Got Goals

“There can be no reality to the things you want until they have structure within your mind first.”
—Anthony Norvell

Did you know that only a tiny fraction of the people in the world write down their goals in life? That very small group earns the lion’s share of the world’s money. This doesn’t mean that you’ll get rich just by writing down you goals. But it does suggest that there are some very special things successful people do in order to achieve their success. And when you have acquired these habits, you too will be more likely to be successful and get what YOU WANT.

But how do you know which goals make sense?

Setting goals means taking responsibility for your life. It’s true a lot of people don’t seem to want to do that. If they can just drift along doing what others tell them, they can avoid thinking for themselves. Following other people’s orders may seem to be easier than thinking, but if really isn’t. Here’s why:
There isn’t anyone who can do as good a job of thinking about you as you can for yourself! You have more information about your experience and what you’ve done than anyone else could possibly have. What’s ahead of you now is to us this information to help you get what you want.

Sometimes it’s hard to know what you want!

Have you ever felt that you really don’t know what you want? If you are feeling unsure of your goals it could be for one of two reasons: 1) You haven’t given it enough time or thought, or 2) You are in conflict. Let’s discuss conflict first.
There can be a lot of conflicts in our daily life. Part of us wants something and another part doesn’t. We may want other people to like us, and at the same time think friendship is too much of a bother if there are problems. That’s a conflict. We many want to do well in school, but at the same time be afraid it will make us unpopular with our group of friends (depending who your friends are). That’s a conflict too. You can see how there could be thousands of different kinds of conflicts that might make it hard to be clear about what you want.

Obstacles can keep you from your goals too!

An obstacle is defined as anything that stands in the way of your goals. Identifying obstacles will help you to learn what behaviors you have that make some goals more challenging to achieve than others. Included in obstacles is the influence we sometimes let other people have over us. Remember that your goals are based on what you want, so try not to let others influence your success (unless they are a positive influence!)

STEP 1: Setting Your Goal
Setting Measureable Goals
The SMART Method:

Specific
Measureable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Specific
A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, "Get in shape." But a specific goal would say, "Join a health club and workout 3 days a week."

Measureable
Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

Attainable
When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

Realistic
To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be.

Timely
A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a time frame, "by May 1st," then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

STEP 2: Things to Consider
3 Questions for you to think about

What bad habit do I have that may interfere with attaining my goals? (Example: I watch too much TV; I spend too much time playing video games; I wait until the last minute to do my homework).

What negative influence is there in my life that may interfere with attaining my goals? (Example: One of my friends doesn’t like it when I do well in school; My home life sometimes makes it difficult for me to remain positive about my goals; My teacher is difficult to talk to about why I have a hard time in this subject).

What is it about myself that may interfere with attaining my goals? (Example: I don’t think I’m smart enough to do well in math; I don’t know how to manage my time; I get frustrated easily when I am having a hard time learning something).

Try this: Arrange to talk with people who have successfully achieved their goals that you would like to reach. Most people will be very happy to tell you about their path to success. You can get a lot of ideas and encouragement when you ask these people questions.

STEP 3: The Importance of Prioritizing
You can start right now to do things more efficiently by putting your activities into their order of importance for you. This is called prioritizing. It is an effective skill that helps you to keep track as you work toward your goal, and helps you avoid wasting time on activities that may just distract you.

Make a list of 5 things you plan to do today, but write them in their order of importance (starting with the most important one). By making this list of priorities, you will notice that some of your activities deserve more time and commitment than they have been getting (such as homework versus TV time). Prioritizing is a powerful skill that can help you plan your activities so you can accomplish what you want to do (like your goals!)

Hint: Mark down activities in your planner you are going to do for the week. Mark the activities that are related to your goal with a star (*). Marking this activity will remind you to do this activity first because it is a priority.

STEP 4: Rewarding Yourself
Are you doing well with your goal or did you achieve your goal? If so, you should find a way to reward yourself for all your hard work! Remember that rewards do not always have to cost money, (such as spending all day with friends, or doing a hobby you enjoy). If you reached your goal, congratulations! If not, another perhaps more rewarding goal might be substituted. More importantly, maybe you learned some things that will increase your chances of succeeding next time!