subject: Effective Goal Setting. [print this page] Nearly everybody would love to be able to set a goal and attain it, reliably, every time. Given the right approach, let me assure you that it is very possible. Regardless of whether you have tried goal-setting before this, with less success than you might have wanted, once you appreciate how goals work it is very possible to set goals which you accomplish reliably.
Do not worry that it is perhaps too complex or challenging to learn the best way to set goals successfully. It's simple and effective as soon as you really grasp how to do it.
Most people will set goals in their life in one way or another, but I am certain you can see that a lot of people fail to accomplish the goals they set themselves. The principal reason for this is that a lot of people naturally set their goals in terms of the end results they want to achieve. This might be "lose ten pounds", "make a million dollars", or whatever their current aims might be personally.
The big problem with setting goals in terms of the things you would like to accomplish, is that their achievability is not certain. You might be wondering how it could ever be possible to set goals which you can guarantee to accomplish, and if it is even worth doing so.
The way this works is that you take a goal in terms of something you'd like to achieve, and break that down into practical steps that you can take to move towards that goal. For example, if you would like to lose ten pounds, your practical steps could be to work-out at the gym for an hour each day or run a certain distance each morning. If your goal is to make a million dollars, you could set practical goals such as reading a book on how to sell effectively, or starting a free website that makes you money.
If you define your goals in terms of precise actions that you already know you can accomplish, then you get to win every day! Of course, the actions need to be carefully chosen so that they lead you to the results you ultimately desire, but all you can DO is actions, you can not do results. If your actions are being achieved but not giving you what you want, then you need to learn more about how that area of life works. Be certain to define this process of "learning more" in terms of action steps!
If you set action goals, and achieve them, and grasp well enough how that area of life works, then many things become much more achievable. Find some of your dreams, and define action goals that can move you closer to those dreams, right now!
