:firstname:
- something on goals for you today. Goals can be so helpful in making
change happen, yet they are widely mis-used.
My online (free) goal reminder system contains thousands
of the goals of people like you. This morning I took a look at a
few of them and wrote some advice on how to make them far more helpful.
That advice forms a new article at the website,
Here's a taster:
Really Effective Goal Setting
Goals are just statements about what we want to do. Saying "out
loud" what you want is useful in moving from a dream to a new
reality. I wrote some really useful tips
on writing good goals and if you read those, you'll write better
goals. By the way - if you want to get reminded of your own goals
by email on a regular basis for free - use my online goal
reminder system. I use it a lot personally. I get a reminder
daily to "run three times a week". Do I do that? Honestly
- no! It leaks But it does work- in that I exercise far
more than I would do without these reminders.
Anyway, I've been helping clients set powerful goals for more than
a decade now and I've learned a lot about what works best, so I
thought I'd take a little time to give some specific feedback on
some real goals which have been set my real people using my goal
reminder system. These people all chose to share their goals
- so there's no breach of privacy here. When you share your goals
in this system you get to see the goals of others who shared theirs.
OK let's get started with some real goals, currently in my goal
system.
"Think positive, stay focused"
There are very many goals like these in my system. It's a lovely
sentiment - but it's not really a goal in the sense of that term
we're using here. It is difficult to embed. What exactly
will you do? How will you make it a part of your life? You can't
say when it's done, or how well it's done. You can't measure it.
You can't say what you will do or when you will do it. It's all-encompassing
too. It's also two different things: thinking positive and staying
focused.
Like a Mushroom Double Swiss - it looks delicious but it's too
big to take a bite out of.
Let's look at the negativity angle. I would suggest you pick one
thing to be positive about. Choose one where your negativity is
hurting you. Make a new goal to document your negativity about
X in a 500 word essay by a certain date.
Now - you can count those words - so it's measurable. You can clearly
say if you did or didn't do it by the deadline date. And
if you do it well, you will have learned a lot about where your
negativity is coming from. It's the first step in a journey towards
being more positive. The next step (next goal) might be to write
another essay critiquing your negativity. This will help your intellectual
brian get some leverage on your emotional negativity. Hopefully
you'll see some things you tell yourself which aren't entirely true,
and you can dismantle some beliefs.
"Sort house"
Oh yeah. Me too. But this goal won't get it done. When? What -
exactly? How? And it's huge! Far too large to find attractive. It
invokes the "bugger that" reflex. Better then, to divide
and conquer. Pick a room. Now pick a thing in that room which would
take no more than two hours to fix. Now put it in your diary (or
my goal system) and make it happen. Perhaps it's replacing the moldy
sealant around the bath. It's far far better to pick a small thing
that gets done than to pick a huge one that doesn't. The idea of
choosing something so small not even you would give it the finger
is very powerful. It generates movement, and that generates belief
and enthusiasm.
Read more mind-shifting insights
on your goals here
|