Setting and Achieving Goals

There are many good goal setting articles on the Internet, some good, some just plain nothing to them. This article is the result of reading several books and articles and what I have learned.

A number of books and articles have been written about setting and achieving goals. For the small business owner or work at home entrepreneur, planning out goals can be a bigger challenge than for most people because you are so busy running a business. The very appeal of independence to the self-employed, whether part-time or full-time, often leads to an extremely full plate of things that need to be done. There can be the very long hours to get everything done that is on the list of things to do. Slow down, in fact, just stop for just a minute and consider, how things could be different. By setting and achieving goals you will have an even greater sense of accomplishment.

What Are Your Goals – for yourself and your business?

This may sound like a simple question, but once you actually sit down to write them out it becomes something more. Your answers can be holding you back from making progress if they are not related to some kind of values or stated in a very specific, clear manner and written down.

Goals reflect your values. Goals should demonstrate what is important to you. For each goal you write down, make a very clear link to one or more of the values you hold important to you. Common values; achievement, integrity, having a sense of balance, commitment, truth and honesty, self-respect, respect for others, and a healthy level of risk-taking. You have to know your core vales before you can defining your goals. Then you can see how your goals relate to these values. Once you do this step it will be easier setting and achieving goals.

Be specific about your goals. The more specific you in defining your goals the more likely you will achieve them. Take for instance, having a goal of having more money is not specific. What is ‘more’? How ‘much’ money? What is ‘having money’ mean? Be specific about setting your goals in order to achieve them. For example, I will have $3,000 each month. Or, for your business, you can set a goal of having 10 new clients by next month.

If all you are after is more, more and more, you want to rethink your goals. If all you want is more, then you may find yourself chasing vaporous dreams. But, if you make it a goal to provide the best customer service in order to keep the clients, customers, you already have then you find success much more easily. A truth in business is, it is always much easier and cheaper to keep a customer than to find a new one.

Make your goals written. This helps to solidify them. This is such a simple thing that is quite regularly ignored. The value of taking goals from your head, mind and putting them on paper can’t be underestimated. Don’t think to hard about this one, just do it! Putting things into the written word will help with the process of setting and achieving goals.

How Will You Achieve Your Goals?

Plan, create a written document of your goals and any steps you may think of off the top of your head which will help you achieve your goals. Take about a page, but any more than that and you may be over thinking things. A simple outline is all that is needed, not an essay.

In this process answer some simple questions. What is your goal? What are the steps needed to achieve your goal? Is there anything that could get in the way? Is so, how will I have to redefine my goal or will I have to put it aside altogether? On a regular basis, review this document and update it as needed. There is nothing wrong with have to rewrite your goals, that is part of the process.

Keep an optimistic outlook and be open to whatever may come up. Even the best laid plans have unexpected outcomes, so stay flexible and open to changes or opportunities as they arise while working your plan of setting and achieving goals. You may want to also read, Self Empowerment in Action.

I Don’t Have Time?

This is a very common complaint. Do a makeover of your schedule to create the time you need. It is all a matter of creating priorities and if setting and achieving goals is important enough to you, you will make the time. Look at your schedule for wasted time. Identifying time wasters like mindless or useless Internet surfing, watching too much TV, gossiping or endlessly chatting on the phone, too much daydreaming or any other activity that you did instead of the “to do” list is a waste of your time. So many people can free up more than an hour each week just by redoing their schedule and being aware of what wastes their time. Imagine what you could achieve if this time were spent on setting and achieving goals and how much better your life could be.

Who or What is Getting In The Way?

Excuses for not taking action is a cop out. A lazy person’s way of saying, ‘if I don’t make goals I can’t fail at them. There are plenty of entrepreneurs who failed at least once, sometimes more than once, and didn’t succeed until they were older, and wiser. So many people use rejection as a barrier, reason to not move forward because they are trying to avoid the fear associated with failure. Who is stopping you, telling you that you will not succeed? What is getting in your way? Identify these upfront before deciding how to address them.

This was just an introduction and I hope it was helpful. There is so much more that can be said on the subject, so I have listed a collection of books, and books on CD, to help you. Remember, you need to be setting and achieving goals in order to make your dream come true.

Recommend Reading

Goals : Setting And Achieving Them On Schedule

The Goal Achiever (the complite system for setting and achieving any goal you choose, life success training)

Goal Setting: How to Create an Action Plan and Achieve Your Goals (Worksmart)

Radical Goal Setting: The Science of Turning Your Dreams into Reality

Goal Setting 101 : How to Set and Achieve a Goal!

Your Extraordinary Life: A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting and Achieving Goals

Goals! How to Get Everything You Want--Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible

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