A Simple System for Realistic Goal Setting

We’ve all heard that setting goals is an essential ingredient in personal and business success. Goal setting is deceptive in that it appears to be simple — you set an objective (something that you want to accomplish) and set a time for its completion. You rough out a plan to achieve the goal and periodically review your progress to determine if and when the goal will be achieved.

The reason I mention goal setting can be deceptive in its apparent ease is because the idea of mapping out a plan to achieve a goal is rarely as simple as it sounds. First off, most of the time we fail to establish a realistic goal. Also, we fall into the habit of setting a goal with only a vague idea of when it will be accomplished. We are always excited to make a decision to reach a goal however most often we lose sight or motivation and failure is the result.

Let me help you set up a system for realistic goal setting. First off, please be realistic when setting a goal. You have to understand your own skills and resources. You have to have the time and motivation. Is it realistic to set a goal to make $10,000 per month working from home when you’re currently working 50 hours a week at a job that you commute to? It’s probably more realistic to set a goal of making $500 a month under that circumstance. Once that goal is achieved, then a new goal to increase the earnings can be set. The point here is that you have to be realistic in order to achieve success. When success is achieved that feeling of fulfillment will lead to further success.

Once you’ve determined a goal that is realistic and achievable, the next step in the process is to break the goal into chunks. Ask yourself what steps have to be taken in order to reach the ultimate result. As one step have to be achieved before the next step can be taken? In other words, create a map for your journey towards the accomplishment of the goal. Be sure to set realistic time frames for each step in the process.

Be sure to schedule a regular time every week to review your progress towards the goal. Even if you’re the only person involved be sure to be formal in your goal review. This is critical to your success. By setting up a time to review your goal and your progress towards it you can make changes to your steps and changes to your time frame to help you stay on track. Invariably, something will come up that will impact on your progress. This is a normal part of life.

One of the biggest mistakes achievers make that causes them to fail in their goal is making the process too complicated. Don’t create a goal management process is more complicated than it needs to be. Simplicity is the key here. For some of my goals I simply keep a list on a yellow pad and cross off each step as it is accomplished and make modifications or rewrite the list as changes occur. I found this to be a very simple process.

An added benefit to goal setting is to review the process you used to achieve the goal. I reviewing the process and being objective in its evaluation you can make your goals easier to achieve with less time and effort.

Goal setting is an exciting aspect to life and provides us with many rewards both financially and personally. If you approach it as a holistic process that can be continually improved you will make goal setting that much more fun and realistic for yourself. This will result in a far happier financial and spiritual life.