Have you asked yourself recently how often do you achieve bit larger objectives? Those that are really important to you? After failure in their professional or private life, people tell me things like, “That’s it. I tried and it didn’t work I’d better settle for what I have.”
You now what’s the problem in such a way of thinking? In most cases what’s getting in the way of achievement is the actual goal. If your goal is to “successfully pass the exam” or ”find a better job”, how will you know when that goal is complete? You actually won’t, because lacking a clear target, you’ll never hit your mark. This is the reason why is so crucial to learn how to set goals – goals that are clear, that are attainable as well as measured.
I’m personally a big supporter in setting goals. It holds extra added value bearing n mind that we live in a world that is increasingly defined by information overload and constant distractions. Hence, lacking a clear sense of what is most important, it’s so easy to get consumed by what’s most urgent – which in most of cases is actually not really important, or what others around us are focused on.
I believe that I have evolved a process over the last few years for connecting my vision and purpose to my goals. It starts at this time of year each year, when I choose three to five major things that I want to accomplish for that year.
The next step is to break those large, annual goals into smaller, quarterly milestones. What do I need to accomplish in each quarter period in order to achieve the annual goals?
At the start of each month, I review my annual and quarterly goals, and choose three goals for the coming thirty days that will get me closer to the quarterly goals. Then, I do the same thing at the start of each week for the monthly goals. Finally, at the beginning of each day, I choose just a single, most important task to complete for that day. Not five, not three but just one.
This process helped me tremendously because it created a direct link between HOW I spend my time on a quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily basis, and WHAT I really want to accomplish on a larger scale.
By the way, I do this exercise not only for goals related to my profession, but also for personal goals.That’s why a goal setting is a great skill you can still catch up and develop. It will surely help you to design your own future because your futures should not …. by accident, and by just walking through the day managing to survive. Setting your goals is an opportunity for you to experience the power of your mental faculties such as imagination because tapping this resource involves thinking about about tomorrow, the rest of the year, next ten years, in other words about your whole future.
For many people it may sound like a lot of work, and actually it is, however, spending a little extra time with this process up front streamlines and focuses my efforts and saves me enormous time in the long run.
I just wanted to encourage you guys to give it a try this year if you’re not currently doing something like this. You have nothing to loose, have you? You don’t need any special software or forms. Just a binder with regular paper or better a special notebook will do. No need to complicate things. Make it simple.
If you do try it, let me know how it goes after you’ve been working with this system for a few months. I’m confident that it will have a big impact.
Sending you my best wishes for a healthy, happy, and successful 2020!
