Maybe you have several goals, both for work or business and personal stuff. Maybe you’ve even made some resolutions for the new year. I stopped making resolutions many, many years ago when I realized they were mostly empty promises. I prefer to promise things I can keep. Now goals are a different matter. Goals have another vibe to them if you understand what I mean. A goal isn’t a haphazard promise thrown out at a New Year’s Eve party. It’s something you strive for, something you really want, and intend to achieve.
Are they measurable?
If you don’t set measurable goals, how will you know if you’ve reached them? If you want to lose weight, then how much? If you want more clients, how many? If you want to exercise more, how many times a week for how many minutes? The same goes for earning more money, you need to tell yourself how much.
When you know how much, how many or whatever fits your goal, it’ll be so much easier to plan your actions accordingly and to know when you’ve reached it.
Have you set a deadline?
You really need a deadline to get going, to take some action. Otherwise, it’s too easy to say “I’ll do it later” or tomorrow or on Monday or next month. I know, I’m a master procrastinator. When you have a deadline, it’s also a lot easier to divide a larger goal into smaller milestones, making the end result less overwhelming to think about.
Do you have a purpose for those goals?
Goals without purpose are rarely reached. If you want to lose weight just because you want to lose the weight, you won’t. If you decide to lose weight to look great at that reunion, or even better, to start a healthier and longer life, then you will be able to, as long as you keep that purpose in mind.
Here are a few of my goals for this year:
1. To stay on track eating healthy and exercising, so I can get rid of the weight I gained back after I had to reduce my pain meds in 2011. Amount: 12 kilos/26.45 lbs Deadline: December 31, 2013 Purpose: To live a healthier and longer life, to keep my joints and back from getting worse as fast, to make it easier to find good looking clothes that fit, and to be able to keep up with my 5-year-old daughter.
2. To sell my artwork Amount: 4 paintings Deadline: June 30, 2013 Purpose: To be able to buy more materials to make more art.
3. To do more readings Amount: 4 readings a week Deadline: May 31, 2013 Purpose: To maintain and improve my intuition.
4. To help more people Amount: 2 more clients a week Deadline: May 31, 2013 Purpose: To help more people rediskover their true selves so that they can gain more self-esteem and live their true purpose.
I am stopping by from the UBC FB page. You are so right on resolutions vs. goals. A great book for weight loss stuff is Timothy Ferriss’ The Four Hour Body. There was a lot of great material in there that I have never heard anywhere else.
Thanks 🙂 I know what I need to do to lose it, I just slip up sometimes when I’m low on energy. Nichole Kellerman also has a lot of good and out of the ordinary ideas.
Reading your list brought this question to mind: Are they goals or are they intended results from broader goals? Selling is a result of a bigger marketing plan; yet it may be too large and must be broken down into smaller tasks. Thinking out loud on your post, Linda 😉 Guess your words were thought-provoking! Thanks!
I have a lot to think about to make that work 🙂 I’m glad it set some wheels in motion. Breaking it down into smaller tasks are those milestones I mentioned. They can be hard to come up with, but if we work backwards from the desired outcome, it’s slightly easier.
Great post.. I’ve made some goals and not been that specific.. will review with some dates and figures! I know the universe likes specifics!
Rosemary
Thanks 🙂 I’m glad it got you a step further. I wish you the best of success in reaching your goals.
I completely agree Linda! Resolutions don’t even *feel* possible when we list them! However goals feel like you have some power…they’re more motivational. I started giving my year a theme! This year it’s FUN, and some of my goals are to grow my list, launch a new program and do yoga regularly 🙂 Happy 2013! And thank you for this!
I like the idea of a theme, or a word, for the year. I’ve seen lots of people using it this time, but I haven’t been able to come up with the right one for myself yet 🙂 Fun is a great word, and those are good goals you’ve set. Have a wonderful 2013!