One Minute Goal Setting - Making Attainable Goals Quickly

As a coach, I help people achieve their personal and professional goals. I find that many people are intimidated when it comes to setting goals. They've taken a seminar or read a book that made goal setting seem like a complicated process.

It isn't. Let me share with you a quick two-step process that will get you started on the way to achieving your goals. If you've got a minute in the morning, you've got all the time you need to map out your goal for the week.

Step One: Start every goal with "I want."

Simple, isn't it? What do you want? I want a new career. I want to lose 10 pounds. I want to start a business. I want more freedom. I want less stress. Every goal is an unmet need, an unfulfilled desire. Spend your first ten seconds asking yourself "What do I want?"

Step Two: Follow every "I want" with "I will."

You know where you want to go, spend the remaining 50 seconds choosing one thing you can do this week to get there. I want a new career so I will make a list of all the things I enjoy doing. I want to lose 10 pounds so I will take a 15 minute walk every day this week. I want to start a business so I will research the process to incorporate in my state.

Obviously, you won't lose 10 pounds by walking 15 minutes a day for a week but it will start you moving in the right direction. Achieving a goal takes momentum and nothing builds momentum like success. Walk 15 minutes a day this week and next week your goal may be, "I want to lose 10 pounds so I will walk 20 minutes every day this week."

Building on each success will motivate you to continue down the path to your long-term goal one short-term goal at a time. I see too many people stay right where they are because when they stop to map out their journey, the distance between where they are and where they want to be seems insurmountable.

Break down those seemingly impossible long-term goals into a series of steps and suddenly people realize they can do this. So the next time you think you don't have time for goals, try out my short and sweet system and see where it leads you. Every week, celebrate your progress and invest another minute in setting your goal for the week to come.

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. When will you take the first step to where you want to be?

Linda Crowder is the author of "Life Isn't Just Luck" and founder of Focus Forward, LLC. She provides virtual coaching to help individuals meet their personal and professional goals. For information on how personal coaching can help you, visit her website at http://www.focusforwardllc.net/Personal-Coaching.html

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A Few Secrets Behind Making Goals and Sticking to Them!

"Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a man who will make history. Give a man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk!" - J.C. Penney

We all have goals, but the question is do we keep them, achieve them, and maybe more importantly even start pursuing them?

In 1979, interviewers asked new graduates from the Harvard's MBA Program, this question, "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" Here's what they found:

- 84% had no specific goals at all 

- 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper 

- 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them

In 1989, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class. You can guess the results:

- The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. 

- Even more staggering-the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

Does this encourage you to write down your goals? Me, too!

BUT before you write down just any old goal, take time to think through these 5 steps to give you the greatest success with your goals.

Step 1. Identify your Vision & Craft SMART goals

Uncertainty is sabotage - be CLEAR about what you are going after.

Specific. What, where, and how will you accomplish this? Be distinct and define as much of the goal as possible. Clear and specific is what you are after, uncertainty is the ultimate sabotage of any goal.

Measurable. Describe how you will know if the goal is complete. Use numbers with dates attached to them to give yourself noticeable measures of achievement.

Accountable. Who will help you to stay on track with your goals? Make sure you are pulling in your cheerleader, coach, and counselor to be your support system.

Realistic. Are these goals realistic in relation to your reality?

Time Frame. How long do you have to complete these goals? I encouraged you to start with 6-month goal. Also short-term goals will allow you to track your progress along the way. This is a good opportunity to make adjustments and plan for increased success.

Step 2. Set Trigger goals - a behavior action step to get you to the goal.

Examples: Set out workout clothes the night before or take out a specific amount of money for your grocery outing.

Step 3. Set Improvement Goals - numbers with a date attached to them.

If you make 6 months goals, set a mini-goal for 3 months, so when you check in half way through you can tangibly see how you are progressing.

Step 4. Gather a tribe - people who will cheer you on!

You can't do it alone! There WILL BE days when you need your fan base, so be sure they are already in place!

Step 5. Script your setbacks - setting yourself up for the temptations.

You probably know the days, times, moments, when you are likely to cave and give up on your goals. Take yourself to that moment and decide ahead of time, how you will stick to your goal!

The idea isn't to spend lots of time planning and making perfect goals, (although I know this list can seem overwhelming), but know that an action point today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

And don't forget the wisdom from Harvard, WRITE YOUR GOALS down!

Happy Goal Writing, My Friends!

Brian Tracy says, "Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines."

In the meantime if you are having trouble crafting your goals, I want to help YOU...

Uncover your PURPOSE. Unlock your DREAMS. Discover your SIGNATURE SOUND. Go to the NEXT LEVEL. AND RELEASE your VOICE!

I would love to work with you to discover who you are and what you were made to do!

Go to http://www.mikaelakate.com to sign-up for a FREE coaching call and we can get started! Also don't forget to get my FREE eBook to begin Unlocking Your Dreams and living your destiny!

~ Mikaela Kate Schaefer

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SMART Goals: Goal Setting Tips :

In this month of November - before the holidays are in full swing - it is the perfect time to set goals for the new year! Take a moment and think about what you want to achieve in 2015. If you will do this and follow the practice below of making them SMART goals, when the new year rolls around, you will find that you are well on your way to achieving them!

A SMART goal is one that is the following:

Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, Timely,

So, write out your goals and then measure them against this acronym.

Ask yourself, is this goal Specific? The more specific your goal, the more likely you will be to achieve it. For example, having a goal of going on vacation is not as specific as having a goal to go on vacation at Disney World in Orlando, Florida in August.

Next ask yourself, is this goal Measurable? To measure a trip to Disney World, you might first find out how much the entire trip will cost, i.e., travel, hotel, admission. If you are saving for the trip, you would determine how much you would need to save each month for the next seven months (Jan-July). As the months progress, you can measure how close you are to reaching your goal by looking at how much you have saved.

The next question: is this goal is Action-oriented? A goal cannot just be a hope or a dream. It has to be something where you can take action. In our Disney World example, you can take action by saving the money for the cost of the trip, scheduling vacation time with your job, buying clothes for the trip, etc. 

Please note, this aspect of the acronym is something that you will revisit throughout the life of your goal. You will want to continually ask yourself, am I taking action to achieve this goal? If not, you've kicked your goal back into being a hope or a dream.

Next ask yourself, is this goal Realistic? Another way of saying this is whether the goal is attainable. For example, if you live in a country millions of miles away from Orlando, Florida and you are unemployed and you would have to travel hundreds of miles just to get to an airport, etc., a Disney World vacation may not be for you at the moment. 

You may not be able to attain this goal in seven months. Of course, faith supersedes natural law, so by all means follow the leading of the Spirit. I am the eternal optimist, but optimism, in my opinion, looks at the circumstances before ignoring them. Do the same with your goals.

Finally, ask yourself, is this goal Timely? You must set a time limit on your goals. Otherwise, they will be too vague and relegated to the hope/dream category. In our example, we've set August as our time limit for reaching the Disney Vacation goal. It is a clear target, which brings about the focus needed for reaching the goal. By the way, if you have humongous goals that seem really unattainable, set a target date anyway. 

You will always need something to aim toward and even if you don't reach the goal by the target date, you will be very close to reaching it! In our example, let's say, something comes up and you have to spend some of your vacation savings. Unfortunately, August rolls around and you don't have all the money. You do, however, have some of the money. So you can just move the target date until you have all of the money. You will notice in August that you are much closer to your Disney Vacation than you were in January.

So, follow these guidelines and set SMART goals. If you do, you will experience lots of success in life!

Gospel minister, Patricia D. Samuels, MA, teaches Christians how to win in life, utilizing principles found in the Word of God. GET HER FREE GIFT "Daily Prayer Confessions" at http://patriciasamuels.org and begin speaking success into existence in YOUR life!

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