I've done the goal setting things in the past. I heard of the
studies where only the successful 3% have goals written down. I
had ideas of what I wanted to accomplish. But for differing
reasons, I didn't always reach them as often as I would have
liked. Some were just ideas which stayed ideas. Others I worked
at didn't turn out as planned. So I wondered why.
>From what I came up with, some were due to things I was or
wasn't doing. Not happy with that as an answer, I looked around
for other possibilities. And I came up with my own list of what
goals have in common. Characteristics if you will.
A goal must be…
ACHIEVABLE: Just because we may not have done something doesn't
make it impossible for us. Odds are, someone, somewhere, at some
point in time, has done what we would like to do. That by
itself, makes it possible. And, like running the 4-minute mile,
what seemed impossible before, is now achievable.
BELIEVABLE: Can we do it? Can we learn how to do what it takes?
Do we have the time? Can we find the time? Do we have the
self-discipline it will take to keep going to achieve it? Have
we made any steps toward it? Have we reached any other goals in
our lifetime no matter how small they seem now? As long as we
can answer yes to some of those questions, and our goal is
within reason, it can happen for us.
DESIRABLE: Whatever we set as a goal, it must have meaning to
us. We should have our own set of reasons as to why attaining
this goal is important. By knowing why we want to attain
something is a powerful force behind our getting it. Things will
happen to derail us, but keeping focused on why we do what we
do, will help considerably on those days when things seem to be
against us.
MEASURABLE: We need to know we are getting someplace. All too
often we feel as if we are stuck just because we haven't gotten
where we wanted to go yet. We don't always see how far we have
come, we just see the long road ahead. By having our goal set up
in such a way that we can see the steps we can take, will help
provide the momentum needed to keep going.
WORKABLE: Each step along the way is part of our plan to get
there. The plan should be written out so we can see what we will
need to do next. Plus, it gives us something to mark off along
the way. Like a shopping or to-do list, the plan gives us a
basic guide for what needs to be done. It's up to us how to work
it.
FLEXIBLE: Our plans should provide room for changes along the
way. We have learned so much from Murphy's law that whatever can
go wrong, will at some point. We need to be able to just go
around the problems we face. It may mean adjusting our goal a
bit or re-working our plans. But as long as we have room to
change, we won't get stuck.
I hope something in this article inspired you to begin looking
at your own goals. Well, at least that was MY goal.
© 2002 David Stoddar
About Author :
David publishes "Qué Sera Sera," a weekly motivational
newsletter. To subscribe
mailto:que_sera_sera-subscribe@topica.com. Subscribers receive
his booklet "In Search Of Ourselves." Visit him online:
http://www.djstoddard.net
