Setting goals is not specifically set aside for corporate honchos and Olympic athletes. All of us need to be super focused in order to achieve success in our careers and personal lives. Unfortunately, due to the nature of our overstressed, overworked lives, we are not able to take the time to mark certain milestones that we would like to achieve or form a coherent strategy to reach these milestones. This kind of single minded focus can be learned through personal goal setting. Not only does an individual learn to set goals and work towards them, but the satisfaction that he receives when the goal is achieved successfully cannot be measured.
Personal Goal Setting: The Process
For the goal setting process to be effective, goals need to be broken down into major life-long goals and shorter day-to-day goals. The shorter goals act as stepping stones to accomplishing the larger goals. Similarly, the short-term goals can be further broken down to smaller goals that are easier to achieve. In this manner, you will be able to break down the larger goals into easier, day-to-day goals which will help the chances of achieving the larger more difficult goals.
Larger goals may have to do with your family, career, or the state of your finances. Personal goal setting can be as easy as taking a pen and a piece of paper and jotting down goals in different categories. For instance, a person may have family goals, professional goals and financial goals. Don't worry if this sounds complicated or seems like too much work, there are a number of personal goal setting programs that will help you obtain the skills necessary for defining your goals and focusing on them. Many of these personal goal setting programs include techniques and tricks used by some of the most successful people in the world who used these goal setting methods to focus on and achieve success.
How can Personal Goal Setting Help You?
Step back and take stock of your life objectively. Better still, put it down on paper. First, start with your career. Evaluate the level of satisfaction your job gives you and whether you are happy with it. If your job has not been able to give you a satisfactory standard of living or helped you plan for your children's college education, note these as desired goals. The techniques of personal goal setting will help you define these goals and draw up a plan to meet them.
Next, reflect on your family life and whether you have been able to achieve the sense of peace and security that only a happy family can give you. Again, be realistic and apply your own standards here - not the ones you see in the movies or read about in the magazines! A family HAS to be a place of comfort and retreat. If due to work or other reasons, you have neglected your loved ones leading to loneliness and emptiness in all your lives, personal goal setting can help draw up a targeted plan to achieve change.
Finally, reflect on personal relationships outside the family - Do you have at least one close friend that you can share life experiences with? Also, examine the state of your physical, mental and spiritual health. If these are stagnant, personal goal setting can help you bring more focus into these areas and, as a result, you will be able to achieve a truly well balanced, successful life.
