Top 10 Tips on Setting Goals

culled from:smart-goals-guide.com

1. ALWAYS write down your goals.
Why?
Because research suggests the likelihood of you achieving your goals is significantly enhanced when you take the simple action of writing them down.
2. Take time out to think through what it is you really want.
It's almost impossible to generate new thinking when you are surrounded by the familiar.
Break away from your usual environment.
Go for a walk, sit on a park bench, go somewhere you have never been before.
Writing goals is a very important activity so see it that way and make time and a place for it.
3. Be clear about what it is you truly want.
The S. in the S.M.A.R.T acronym stands for being specific - knowing what it is you want and specifying it as clearly as you can. I can't stress the importance of this enough. Be as specific as you can.
Think about how you will know when you have achieved your goal.
In other words, what will you see? What will you hear? How will you feel?
For example, one of my clients had the goal of losing weight.
When she started to think about what she would see , she thought of smaller sized clothing in her wardrobe, a fridge full of healthy food, the weighing scales pointing to a different number...
When she thought of what she would hear, she thought of how she'd hear her friends congratulating her and how she'd hear herself having conversations with others she could now help.
When she thought about how she might feel, she realised she would feel terrific, proud of herself and more self confident.
Once my client had this clarity it turbo charged her motivation and desire to achieve her weight goals.
4. Make sure your goal is a 'want' goal and not a 'should' goal.
Many people set goals that are what I call, 'should' goals.
In other words, they are goals that for many different reasons they feel they 'should' be achieving.
For e.g. I should paint the house, should clean out the garage, should go to the gym, should learn a new language....
But you must truly 'want' to achieve any goal you set.
Why?
Because if you don't really want something it is unlikely that you will put in all the effort required to get you there.
A 'should' goal could well end in failure because you just are not committed and motivated enough to make it happen.
5. When you are writing your smart goal make it truly motivating.
For example here is one possible goal:-
"I own a 4 bedroomed detached house with a large garden."
But here is the same goal stated in a much more positive and exciting way:-
"I am in the kitchen of my brand new four bedroomed detached home in London, surrounded by the happy chat and laughter of my husband and two kids."
Which one would you be more motivated to achieve?
6. Write your goal in the first person, present tense.
Your goal should always begin with the word 'I' - after all it is about what YOU want for your life.
(If it is a team goal, start with 'We'...)
It should also be phrased in the present tense as that will allow your unconscious mind to start to believe you have already achieved it.
Here are some examples:
I have passed my level 3 exam in Spanish and....
I am having dinner with my new partner.
7. Determine WHY you want it.
Why?
Because when you are really clear on the reasons behind your goal, your reasons motivate you and provide you with the necessary fuel to achieve your goal.
8. Brainstorm your measurables and keep brainstorming them as necessary all along the way.
When you define the measurables in your smart goal, brainstorm as many measures as possible.
Once you have your list prioritise them.
Achieving your goal is a process. You never know where your path might lead so review what is happening and at all points be prepared to brainstorm new pathways.

9. Follow the 80:20 principle
You may have heard of the 80:20 principle.
Essentially it states that 80% of the results often come from just 20% of the effort.
For example, let's imagine you decide you want to set up business to develop a new healthy food snack.
Focusing on one large customer, for example Walmart, as opposed to applying enormous effort to getting your product into one thousand small shops, will deliver much better results with a fraction of the effort.
Think about what are the measures that will make the biggest difference to you achieving your goal. Focus first on achieving those.
10. Believe that you can do it.
Unless you really believe that your goal is possible you are unlikely to achieve it.
Everything you say to yourself and others must line up with your conviction.
As they say "Believe it and you will see it".
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There are many people that drift in this world and live day by day or work hard at what they do, but don’t seem to know where they want to go, they are just “going with the flow”.
The reason they may feel this way is because there is no clarity, and no goal.
You can tell yourself you’ve been hustling hard or staying busy every day, but what does it really matter if you’re not setting personal goals?
Deciding to strive for goals can actually change your life and help you take complete charge of everything that happens to you.
Setting personal goals is something that took me awhile to understand and finally made it a habit to add to my personal life. When you finally decide on your goals, the goal setting theory states that your mind will establish specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted ideas, or SMART goal settings.
Setting goals is a common practice among some of the most successful people on this planet. Regardless of the industry, aspiring to a goal can go a long ways in furthering your focus and overall success. Business winners, most often carrying the education of an online MBA program, are the most common goal setters. They may know what numbers they have to hit in order to have a profitable month, and they strive for these goals each day.
Goals support your success and I’m going to give you some tips to build on your goals. Here’s a list of my personal tips to help you get started with your goals and hopefully inspire you to take action:

One: Decide What it is That You Really Want

Deciding exactly what you want is always the first step. But what if you don’t know what you want? Ask yourself, is there something you need or want to show up in your life?
These thoughts can be setting financial goals, setting career goals, setting business goals, relationship goals, health goals or any desire that you feel right for yourself.
Being able to really pin point a goal you need clarity and going after something that you really want, you must stay positive.
What is clarity? In short, clarity is to be certain and clear that you know you will achieve your goal. You just know.

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” -Albert Einstein

Two: Getting Use To Writing and Why You Should Start Now

One of the most things people don’t realize is that when you set your goals, and you get all excited about, you’re ready to take action, but than a couple of days later you forget about it or procrastinate because you doing know where to start and end up giving up. Write your goals down!
Write down what you want and list the steps how you’re going to achieve it. This is something that I continue to do on the daily. Keep a small note pad with you and look at it often, daily, day and night.
When you write down your goals of that end result, your emotions opens up and that feeling is what connects you to your goals. Stay focused!

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” -Bruce Lee

Three: How to Set A Deadline

Most people will tell you to set a deadline; however my deadlines aren’t always exact.
I would look at my calendar and decide on a day but its usually a day off, a week off, or even a month. Things can show up and hold you back from getting to the day you set as a deadline, and this is okay, just know that you will reach it and feel that feeling of how bad you want it. As long as you stay focused, there is no choice but to reach it. It doesn’t matter if your deadline isn’t right where you set it. Keep going!

Four: Increase Productivity by Breaking it Down

A lot of people seem to give up on goals because they don’t know where to begin. Days pass, weeks pass, and the goal fades into another dream. This is why people procrastinate; you don’t know where to start. Here is the solution, as you write down your goal, add steps to the goal randomly on your note pad. Go back and list them from 1 to 10 or whichever way helps you determine which steps to take first.
Another way is to break those steps to even smaller steps. That way you can have an even more clear way to check off your list.
Stay persistence and don’t start on the next step until you are finished with the first.

Five: How to Stay Motivated and Get To Your End Result

With this hectic world and laziness environment we surround ourselves. It’s easy to get caught up and forget about your goals or even drop the whole idea.
To get through this, set apart away from work and sit somewhere quiet and visualize the end result. Notice I mention “end result” throughout this article.
Try this; imagine your goal when you’ve reached it. How does it look? How does it feel? Now, hold that feeling for a couple of seconds or minutes. Feels great right? It is very inspiring knowing that you can actually see within your mind of the goal reached.
It is proven what you see within your mind, you can achieve. Believe that is true and keep focusing on the end result.
I know it may sounds weird and you may not be aware of it but when you’re caught up with all these busyness around you, you forget to appreciate your desire or your goal. You try to figure out how to get it done, your mind gets caught up with so much “How” that it hard for you to get to your goal.
There are more details to this and I’ll write that in another article but just focus on your end results and all the steps will come to you.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” -Robert Collier

Six: Learn How to Take a Break and Relax

You’er in the zone and want to keep going but your body is tired. Even though you’re doing well with your list and getting closer to your goal, its ok to take a break.
Give your mind and body some time off. A day or two is fine. This will allow your body re-energized for the next steps ahead.
Just make sure when you do, leave everything alone, worrying about what needs to be done will only stress you out. Relax, enjoy the moment of the now. Let go.
Work smarter not harder.

And Seven: What Should You Do If You Fail and Hit Rock Bottom

This is one that most that everyone fear. To try to attempt a goal but fear they will fail or end up failing after reaching the goal.
Fear actually prevent people from going after what they want. They only want to be in the safe zone and say they rather be safe than sorry. Or, after failing the goal they give up too easily because they fear they will fail again.
The truth is, you don’t know if you will fail; only you know if you will succeed.
If you feel that it is something you really want, try it until you succeed or at least to find out if it was for you in the first place.
Stop making excuses for yourself. Become aware of your thoughts and the excuses you say. Not a lot of people are aware of this, but listen to yourself when you are questioned about your goals. Those excuses you make are habits, it comes out and you don’t realize that you thought of it. Aware or not, you are the one who creates excuses.
Start becoming aware of your thoughts. There should be no excuses for setting personal goals and achieving them.
It is about experiences not the doubts, worries, or being “safe”. Take risk and try new things.
If you have been doing the same thing all of your life and too comfortable to change, It’s not too late, the only time is the present time. Everyone fails; failing is a part of the process.
Keep failing, the best feeling is to emerge out of that and come back 10 times stronger.

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I didn’t realize this article came out to be 1,500 plus words. I only planned a 500 word article. I guess I have a lot to say about personal goal settings.
Well, I hope you enjoy this article and possibly inspire you take action on your goals to that end result.

What do you think?

I never wrote a blog post up before, but I would like it to be a part of my goals to write an article or two every month. Hopefully get better at it. Anyway, I would love to hear your feedback and personal goals.
Did this article help you with setting personal goals? Do you have any go tips to add? What drives you to your goals? Do you agree or disagree about failing? Comment below! Let me know.
- See more at: http://www.iamlongle.com/7-tips-to-setting-personal-goals-that-will-inspire-you-to-take-action/#sthash.FO7IGC36.dpuf