Personal Goals Achievement

Are you feeling motivated to set some strong goals for this year? Write down those New Year’s resolutions and get going, right? Most people write down lofty resolutions that they think they should want and rarely stick to them, losing motivation and focus within three weeks of their “good intentions.”

This is a brand new year of limitless possibilities. Do you want to:

Increase your income?
Write a book?
Attract a relationship?
Start a new business?
Become a professional speaker?
Have more personal time?
Take a really great vacation?

I’ve got a gut feeling it’s going to be a GREAT year, a BIG SUCCESS year. So, forget writing down resolutions. They don’t work. In fact, the whole idea doesn’t really inspire action. So, let’s change that.

Start thinking about 3-5 things you want, really want for yourself this year. Not what you should want, or what you think would please others. Dream a little. Think big. What are you passionate about? Entertain several ideas that make you smile, excite you, make you giggle, make you feel really good inside, no holds barred. Remove all mental barriers to holding these ideas clearly in your mind.

Now, put your attention fully on one of the things you want for yourself this year. Visualize and see yourself already there, living it! Creative visialization is a powerful tool of attraction.Our minds cannot tell the difference between something real and something intensely imagined. Hold that picture in your mind. (Do this daily!)

Does this picture excite you – make you want to have it?

How would your life change if you got (achieved) this one thing you really want?

What would you have in your life that you don’t have now?

Now, the next step is very important. You must decide to go for it. Choose to have what you really want NOW, not someday or tomorrow. NOW. Say YES to yourself instead of saying no. Making the decision fuels your intent to take action.

3 Tips to Get on Track

1. On paper, clearly describe the 3-5 things you really want. I suggest using statements beginning with the phrase ” I intend to” vs. I want, I hope for, I wish to, I’d like, I desire etc. (too wishy-washy). Taking a stand with strong definitive statements reflects your commitment to succeed. (This first step is important in creating your road map to achieving your goals. If you don’t define the results you want, how do you know where you’re going?). Feel like being creative? Make a collage or dream board for a visual aid in keeping your focus.

2. Moving forward, break down your action steps into smaller steps over a shorter time period like 30 days. For example: your goal is to increase your income, your first step may be to explore options to generate more money. Another step may be to look at your skills and talents for further ideas. A third step may be choosing something you have always wanted to do, something that you love that has the potential for additional income. Maybe it’s a total change of career. The first month may be devoted to doing research and personal exploration.

3. Identify potential obstacles and struggles that could prevent you from reaching your goals. Develop strategies to keep yourself motivated and focused such as reading and listening to positive materials, surrounding yourself with encouraging, uplifting people, joining a mastermind group. HIRE A COACH! Note: let go of using the “money excuse” that you can’t afford to get what you want. Invest in your success. It costs money to make money. How much do you think NO is costing you to stay where you are?

5 Tips to Stay on Track

1. Resolve unfinished business. Either clear the past ( make apolgies, speak your mind, forgive someone or yourself) and let it go.

2. Stay strong if you’re feeling FEAR. Bring your attention back to the present. Fear creates uncertainty, worrisome and anxiety producing thoughts. (“What if” thinking, Am I going to be okay?) Fear looks at the future and worse case scenarios. Focus on past successes for confidence.

3. Eliminate negativity. Notice the chatter in your head. How do your emotions speak to you inside? What you think affects how you view a situation. Ever heard the phrase self-fulfilling prophecy? Your viewpoint affects your decisions and actions; therefore your attitude directly affects the outcome. Take a look at the people you associate with. Are they uplifting or do they bring you down? Be selective about who you’re with, being around consistently negative or fearful people is draining and disheartening.

4. Keep up your self-care. Taking good care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually is a key factor in staying strong and focused under pressure.

5. Celebrate along the way. Taking the time to recognize measurable successes motivates continual commitment to your goals.

“The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.” Jim Rohn

Managing your money wisely is the best way to make sure you and your family gain financial security. Money management is also extremely important if you own a business. All business owners need to understand how money comes in and goes out of their business-if you ignore budgeting details, your venture might not be successful. There are many similarities between budgeting for yourself and budgeting for your small business. When you understand the basics of money management for yourself, you will be more prepared to set up a budget for your company.

To manage your money wisely, start by setting financial goals and establishing a budget plan to help you achieve those goals. Financial goals are simply statements about things you wish you could afford; for example, you may have a goal to establish an emergency savings fund of $2,000 by the end of the year.

What are your personal financial goals? If you had $2,000, what would you do with it? Would you invest it in your small business? Would you buy a car? Would you make a home improvement?

You will be able to accomplish your goals if you manage your finances and put money aside on a regular basis. The key is to setting financial goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Trackable (SMART):

Specific. State exactly what you want to achieve, how you’re going to do it, and when you want to achieve it. For example:

General Goal Statement: I want to improve my finances.

Specific Goal Statement: I want to pay off my credit card bill in 8 months by negotiating a payment plan with my creditor.

Measurable. A financial goal should be measurable so you know when you have achieved it.

General Financial Goal Statement: I will pay off most of my credit card debt soon.
Measurable Goal Statement: In the next six months, I will pay three of my five credit card bills in full.

Attainable. Make sure the financial goal is within reasonable reach.

General Goal Statement: I will save money.

Attainable Goal Statement: I will save $1,000 in a year by putting aside $3 each day.

Realistic. Is the economic goal realistic for you? Don’t ignore your limitations. Your economic goals need to be tasks that you can reasonably accomplish.

General Goal Statement: By managing my money well, next year I will become a millionaire.

Realistic Goal Statement: By managing my money well, next year I will be debt free and will have an emergency fund equal to three months of living expenses.

Trackable. Being able to track your progress encourages you to keep going and reach your fiscal goal.

General Fiscal Goal Statement: I will increase my savings goal every year.

Trackable Statement: Each year I will save 10 percent more money than the previous year.

If you are SMART about setting financial goals, you will be well on your way to managing your money in a way that will provide financial security for you and your family for years to come.

Every business talks of goals. No business can run without goals and no business can achieve anything without goals. The goals give direction to the business about where to head and what to achieve. Therefore for every business, goals are most important. Generally businesses set SMART Goals – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. What about our personal goals in career and work? Are we to follow the goals of the organization and try to achieve them or set some more for ourselves that help us in our personal growth. What about having satisfying goals for ourselves? Let us discuss this further.

As a member of a business organization, all of us have to try and achieve the larger goals of the organization. That is true even for self run businesses. But can we reach the goals of business in a way that helps us achieve our own satisfying goals? We can. Let us see how? In the beginning, decide about what gives you satisfaction in your career. It can be – to learn something new every month, or to increase efficiency of ones work every month, or to work in a relaxed manner always, and so on. Each one of us will have his/her goal that satisfies ourself. So you will have to draw a list of goals that are desirable for your satisfaction and try to achieve them one after another.

For example, my first satisfying goal can be that I learn something new every month this year. I may be handling any work, but I want to learn something new about that work every month. That will make me feel personally satisfied. How do I do that? I can work on my given job, try and achieve my business goals and learn something new along with that. This new learning can also help me achieve business goals in time. Now if my organization makes and sells detergents, I will not only achieve the goals on quantity of sales but also about how as a sales person I learn one more sales method every month (This provided I am working as a sales person).

Setting my own satisfying goals and achieving them will not only make me happy and more confident but also make me move along faster in my career. Many of us are centered only on organization goals. Once we add our own satisfying goals to them we will be moving much faster in all the directions. Trying to achieve personal goals can also help remove lot of frustration and if a management can discuss satisfying goals for every employee and guide him/her about achieving them, the organization will have more of satisfied employees. The only care to be taken is that satisfying goals should help achieve business goals and not distract from them. So start defining your satisfying goals from today.

It has been said that 60-80% of New Year’s resolutions will be broken within the first two weeks. In other words, a lot of people have a hard time making the changes in their life they want to make. So you are not alone. Personally, I am not a huge advocate of New Year’s resolutions because I believe in setting and achieving personal goals all year around. That being said, I wanted to share with you the top ten ways to increase the likelihood for success with achieving your goals.

1. Stick to 1 or 2 important goals.

Having a laundry list of all the things you would like to change in your life can be overwhelming. Your chances for success are much higher if you stick to 1 or 2 of your most important goals. This allows you to concentrate all your energy and focus on these goals. Once you achieve those goals, you can always set 1 or 2 more.

2. Be realistic.

It’s okay to think big and want the best, but it is more important to succeed, so be realistic. Ask yourself whether or not your goals are reasonable and possible. It is probably not realistic to set the goal of never yelling at your kids again. How will you feel about your resolution when your children test you on a very bad day and you yell? Certainly one can cut back on yelling and work to find alternative ways to deal with misbehavior, but an all or nothing attitude may set you up for failure, and feeling like you’ve failed can set you up for more failure. Instead, accept and honor your humanness.

3. Be specific.

Be as specific as possible when determining goals. Articulate how you will measure success and exactly what you are trying to achieve. Setting a goal to lose weight is too general. A better choice would be to set a specific and manageable goal. For example say, “I will lose 25 pounds by June 30, 2005.” Be specific when answering the what, when and how.

4. Connect to your motivation for achieving your goal.

Why do you want to achieve this goal? Why now? Make sure your motivation comes from your heart, and not from your head. In other words, your goal should be something you really desire, and not something you know you SHOULD do. Really connect to why this is so important to you. Pay attention to whether or not you are being driven by fear or love. Beware of setting goals based on what someone else in your life thinks you should do. Your resolutions should come from your authentic self.

5. Examine your belief in your ability to achieve this goal.

What do you believe about your ability to achieve your goals? If you have tried to reach the same goal many times before without much success, your confidence could be wavering. You could be feeding yourself negative messages without even realizing it. Be conscious about positive thinking. Remind yourself that you are capable of doing anything you set your heart to. Tell yourself every day that you have the ability to take the steps it will take to reach your goal.

6. Create a detailed plan to achieve your goal.

Let’s say your goal is to eliminate the clutter in your home. But how will you start when the clutter is overwhelming? It may be helpful to break large goals into intermediate, manageable steps. Make a list of each area you need to tackle. Then break each area into even smaller segments that can be tackled easily. For instance, set time aside to clean out old clothes, then to organize sweaters, then to throw out old shoes, and finally arrange clothing by color or type. Don’t forget to specify a time limit for accomplishing each of the smaller steps. Before you know it, the larger goal will have been met.

7. Recognize that you may encounter obstacles.

Most people give up on their goals because they run into some type of obstacle along the way. Obstacles can be internal or external. Examples of internal obstacles include negative self-talk, limiting beliefs and discipline issues. Some external obstacles are the lack of time, money or resources. Know in advance what hurdles you may have to conquer.

8. Identify a plan of action to overcome obstacles.

If you are trying to give up chocolate (I would never try this!), what are you going to do when you get a craving for chocolate, or when all your friends are chowing down on chocolate cake? Maybe your plan would be to carry a sweet substitute with you at all times. Or perhaps you could involve yourself in a fun activity when the urge strikes. If your obstacles are tougher and you need more support, consider hiring a life coach to help you work through your blocks.

9. Enlist the support of an accountability partner.

As you work towards your goals, it can be very helpful to have someone in your life to be your support partner. Consider asking your partner or friend to help you stick to the goals you have set. Use this person when you are struggling and set up a plan to check in regularly with him/her. As a coach, I have the privilege of trading coaching services with my peers. My coach helps me achieve my goals, overcome any obstacles, and celebrate my success.

10. Celebrate success along the way.

One of the most important things you can do for yourself is celebrate your small successes as you work towards your larger goals. Don’t wait until the end to reward yourself. You deserve to be recognized for your efforts and your commitment, especially when your goals take a long time to achieve. If you don’t celebrate on your journey, you will lose your motivation. So celebrate, celebrate, and celebrate!

Achieving your goals can be tough work sometimes, but it is also very rewarding. If you fall off your path, remember you can always get back on. It’s okay to take a few detours. It’s also okay to take a break to rest. Don’t beat yourself up or give up hope. Start again where you fell down and before you know it, you will be a pro at accomplishing your goals.

Of course, it’s only human nature to think and aspire the best for themselves. Setting personal goals is good and makes us more disciplined so that we can identify and zero in on what we really aim for. Well, it’s not only at the beginning of a year (creating New Year’s Resolutions—only to break …

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The Effortless Guide To Setting Personal Goals