Lucy,
Let's finish up on Goal Setting today and tomorrow. Today, I will summarize a bit more from Brian Tracy's book Get Smart! How to Think and Act Like the Most Successful and Highest-Paid People in Every Field and the chapter Goal Oriented Thinking versus Reaction Oriented Thinking. Tomorrow, I will share a method I have developed to help decide on and document my most important personal goals. There is no right or wrong way to set goals, but it should be helpful to think about and implement some or all of these ideas.
Goal Setting Exercise (paraphrased from the book):
1. Take out a clean piece of paper and write the word 'GOALS' at the top, plus today's date. Then write down ten goals that you would like to achieve in the next twelve months. These may be one week, one month, six month or one year goals, but they are all goals you hope to achieve over the next year. When you write these goals down, use the three P's. Make them present tense, personal and positive. Did you know that your subconscious mind can only work this way. Each goal starts with the word 'I' followed by an action verb. For example, "I have a powerful professional brand that tells the world about my passions and talents for working in the non profit sector." Write your goal as if you have already achieved it. Write down the first ten goals you can think of in the present tense, and make them personal and positive.
2. Once you have your list of ten goals, ask this question: "Which one goal on this list, if I were to achieve it, would have the greatest impact on my life." There is always one goal that fits this description. Once you have identified this goal, it becomes your "major definitive purpose" in life.
3. Transfer this goal to the top of a clean sheet of paper, making it personal and positive in the present tense.
4. You then make a list of everything you can think of to achieve this goal. Write down at least twenty ideas. Keep writing until you have twenty different actions you could take that would help you achieve this goal.
5. Organize this list into a plan, a checklist with the things that you could do, from first to last.
6. Take action immediately on one task, the first item on your list, and complete this one task as soon as possible.
7. From then on, do something everyday on this list to move you toward your major goal. Never allow an exception. Do this seven days a week!
So in summary:
- Decide exactly what you want in one area of your life, the one goal that could have the most positive impact on your life.
- Write it down, making it personal, positive, and in the present tense, as if it were already a reality.
- Make a plan to achieve this one goal, and then do something every day that moves you closer to it.
Make it a great Monday,
Dad
