IT Rogers

Crash Course: Effective Goal Setting

Last month, you read my post on staying motivated on your goals. Recently, I attended a night class taught by John Dalrymple, a respected consultant who provides assistance to firms who want to see increased productivity, teamwork, and overall results. Dalrymple suggests that the number one step that must be taken is goal setting. Here is his method.

How To Accomplish Goals

There are several methods to goal setting, both short term and long term. How are both handled? Overall, the process can be overwhelming. How do we set long-term goals? If all we have are short term goals, how can we achieve long term goals? The key is to define your long-term goals, and using shorter ones to achieve them.

What is a long-term goal? It’s workable and achievable within 5 to 10 years. Ask yourself how you want to see yourself within that time frame:

Who do I want to be within 5 years?

How will my family relationships improve within the next 10 years?

How will I physically look within 5 years?

Short-Term Goal Setting

Step 1 – Grab a sheet of paper, because the first step to reaching your goals is to write them down. List your goals. Writing down goals simply makes desired outcomes more clear, increasing success rate of accomplishment. Need proof? See a study of why writing down clear goals results in a higher rate of success.

Step 2 – Set goals based on certain categories of your life. Be very specific including a plan of how you are to achieve a given goal. There are six categories recommended, designed to cover most aspects/areas of a persons life. An example is provided:

• Educational/Mental – “Achieve a 3.6 GPA this semester by allotting am extra 1/2 hour of study time per night.”
• Physical – “Engage in a physical workout routine four times weekly.”
• Social/Relationship – “Make is a point to seek out new and interesting people.”
• Spiritual – “Pursue opportunities for random acts of kindness everyday.”
• Financial – “Reduce my credit card debt by 35% by focusing on earning more.”
• Emotional – “Read, listen, and record positive occurrences thereby enhancing my outlook on life”

Add more categories as you see fit, but these six should cover about everything.

Step 3) – Make the goals reasonable so they can be obtained within 90 day increments. This keeps the brain focused on end results. Setting goals should be at quarterly increment, not once per year (ie. new years).

What methods do you have for setting goals? How have they worked? Please share them in the comments below.

Photo via lululemon athletica