Think about a goal that you once had that never materialized. If you’d like, feel free to do a Wayne’s World style “Doo-dee-lee-doot, Doo-dee-lee-doot, Doo-dee-lee-doot” so you can go back into the past.* Think of what sparked you to create the goal, how detailed you made the goal, and what ultimately went wrong.

Did you:

* hold yourself accountable?

* have supportive people around you (aka kick-the-naysayers-to-the-curb)?

* have realistic goals?

* place your goal in line with your values and not the values or ideas of others?

* prioritize your goal with the other goals/commitments in your life?

* replace the word “could” with the word “will”?

* set-up reminders for yourself about your goal?

* create a vision board?

* cloud your focus with outside commitments?

* take it one goal at a time?

* celebrate the milestones?

* consider the obstacles?

Look at everything that can stand in your way! A goal is something that needs to be considered, and commited to, and cultivated. In summary: It’s a lot of freaking work! The next time you get a hankering to create a goal, make sure to take stock of all of these goal-eaters that can get in your way.

Or, let the goal-eaters go (I think the goal-eaters might be related to the multi-task monster) and make each of your goals S.M.A.R.T.:

S: Specific. Not: “I want to start exercising again” but “I will jog in the park for two miles three days a week.”

M: Measurable. It’s easy to measure if you jogged in the park for 2 miles on 3 separate days this week. “I want to start exercising again” can be measured by Jack. Jack Squat, that is.

A: Attainable. A 44-year-old woman with 2 years of government experience in a state with half a million people should not say “I want to be Vice President.” A 58-year-old man with no government experience should not say “I will be nominated as President in the next election.” Instead, a more attainable goal would be to say “I will win a seat on the City Council in the next election.” A SMART goal should be just out of your reach, but close enough where you can still grasp it.

R: Realistic. A 44-year-old woman with 2 years of government experience in a state with half a million people should not say “I want to be Vice President.” Being realistic and having an attainable goal are cut from the same cloth, but SMAT goals doesn’t have the same effect as SMART ones.

T: Timely. Make sure your goal has a start date, an end date, and a date for the milestones in between.

Can I throw in a C at the end for Celebrate? Make sure when you’ve accomplished your goal you make sure to enjoy it/throw it in everyone’s face!

* Am I showing my age here?

Related posts:

1. Goals should have CHUTZPAH, just like you!
2. Goals should wear SMARTY pants, just like you do!
3. 101 Goals in 1001 Days!

Tags: Voracious Vampire Slaying

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Gainful Goals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.