Is goal setting really that important?…
Just by simply setting goals, your brain is given the vital psychological ingredient it needs, to give you a fighting chance of achieving a successful outcome.
So what is this vital ingredient?…
You’ll probably work out the answer yourself with this simple example…
Suppose you have a 100k debt that has to be repaid within 12 months or else your home will be repossessed. On top of this, you’re broke…
With the New Year quickly approaching, many people may be gearing up for their New Year’s resolutions. The dawn of a new year allows people to reflect upon what has worked, and what they would like to accomplish moving forward. While everyone has probably spent some time setting goals, have you found that you either fall short of your goals or end up abandoning them after the resolution buzz has died down? Here are some tips to setting goals that you actually keep throughout the year.
First, sit down with a blank sheet of paper, lock yourself into a quiet room and make a list of everything you would like to achieve in your lifetime. It doesn’t matter if it is big, small, or even silly-sounding; just list it. You may find it difficult to begin, but just keep at it, avoiding the urge to succumb to distractions. Once you get over the initial hump, you will probably find that listing things you want to do comes easy, almost to the point where you can’t write fast enough.
As you are writing make a note of any items that you list that give you a special feeling when they come to mind. While you will just write most items down as they come to you, there will be a few items that give you a feeling of tranquility as you get them on the page.
By: Eric B Stanley
Why does fear stop so many from pursuing their goals, dreams and passions? For many the thought of failing, of not reaching their goals, of getting outside their comfort zone is enough to make them quit before they even begin to move forward. Fear is powerful; if you let it control you.
There is a story of an old man on the far outskirts of a village. One day he was sitting under a shade tree when he noticed a figure approaching form the East. As the figure drew closer he noticed it was the spirit of the plague. He asked the spirit “where are you going?” The spirit replied”I am going to slew 1,000 people.” The old man watched as the spirit continued on the path toward the village. Several days later the old noticed the spirit returning from the West. He told the spirit “I heard you slew 1000 people?” “No replied the spirit I slew 250, the rest died from fear.”
Do not let fear control you. At one time it controlled me. My past failures, my goals, my aspirations, all put on hold. OK they were locked away in a closet. Fear would talk to me, it would say “you know you are going to fail.” “Why would you set your goals so high?” “Everyone you know has failed, you will be next.”
Do you feel like you are always working hard, but never really feeling satisfied with the life you are leading? Are you always on the go, but still not achieving the goals and dreams in life that will make you happy?
Goal setting is a great way to lay out a plan to achieve the life you want. Often we will set out goals – either at the beginning of the year or at our birthday – to plan for the coming year. But then, we never follow through on them and feel like we can never get anything done. So how can we really follow through on our goal-setting and achieve the life we have always dreamed of?
1. Determine what goals you want to set. We often think about or write down goals that are what we think we “should” be doing, or what others want us to do, and that is often why we do not achieve our goals. Take the time to sit down and think about what really makes you happy, what you really want to achieve and what you would love to do if you didn’t need to worry about money or other people’s opinions. Write those goals down.
A personal development plan serves as a guide for you to achieve more and great things in life. It basically reflects where you are at the moment and where you want to go tomorrow.
So how do you really create a plan? You can actually create your own and be creative about it as long as the three important elements are there: skills to achieve your goals; the available resources; and the outcome.
Below is a great example of personal development plan. This plan is composed mainly of questions that you need to answer. Take time answering each question. Sharing and visualizing them with other people is not enough. Write the answers down and read them every single day. You should also review and update them as necessary.
1. Think of where you are now.
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What kind of criticisms do you usually get from other people?
• What are the factors that affect your performance? An example of performance indicator is time wherein you tend to get stressed and pressured when you are tasked to finish a workload within a short amount of time so you sacrifice the quality of your output.
2. Think of what you want to become in the future.
• What are the things that you want to achieve in life?
• What are the reasons for you wanting these achievements?
• List down your short-term goals.
• List down your long-term goals.
3. Ponder on things that you need to do and accomplish for you to reach your dreams.
• What are the things, skills, talents, and behaviors that you need to improve on to reach your dreams?
• What are the resources easily available for you to do the things that you need to do?
4. Create a timeline for your dreams, with the start and end date for both short-term and long-term goals.
• When do you want to achieve your dreams?
5. List other things that are important and needed for you to reach your dreams.