By: John E. Stone

The following guidelines will help you to set successful goals:

#1 Affirm each goal as a decisive statement: Express your goals positively - ‘Accomplish this method well’ is a much better goal than ‘Don’t make this ridiculous misstep.’

#2 Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can gauge achievement. If you do this, you will know precisely when you have achieved the goal, and can take thorough satisfaction from having achieved it.

#3 Set priorities: When you have several goals, give all a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to order your attention to the most significant ones.

#4 Write goals down: This solidifies them and gives them more strength.

#5 Keep operational goals minor: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too heavy, then it can seem that you are not making evolution towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Derive today’s goals from larger ones.

#6 Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take consideration to set goals over which you have as much rule as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your rule. In business, these could be bad business environments or unexpected effects of government policy. In sport, for instance, these reasons could include poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just simple bad luck. If you base your goals on personal accomplishment, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.

#7 Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can attain. All sorts of people, employers, parents, media, society can set out of reach goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. On the other hand you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much abilityyou need to develop to achieve a special level of performance.

Achieving Goals

When you have achieved a goal, take the time to benefit from the satisfaction of having done so. Soak up the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress you have made towards other goals. If the goal was a substantial one, treat yourself accordingly. All of this helps you manufacture the self-confidence you deserve!

With the knowledge of having achieved this goal, review the rest of your goal plans:

If you achieved the goal too effortlessly, make your next goals harder.

If the goal took a disappointing length of time to achieve, make the next goals a little easier.

If you learned something that would direct you to change other goals, do so.

If you noticed a insufficiency in your skills in spite of achieving the goal, come to a decision whether to set goals to mend this.
Failure to meet goals does not matter much, as long as you be taught from it. Feed lessons learned back into your goal setting program.

Remember too that your goals will vary as time goes on. Change them systematically to display growth in your education and experience, and if goals do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go.