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The 8 Steps of Goal Setting

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Daniel Wood | CATEGORIES: self improvement

Everyone has at least one goal in life; To be rich, to be happy, to have a family, to be a CEO, to have that car or that house.

But not many have set their goals in writing with a deadline, to be exact about 2% of all adults have set their goals in writing.

The interesting fact is that those 2% make as much money as the other 98% put together. If you want to succeed, setting goals firmly in writing isn’t an option, it is a requirement.

The First time I set Goals

When I was 19 years old I was working for a very successful sales company. We were doing very well, but because of some senior employees leaving morale was a little low, the managers decided they were going to teach us to set our goals, which would make us motivated again.

We learned the step by step process for setting goals and followed them one by one.

For many it became a great source of motivation to see their goals in writing and to be able to see how their actions today were moving them towards their goals.

For me, it had the opposite effect, not that they didn’t motivate me, but I realized that the things I was doing weren’t moving me towards my goals.

I quit my job and started working with other things more in line with my dreams. The goal setting exercise had the wrong affect for my employer, but it changed my life for the better. With a focus I had never before experienced I started working on my goals and moving towards them faster and faster.

The 8 steps of goal setting:

1. Long term goals in all four major areas of your life.
The four areas are Family, Health, Career and Finance.  You need goals in all areas.

Imagine your life as perfect, as if you already had the perfect family situation, were in perfect shape, had your dream career and had accomplished your financial goals.

Write down those goals.

2. Short term goals in all four major areas of your life.
A short term goal is like a milestone on your way to what you are really striving for.  Generally they are about one year down the line, and they will help you follow your progress on your long term goals. Make sure the short term goals motivate you to work hard on their completion. Write down a short term goal in each area of your life.

3. Deadlines
Set a deadline for each goal – both short and long term. By what date do you want to have completed your goals?

4. Measurable
It is important that all your goals can be measured.  You need to know when you have succeeded. For example don’t write “I want a lot of money” instead set an exact figure “I want to have one million dollars” or “I want to win this competition”.

5. Write your goals in the positive, present tense and add your deadline.
Now, rewrite your goals.  Write them as if you had already completed them.
In other words “I have one million dollars”, instead of “I want one million dollars” and then add the deadline.  “I have one million dollars by the 31 of December 2014.”

This activates your subconscious mind to start pulling events and opportunities to you. It also helps you follow your progress and gives you a definite target.

6. Read your goals, listen to yourself, what do you feel?

Do you feel motivated to start working on your goals at once? Are you motivated to take action? If not, the goal isn’t worth your time. Go back and set one you really want.

7. Make plans for your goals completion
Write down how you plan to complete each goal.
For example:

“I have one million dollars by the 31 of December 2014. I have made this money by selling a company that does “this and that” and sells “this and that”. I will first start the company as a part time job until I have enough customers to start working full time. When that is achieved  I will ….” and so on until you have a comprehensive plan for the completion of the goal.

You will not get your plans right the first time

Every time you fail, go back to your plan and revise it. Use the knowledge you have acquired and make a new plan to take action on.

8. Put the paper somewhere you will see it every day.
Either tape it to your bathroom mirror or put it beside your bed. What is important is that you read it every morning and evening.

Conclusion

Goal setting can be a powerful source of motivation and it activates universal laws like the law of attraction.  It is a wonderful tool.

Try out this exercise and become one of the top 2% in the world.

I hope you liked this article and found it useful.

If you would like to read more from Daniel M. Wood you can find more at his blog Looking to Business.com. He has a free newsletter “Your Path to Your Dreams” which is an email course that will help you move quickly towards your goals, when you join you will even receive a free copy of his ebook “How to Make Selling Easy”!

Join Your Path to Your Dreams Today!

 

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Related Articles:

How To Increase Self Discipline

How To Motivate Yourself

  • Chetan

    Hi Daniel

    Enjoyed your one more post. Usually we find it easy to set goals like new year resolution ( with high energy ) but slowly loose the focus on goad and live routine life ( like used to live before ).

    I am sure detail step given by you will help to set goal as well as to keep track of the progress.

    Chetan

  • http://thespiritualskeptic.com Keri

    Thanks for writing this. Goal-setting is such an important skill that very few people learn. Personally, I feel like I’ve really started to get the hang of it the past year, but I have a ways to go.

    I’m a firm believer that each individual needs to find the methods that work for them. I’m on my way to finding out what works for me when it comes to goal-setting. I like separating out long- and short-term goals, and having a list of immediately actionable items.

    I like your eight steps here. I bookmarked them so I can try them out myself. Thanks for writing this! =)

  • jEN

    Good content, but this article reads like a carbon copy of Brian Tracy’s work on goal setting.

  • http://www.anthonybasich.com/ Anthony Basich

    I believe that you should set your goals from the long term right down to the current day. The smaller the steps are that you take, the more likely it is that you are going to get to your goal. In addition to Family, Health, Career and Finance, I would set Spiritual goals as well.

    Anthony

  • http://www.solobizcoach.com Fred Leo

    Great advice Daniel. If you don’t write long term goals down, you will rarely accomplish them. We are all so busy, and we get caught up in every day life. Unless you write down your goals and periodically review them, you will get off track.

  • jess

    how can you set a deadline on being happy? don’t get me wrong, setting goals in the context of getting jobs and earning money is a good way to achieve them, but you can’t plan out your whole life. so don’t even try.

  • http://www.practical-spiritual-healing-guide.com Rev Della

    I like your 8 steps of goal setting. I add a few more steps when I teach goal setting. The other steps I include are –

    Where are you now? This is important because it will determine whether you can believe that you will accomplish your goal.

    What skills/people/information do you need to achieve your goal? This helps you determine some areas where you need to acquire more resources.

    What are the benefits to you? It is really easy to quit once you come up against challenges on the way to your goal. When you hit the challenges, you can refer back to the reasons why you want to achieve the goal. This helps give you motivation to continue.

    What is one action step that you can take right now? It might be something as simple as making a phone call to get more information, but it is movement toward your goal.

    Make a decision never to quit — as long as it is still a goal, because goals can, and do, change.

  • http://hustlersnotebook.com Jk Allen

    Daniel,

    Great guest post man! Thanks for brining me over – this is my first time over here.

    You know, I used to always think that writing the goals down was the best method for me. But, I started writing goals down just to write them down, and not actually move them along. I would post my goals on the mirror, and in time, like anything else, the goals never stood out to me…I mentally blocked them.

    This year, I’ve taken a different approach. I do write down my goals, but then I break them down into smaller goals – so tha way I have something to checkout over time. Not only am I actively seeing my list of goals frequently, I’m updating it frequently as well.

    Thanks for sharing this awesome exercise. I appreciate the value you bring to the table man. this is one of my favs that you’ve produced.

    PEACE

  • http://www.goalsontrack.com Harry @ GoalsOnTrack

    Great article. For writing down goals really effective, it’s better to form a habit of writing it down DAILY.

  • http://ristruttura-casa.weebly.com/ giovanni

    Ciao, molto interessante il tuo blog. Complimenti , serio ed obbiettivo

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  • amresh

    i wrote your letter and ilike your suggest. in goal

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