Even if you have got as far as realizing that in order to be successful you need to set goals, you can still, unfortunately, go astray and become de-motivated if you don’t set goals in the right way. This article will give you some goal setting examples and show you why they were ineffective, so that you can learn from that as do your make your own goal setting examples as good as possible.
The first mistake people tend to make with goal setting is to set themselves too many goals. If you have really looked at yourself and your values, and decided where you want to be in five years time, you will probably find that there are several things you need to do in order to be totally successful in what you want to achieve. So, the temptation is to make too many goal setting examples for yourself. That will only result in failure as your efforts will be spread too thinly. You will also find it difficult to focus if you have too many goal setting examples that you are aiming for.
Another goal setting example which is problematic is when you have two difficult goals which you are trying to achieve at one time. For example, it’s probably not a good idea to set yourself the task of renovating your house at the same time as trying for a promotion at work. That really will tire you out – and probably drive you nuts!
So, you can use these goal setting examples to better understand a few techniques for better goal setting:
Do not aim for too many goals at one time.
Do not try to achieve more than one difficult goal at one time.
Try not to have competing deadlines for your goals.
Make sure your goals don’t clash with each other.
Bear in mind that the world doesn’t stop just so you can achieve your goals; you will have to do other things in your life which will take time away from your goal setting and objectives toward those goals.
Quantify your goals so you can have the sense of achievement, knowing you have been successful.
It’s more difficult to hit a moving target, so make sure your goals are well defined. A goal setting example of a goal which is movable would be ‘finish the garden off’. Gardens are never finished! They take maintenance and upkeep. You will never feel you have achieved something worthwhile if you have that as your goal. So be specific, for example by saying that you will install the decking, prune the fruit trees and cut the lawn. You will know when you have done those things and you can then feel good about them.
So, by using just a few goal setting examples, it is possible to see the pitfalls which there are in goal setting if it’s not done well. Now you needn’t be tripped up by these pitfalls and your goal setting has every chance of success!
Only if you can see how your goal will improve your life or the life of others will it become a meaningful goal for you that will keep you motivated through the tough times ahead which probably await you on your journey towards the achievement of your goals.
SAFE goal setting
The SAFE approach to goal setting takes account of one very important aspect of goals which the SMART approach tends to neglect; that is people have needs and values that influence what they want to achieve. Individuals differ in their values. Values determine whether a particular goal is rewarding, so in SAFE goal setting you should:
See your goal
Accept is a good one for you
Feel your goal emotionally
Express it
Goal setting sheets
Goal setting sheets help you to focus on your ambitions. Here are a few questions to help you formulate your very own goal sheet:
1. What do you want most in life?
2. What are the most important things you’ve accomplished so far?
3. If you could look back in 20 years time, what would you have accomplished?
4. Within the next 10 years, what would you liked to have achieved?
5. Within the next 5 years, what would you liked to have achieved?
6. Ignoring all your commitments, what do you REALLY want out of life?
Now you need to get practical. Success doesn’t just fall in your lap; you have to work for it, I’m afraid. Any successful person who tells you otherwise just wants to make you jealous of them and prevent you joining their exclusive club of successful people; don’t believe a word they say!
7. In the next six months, what steps are you going to take toward your goals?
When you are clear about these things, creative visualization really helps with goal setting.
Creative Visualization
When you think about your goals, your unconscious and subconscious get involved too. A good goal setter will be able to use creative visualization to imagine having accomplished his or her goals. You can learn this technique very easily.
What you need to do is think what it is you want to achieve. It can be anything so long as you really want to accomplish this goal and you can invest some emotion into it.
What you must do in creative visualization is to picture in your mind’s eye your goal and what it will be like to have achieved that goal; what will it look like? What will it feel like? How will you have changed as a person? How will your mindset be different and how will your emotions and thoughts be more positive? You need to make time for yourself to visualize this for a few minutes a couple of times per day. Pretty soon your subconscious mind will realize you really want this goal and it will start looking for opportunities to help you achieve that goal.
Creative visualization works on the same principles of hypnosis and self-hypnosis, to rid your mind of its unconscious blockages to success. We can be out own worst enemies at times with our negativity and fears paralyzing us and preventing action. If we allow our fears and uncertainties about our goals take over then we are likely to become self-fulfilling prophecies of doom, failing to attain our goals. You can turn this around and utilize the full positive creative power of your mind with creative visualization.
Making use of these three goal setting activities will really help you achieve what you want to achieve in life.