Goal setting is used by top-level athletes, successful business-people and achievers in all elds. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life.
A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic. While there are plenty of variants (some of which we’ve included in parenthesis), SMART usually stands for:
• S – Specific (or Significant).
• M – Measurable (or Meaningful).
• A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
• R – Relevant (or Rewarding).
• T – Time-bound (or Trackable).
Take a deep look
Once you have written them down, take a deep look. Think about them. Are they realistic goals? Or are you spreading yourself too thin? My suggestion is to not set goals just for the sake of it. Whatever goals you have set write them down, make sure you have the strength, willingness and determination to achieve.
Make an action plan
So you have set goals, written them down and now you are all set to start working towards achieving them. First step – make an action plan. There could be more than one method to achieve a goal. Which one suits you? Decide on it.
Track progress
Extremely important. If you don’t track progress, you don’t get an idea if you are going the right way and if you would ever achieve it in the time frame you had set in your mind.
Involve others
It is always good to involve others in the process of setting and achieving goals. Take advice when necessary. And don’t be rigid. There are people out there who are better at this. Their suggestions are always valuable.
Welcome failure
If you learn to welcome failure and keep going, I think there’s nothing which can stop you from achieving your goals. I don’t know anyone
who had an absolute smooth run and became successful. Failure is an important part of the entire process. Welcome it. Learn from it.