How do you set a goal and how will you know that you will achieve this goal?
Well, ahead of time you don’t know what you don’t know, do you? :-)
So the only thing you can do is to plan and take the appropriate action to achieve your goals.
There are however some important factors to be cognisant of when setting your personal goals, professional goals and/or career goals.
Unfortunately the only information I ever read or see about goals are the usual tips, which are useful but sadly not all encompassing.
SMART Goals . . .
They are the tips of setting SMART goals (Specific, Realistic, Achievable/Attainable, Relevant and Time bound) goals which motivate you whilst having an action plan which is in writing and relevant and then sticking to your game plan at all costs if you want to achieve those goals.
Although these are all true and valuable, they are not all there is to setting goals. As human beings we want to naturally achieve more so we naturally set goals which are often out of reach and hard to achieve. In some instances we achieve them (in spite of ourselves) and other times we fail miserably at the even the smallest and what most would say are very achievable goals.
SMARTER Goal Setting . . .
Let us take a stark look at what in its entirety is required to set achievable goals that won’t leave us feeling like miserable failures. Thereafter we will address why it is important to have these factors in place before you embark on your goal setting.
1. Good emotional states are required for goal setting.
2. A readiness and willingness to embark upon both goal setting and achievement.
3. Being present is an enormous requirement.
4. Being certain and confident are both requirements for goal setting.
5. Both commitment and responsibility are requirements for goal setting.
6. Agreements (making and getting agreement/s) are another requirement.
7. Communication, communication, communication!
8. Bring your integrity along!
9. A willingness to continue further after achievement.
Now, let’s look at why these nine points are important:
1. You cannot embark on goals when you are in an emotionally unstable situation or state. It’s never a good idea to embark on new goals which will fire you up when you are in mourning. Just like being in an emotional roller-coaster ride in your personal relationships will not help you. Your goal setting will emerge from a roller-coaster-state-of-mind which will result in getting further down the road of achieving results you didn’t necessarily want or plan for.
2. A readiness and willingness to proceed is vital. Check if this is the right-for-me goal or is this something that you ‘feel’ you should be doing out of guilt. Perhaps you are trying to compensate for being away for a while or you are finding yourself being confused about what you really want as examples and now you are trying to ‘make up’ for it by getting involved in something you are not that fired up about. You want to be 100% ready because your goals will challenge you, perhaps to an extreme and if you are fence-sitting, you will fall short and suffer great disappointment.
3. Being present is the best thing you can do for yourself whilst setting goals. Why? ALL effective goal setting has to occur in the present! We cannot set goals in or for the past or too-far-in-the-future goals. Living too far into the unknown causes fear and uncertainty and can put us off by making us impatient or having us lose interest along the way.
The best way to achieve SMARTER Goal Setting is to ask yourself: “what can I still do today to help me achieve this goal?” Next week may be too late. As with everything, goals and effective goal setting have a window of opportunity so act now instead of waiting for the right moment to arrive. Keep your goals present and in bite-size chunks so that you are not overwhelmed with what lies ahead.
4. Certainty and confidence are two very important requirements to set effective goals. If you are in the least bit uncertain of what you want and where you want to go, you need to further investigate what’s stopping you and could cause you to falter. Being certain will result in confidence and will see you being determined and ready to go without any hesitation of what you are after.
5. Do not ever proceed with achieving or setting your goals if you are lacking commitment to those goals. You will waste your time and potentially that of the coach or mentor you are working with to achieve these goals. Without the necessary levels of commitment you will not be prepared to take 100% responsibility to achieve those goals. Anything less than 100% commitment and responsibility will mean that you have to work so much harder when challenge by your goals along the way.
6. Why agreements? Everything in life is by agreement with yourself and with others. You have to be in agreement with yourself to set goals, just as you have to agree to achieve them. You also have to obtain agreements from those around you (a Life Coach, mentor, spouse, partner, children) to support you whilst you are in the process of achieving your goals since it could impact or inconvenience them greatly. And even when you change course of direction requires agreement with yourself and others.
7. Communication is key! Without communicating your goals with others, they cannot know how to support you. They also cannot know what you are going through if you are not communicating your difficulties or triumphs. It’s in everyone’s best interest that you communicate your goals to others. They will also keep you on track and motivate you when you falter along the way.
8. Having integrity when setting effective goals is probably one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your achievements. What do I mean by integrity exactly? I don’t mean honesty or having strong morals. I mean MAKE YOUR WORD LAW BY DOING WHAT YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO BY WHEN YOU SAID SO. I guarantee you that if you do not do this or take this seriously, no matter how good your intentions are or how many of these aspects you have in place, you will fail! Ask yourself if it is worth failing yourself and how that would make you feel?
9. Once goals are set and you are well on your way to achievement, I would invite you to continue to further set new and exciting goals that will motivate, excite and fire you up. There is nothing wrong with celebrating achieved goals; in fact I insist that you do! You can be proud of your achievement when staying on course and persevering on your journey. Once this is done however, continue on your road of success by challenging yourself further in order to achieve and thus celebrate!
Once you have considered the above 9 points, you can then proceed to apply the S-M-A-R-T goal model or any other method that works for you which must always be defined in space and time, i.e. what, how much and by when.
I wish you much success, courage, strength and goal success with your SMARTER goal setting!
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