achieve it and at the end you quit. They spur you to step beyond your comfort zone and stretch yourself beyond your limits.