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Characteristics of our Goals
By David Stoddard
I've done the goal setting things
in the past. I heard of the studies where only the successful
3% have goals written down. I had ideas of what I wanted to accomplish
but for differing reasons, I didn't always reach them as often
as I would have liked. Some were just ideas which stayed ideas.
Others I worked at didn't turn out as planned. So I wondered
why.
From what I came up with, some
were due to things I was or wasn't doing. Not happy with that
as an answer, I looked around for other possibilities and I came
up with my own list of what goals have in common. Characteristics
if you will.
A goal must be
ACHIEVABLE:
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Just because we may not have
done something doesn't make it impossible for us. Odds are, someone,
somewhere, at some point in time, has done what we would like
to do. That by itself, makes it possible. And, like running the
4-minute mile, what seemed impossible before, is now achievable.
BELIEVABLE:
Can we do it? Can we learn how to do what it takes? Do we have
the time? Can we find the time?
Do we have the self-discipline
it will take to keep going to achieve it? Have we made any steps
toward it? Have we reached any other goals in our lifetime no
matter how small they seem now? As long as we can answer yes
to some of those questions, and our goal is within reason, it
can happen for us. |
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DESIRABLE:
Whatever we set as a goal, it must have meaning to us. We should
have our own set of reasons as to why attaining this goal is
important. By knowing why we want to attain something is a powerful
force behind our getting it. Things will happen to derail us,
but keeping focused on why we do what we do, will help considerably
on those days when things seem to be against us.
MEASURABLE:
We need to know we are getting someplace. All too often we feel
as if we are stuck just because we haven't gotten where we wanted
to go yet. We don't always see how far we have come, we just
see the long road ahead. By having our goal set up in such a
way that we can see the steps we can take, will help provide
the momentum needed to keep going.
WORKABLE:
Each step along the way is part of our plan to get there. The
plan should be written out so we can see what we will need to
do next. Plus, it gives us something to mark off along the way.
Like a shopping or to-do list, the plan gives us a basic guide
for what needs to be done. It's up to us how to work it.
FLEXIBLE:
Our plans should provide room for changes along the way. We have
learned so much from Murphy's law that whatever can go wrong,
will at some point. We need to be able to just go around the
problems we face. It may mean adjusting our goal a bit or re-working
our plans. But as long as we have room to change, we won't get
stuck.
I hope something in this article inspired you to begin looking
at your own goals. Well, at least that was MY goal.
© 2002 David Stoddard |
