Personal Goal Setting; Identifying Your Dreams And Setting A Goal In Life
To get started with your personal goal setting, you do not really need a great deal of material. But you do need a pen and paper and set off some time for the goals setting process. If you lack time, you need to get your priorities right and make sure you value yourself enough to at least spend some time on your personal goal setting. Nobody else can do it for you...
It is great to have pre-written goals sheets and instructions, but sometimes we tend to think that we need to prepare, buy stuff and take a long vacation just to get started with something new. If you have decided to give the process of setting and achieving goals a try, I suggest you do not delay, but start instantly!
Get some great goal setting ideas from this example.
Therefore, just get a pen and a note book or sheets of writing paper. This will form the basis of your personal development journal. It is your starting point. And it is a place to come back to regularly.
Bear in mind that nothing is set in stone. We sometimes tend to treat our goals too respectfully as if they could not ever be changed. On the contrary, it is a good idea to revise your goals on regular intervals. The length of the interval depends on whether the goal is long term or short term.
Long term goals are usually things you want to achieve in 5+ years time. But of course this can be subdivided and specified too. Actually, the more specific a goal is, the better.
The same thing goes for short term goals, those you strive to achieve in less than a year. And they can be very short term, like when you plan out your day. Then you highly prioritize the activities that will take you in the direction of your dreams and goals. Make sure to emphasize you in your personal goal setting. Setting goals in life is a matter of you and your life.
Now, as always, do not loose yourself in what you think you should achieve, but what YOU want to achieve. Activate your dreams again! If necessary, refer to the page about
goal setting theory.
Suggestions to get started with personal goal setting:
Write down ALL your dreams in ALL areas of life. Realistic or not is totally irrelevant. Your subconscious mind needs to be recharged with hope, dreams and unlimited possibilities. The title of this page could read "my dreams"(to keep you organized). Remember that your personal goal setting emanates from you and nobody else. Get out of your comfort zone and dream big dreams.
Write down different categories on a new sheet of paper called "Five most important categories in my life".
They will probably look something like: Economic, Health, Social, Career, Personal. Most things in life, big or small, fit into one of these groups.
Now use five different sheets of paper and on each of them write one of the previous headlines. For instance "Economic" at the top of one sheet and so on.
You now have five categories to fill with your dreams. That is the next step.
Take a look at your personal dreams list. Try to fit each and every dream into one of the categories. If one of your dreams is to get financial independence you would write that under "Economic", and if you want to optimize your physique, that´ll be the "Health" category etc.
Once you have finished this part, the personal goal setting process has a solid foundation: YOUR dreams and desires.
Now it´s time to get specific about your goals. Make each and every goal "S.M.A.R.T". This means:
S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Attainable
R: Realistic
T: Time sensitive
Specific means adding the details to each and every goal. Stating that you want to be financial independent is too vague. You need to create a clear picture to your subconscious mind; for example:
"Monday July 13th 2009 I AM financially independent through my business and I HAVE a monthly income of $20.000."
Measurable in the above example is "$20.000". Do not say things like "I will swim in money", it is too vague (it would be possible to swim in pennies too, but that´s not what you want...)
Attainable: Ask yourself what you can accomplish at this stage in your life. Be honest and take all responsibilities into consideration. This point is strongly linked to the next point below.
Realistic: Is it practical and actually do-able? Can you make it with your current skill level, time and money? Totally unrealistic goals are usually demotivating. Instead start with something realistic and attainable and build from there. It is possible to mess up your personal goal setting through being too unrealistic. If you state that you will loose too much weight in too short a time, like 50 pounds in two weeks, it is not do-able. So try to keep a balance between dreams and reality. Personal goal setting means that everything emanates from you and your abilities.
Time sensitive: To put a clear deadline to your goal is of out most importance. In our example it is "Monday July 13th 2009". It helps to have a specific time to work and strive towards. Never say "some day in future I will be rich". Instead, clarify to your mind exactly when, so all factors can work with you towards your goal. After all, it is a matter of YOUR personal goal setting!
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