How To Set And Achieve Goals... by David Guest

New year is always a great time to take stock of our results during the year. I make it a habit of writing down the wins and lessons for the previous year first.

Reflecting on our past and taking the lessons out of our experience is a powerful way to make sure we don’t repeatedly make the same mistakes. So before I write my goals for the new year, I make it a point of making the time to really look at what I have done over the previous year.

Remember to pat yourself on the back for the wins you’ve had. It is always too easy to say “I stuffed it up…”, But, as long as you get the lesson, you can only move forward.

Every challenge you have is also a learning experience. So learn from your failures. Thomas Edison, who conducted more than a thousand experiments on filaments before he produced a practical light bulb, was once asked, "How did you keep going after you had failed more than a thousand times?" Edison replied, "I did not fail a thousand times; I learned a thousand ways that didn't work." Like Edison, try to look at failure and rejection in a different light--as a learning experience.

From "Edison The Man And His Work" by George S. Bryan 1926.

"The electric light has caused me the greatest amount of study and has required the most elaborate experiments.... Although I was never myself discouraged or hopeless of its success, I can not say the same for my associates.... Through all of the years of experimenting with it, I never once made an associated discovery. It was deductive... The results I achieved were the consequence of invention - pure and simple. I would construct and work along various lines until I found them untenable. When one theory was discarded, I developed another at once. I realized very early that this was the only possible way for me to work out all the problems."

So…here’s the…

5 Simple Steps To Setting Goals...
1. First review your old goals and see if they are still valid. Cross off the ones that don’t apply any more and add any new ones. When looking at the results refer to the formula for change …

D(dissatisfaction) x V(vision) + F(first steps) > R(resistance)

For the goals you didn’t achieve, ask these questions…
· Was it something I truly wanted?
· Was it inspiring to me?
· Was it congruent with my other goals and my personal values?
· Were the consequences of NOT achieving that goal great enough?
· Did I know what steps to take and did I have the skills to execute them?
· In hindsight, is this goal something I still want to pursue?
· What do I need to do differently to achieve it?

2. So once you have looked at the year in perspective, now move to writing your goals for the next year. This will include some old goals, but with an updated perspective and some totally new goals.

3. Then make sure these new goals fit the S.M.A.R.T. criteria (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Result Oriented, Time-framed). This is a sanity check to make sure the goal is not too big that my sub-conscious rejects it, and not too small that it is not inspiring.

4. Then, put each goal on a separate sheet of paper and start writing down all the steps needed to achieve that goal. Look at any obstacles that you feel will stop you from achieving your goals and write down a plan to overcome them. This is really a brainstorming list that will give you a step by step blueprint of how each goal will come into your reality.

My experience has shown that doing this process is the most important part, as it will create the first steps required to get me moving! I make sure these steps make it onto my calendar or even better I start working in them immediately. This momentum gives me energy and a sense of certainty that things are happening.

5. Make sure that your goals are placed somewhere conspicuous (like on the whiteboard in your office, or on a card in your wallet) so you can see them daily. This is an important step in keeping focussed.

Review them weekly and adjust your task list to make sure you are moving in the right direction. And celebrate any wins along the way to encourage good results.

This may sound like a long winded way of doing things, but I have found the opposite is true.

You see, our brains are a goal oriented mechanism like no other on earth. If you know how to program it, it can literally create miracles…

So, rather than learning to program your phone, computer or VCR, invest some time in programming the most magnificent computer in the world…Your Brain… and start getting the things in life you have always only dreamed of.

P.S. Here are some links to other great articles on setting goals…my process is only one of the ways to program your brain for success. There are literally thousands of ways. All you need to do is find one that will work for you!

http://www.relfe.com/goal_setting.html
www.mygoals.com
www.about-goal-setting.com


To discover more about Action Business Coaching and David Guest, go to http://www.actioncoaching/davidguest