Benefits of setting goals and how to do it

“Hello, this is your captain speaking. We’ll take off soon, probably head for the sea, and fly quite high. After a couple of hours or so, if we haven’t run out of fuel, we’ll see where we’ve got to, and I’ll look for somewhere to land. OK? Enjoy your flight!”

A silly story of course, and no doubt you’d be out of that plane as fast as you could. We all know how important it is to have a clear route, destination, and timescale for a flight, but how important is it to decide where we want to get to in life?

The first step toward success is knowing what it is that you aim to do.

Until you know where you want to go, you are leaving your happiness and fulfilment to chance. Once you set clear goals, you take control of your destiny, accept responsibility for your life and what happens to you, and you will enjoy success.

If you are not used to setting goals, you may find it a daunting prospect. If so, this 6 step guide will help you.

1. Collect your IDEAS about what you want. It’s much easier if you sort them into different areas of your life, eg Health, Wealth, Family& home, Relationships, Spiritual, Work, Relaxation & fun. You might choose different ones.

2. Take some time to decide specifically WHAT you really want. Use your imagination about how your life could be. If you don’t know what you want, think about what you don’t want, then the opposite. Imagine exactly how it will look, feel, and what you can hear. Imagine it has already happened. This will give your powerful subconscious mind a clear idea of what you want. It’s like a Christmas list. If you don’t say exactly what you want, you may well get something quite different and disappointing!

3. WRITE IT DOWN with as much detail as you can, so you feel really excited about it. This is what you really want, and this is the first step to making it happen.

4. To change it from just a wish into a goal, decide WHEN you want it. Put a specific date against it. This reinforces to your subconscious mind when you will achieve it. Your subconscious mind will act like a heat seeking missile, and point you towards your goal. That's why it is important to focus on what you want, rather than what you don’t want. Have you ever thought “I don’t want to do that”, such as “I don’t want to spill this red wine on the cream carpet…” It puts the thought in your mind, and you are more likely to do it.

5. Look at your CURRENT SITUATION, so you know what your starting point is.

6. Consider HOW YOU WILL KNOW when you’ve achieved it, so you can measure your success, (and celebrate!)

Your goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound (SMART). Effective goal setting is a huge topic, and this is only intended as a short guide to get you started. You can find out more in Curly Martin’s book “The Personal Success Handbook”, as well as many other excellent books.

This is a great time of year to set your goals for 2009. You can follow the six steps for each area of your life where you want to make changes, and make some powerful New Year resolutions.

Next month (1st January), we’ll look at how to turn your goals into reality, fuelled by motivation and passion, to get you off to a flying start for 2009, on a clear route to success.

Thank you for the feedback about what topics you want me to cover. Setting your goals was a big one, and time management is at the top of most people’s list. I have produced a FREE REPORT, “MAKING TIME”, which gives you ten top tips for effective time management.
Visit the contact page to order your copy now.