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Setting Goals

Goal setting is vital for your success. Without written goals you haven't really decided what you want to achieve in life. Active goal setting will give you the focus to concentrate on what you really want to achieve and the ability to break down your big goals into smaller steps The day by day achievement of these smaller goals will bring you nearer to your larger goals. Goal setting is a wonderful technique used by some of the world's most successful people, and the wonderful thing is that it works for everyone.

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Setting Goals
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There are just two problems that get in the way of you achieving what you want in life. Knowing what you want and not knowing how to get it, and not knowing what you want. Proper goal setting can overcome both of these problems.

Personal Goal Setting Is Important

Personal goal setting is important to anyone who wants to achieve anything in life from raising confident children to having your own business. It is the best way of deciding exactly what you want out of life so that you have a plan to achieve it.

Goals are an essential tool to achieving success, and success is whatever you want to achieve in life. The definition is up to you.

What are your real goals in life? -

To be happy?
To be healthy?
To have good relationships?
To be wealthy?
To enjoy your career?
To retire early?
To have your own business?

Your goals are your own personal property and only you can set them. They can be so secret that only you know about them, though the goals that you share with other people are more likely to happen.

To set your goals properly you need to write them down and review them regularly. It's no good just having vague thoughts about what you would like. Goal setting is a discipline which makes you really think about what you want.

The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams - Og Mandino

Goals can be big or little. They all count, and are all worth writing down. Setting big goals can look too intimidating, so break them down into smaller goals, and rank them by how long you think it will take to achieve. Ideally have a range of goals between today and 10 years time.

Review your goals every day and make a list of the goals you want to achieve today. Cross them off as you achieve them.

If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us - Jim Rohn

Your goals can change dramatically over the course of your life. Keep your goals list up to date to reflect what is important to you now, and what you want to achieve in the next 10 years.

Your goals will show what new skills you need as part of your lifelong learning. This will help you achieve better goals, and achieve them more easily.

Writing Down Your Goals -

Makes you decide what you want
Lets you prioritise your time
Lets you break down tasks into smaller units
Shows your progress

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it - Michelangelo

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Goals -

Write them down
Review them regularly (best daily)
Act on them every day
Re-write them as they change
Share them with others who can help
Rank goals according to time (So you can have today's goals, this week's, this month's, this years, 3 year, 5 year and 10 year goals)
Break the big long-term goals down into smaller shorter-term goals
Don't be afraid of big goals (Including the ones you don't yet know how to achieve)
Stretch yourself
Use your goals to plan your lifelong learning
Let your main goals be based on the things you love to do
Try to earn your living based on the things you love doing
Live and enjoy the present as well as planning for the future

Creating SMART Goals

SMART goal setting is a way of producing realistic goals which should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

SMART goals are realistic goals, because if you use this goal setting technique it will weed out the goals you aren't really serious about.

SMART stands for -

Specific goals look at the detail of what you want to achieve so that you are forced to look at what you really mean.
Measurable goals let you see when you have accomplished them. They have a definite ending.
Attainable goals are worthy of that extra effort, and may be big enough to break down into smaller goals so that you can see that each step is realistic. It is not always obvious at first how to attain some goals which are worthwhile, so keep working on them.
Realistic goals are ones that you are willing to put the time and effort into attaining, and also ones where you are willing to improve your personal skills to achieve. Realistic here does not mean easy.
Timely goals give you a target date for completion, so that you have to take action in real time to achieve them, and you can't just put them off. However the timescale could be today, this year, or when you retire.

Setting a vague goal is like walking into a restaurant and saying, "I'm hungry. I want some food." You'll stay hungry till you order sump'n. - Steve Pavlina

Deadlines & Lifelines

Make sure your goals enhance your life rather than causing you extra stress. A good way of looking at this is to think of your goals guiding the direction of your life, adding to the quality of your life, being part of your timeline for living. This is a lifeline goal. Deadline goals can be stressful and detract from the flow of life if you overemphasise them. Ensure your goals are full of life and not death.