Week 2 – Goal Planning: How to Set Goals that are SMART

So, have you resolved to make this year the best year of your Life?

New Year is a unique time of year. It's the only holiday that celebrates the passage of time. Perhaps that's why, as the final seconds of the year tick away, we tend to become introspective.

Then we wonder: how did time get away from us? And why did all our hopes and dreams never materialize? Inevitably, that introspection turns to thoughts of self-improvement and the annual ritual of making Resolutions, which we’ve all been doing so diligently over the last week or so.

We all do it. We swear to ourselves, "This is THE year" for transforming our lives and fulfilling our goals. We are determined to keep all the promises to lose weight, stop smoking, make more money, be more patient...just fill in the blanks.

Throughout January, millions of people from around the world will ask themselves questions as they figure out how to make this year the best year of their lives.

And by getting serious about your goals this year, you can turn your dreams into reality.

Last newsletter, we mentioned the concept of SMART goals – SMART is just an acronym to help you remember the elements of a good goal. Here they are:

Specific – your goal needs to be a specific statement of exactly what you want to achieve.

Measureable – you need to be able measure progress against your goal. Some goals, like weight loss, are easy to measure. For goals with no obvious measure, then you’ll need to come up with some kind of ranking system.

Actionable – to achieve your goal, you’ll need a set of step by step actions that you can take to achieve your goal. Goals won’t happen if you just sit around waiting for them to.

Realistic – don’t bite off more than you can chew!

Time-bound – set yourself a deadline, of you’ll just keep putting it off for another day.

Now this may all sound pretty simple – and it is – but you need to put some genuine thought into your goals to make sure they are going to suit you, and so that you can actually achieve them.

The Life Planning Program that we keep harping on about (sorry, I’m going to do it again!) is based on the SMART goal concept, but includes lots of other insights into the world of success and achievement. It’s a workbook style program that you can work through at your own pace, and is supported by practical tools, templates and assessments – and it’s all FREE!

And don’t forget, you can try one or more of the following FREE resources to help you on your journey:

• Goal Setting E-Course: Foundations and Keystones
• Goal Setting E-Course: Making your Roadmap to success
• Mini goal setting E-course
• 7 Little Known Goal Setting Tips - FREE E-book from Arina Nikitina.

There’s also an article below on “Why some people succeed and other’s don’t” and "Why goal setting works".

So what are you waiting for – set some goal today, and make this year the best year ever!

Best regards

Sam Sander
Achieve Goal Setting Success

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Why some people succeed and other’s don’t

First of all, no-one has become successful by sitting on their proverbial butt and doing nothing about it. As they say, you need to plan to become what you plan to become.

Sure, some people may have a seemingly easy run to the top – maybe they inherit the family business or maybe they just had a lot of luck along the way.

But most successful people had a ‘normal’ upbringing, and some even had a disadvantaged upbringing – they just learnt how to seize opportunities and learnt the skills of success.

Which brings me to my second point – learn the skills of success. Goal Setting. Time management. Planning and decision making.

Goal setting in particular is what makes people successful - it gives you a meaningful target to aim for and when done properly, gives you the roadmap to get there. So set specific and measurable goals with deadlines, and prepare an action plan to achieve them.

But thirdly – and probably most importantly – know that success is different to everyone. Work out what your definition of success is and strive to achieve it.

You don’t have to be a ‘Donald Trump’ to be one of life’s successful - normal people like you and me just want the best for our family and to live a happy, comfortable life.

Or perhaps you’re more ambitious than that?

It doesn’t matter how big or small your ambitions are, the best (the only) way to get there is to set goals – regularly – and take action towards achieving your goals. Think about what you want on your tombstone and in your obituary – and live this life.

There are many other secrets of success:

• Understand YOU. Lever off your strengths and strengthen your key weaknesses.
• Understand other people – you’ll run into them everywhere and can either help you on your journey or get in your way.
• Get the right attitude – as Zig Ziglar put it, “It’s your attitude, not your aptitude that determines your altitude.” Adopt a positive can-do approach to life and you’ll be surprised where it takes you.
• Manage your career, your finances and look after your health.

Why goal setting works

• Work out what you really want – this is personal. You’re the only one who knows what you really want, and it’s often not what you think.
• Work out a plan of attack to help you achieve what you really want – there is no point having a great goal if you don’t know how to get there.
• Give you the motivation to put your plan into action – since your goals will be personal and meaningful to you and based on what you really want, you will be motivated to achieve it. But you also need the right 'can-do' attitude!
• Keep track of where you are going by helping you focus on the 'big picture', to ensure you don’t lose your direction – it’s easy to get distracted by life’s little obstacles, so goal setting will help you focus your time and energy in the right direction.

Goals can be focused on developing a new skill, improving your current skills, kicking old habits like smoking, or developing better ones like exercise and healthy eating habits. Goal setting can also be used to produce an outcome or achieving a dream – it could be achieving more harmonious relationships with your family, wealth creation or achieving a career goal. The key to goal setting success is to keep your goals 'personal' – they are yours and yours alone, although they may include aspects involving family and friends. The most common mistake people make when setting goals is using someone else’s goals as your own - don't fall into this trap and become someone you're not! Goal setting works because it’s like a map - people who know where they are going and how to get there are more likely to get there than people who don’t. Goals are like your target destination, and the Action Plans developed as part of the goal setting process are your map. More specifically, goal setting works because:

• It gives you something to aim for – not only that, it gives you something MEANINGFUL and personal to aim for.
• It helps you focus your time and energy on achieving your goals – instead of your efforts being spent on meaningless activities and tasks, your action plan will give you a clear plan of attack by setting your priorities.
• It gives you motivation – because the goals are MEANINGFUL and personal to you, you’ll want to achieve them. You'll look forward to achieving them. This gives you the motivation and energy to keep going towards your end goal.