Goal Setting Time Again

Every year my husband has to create his goals for the year to come.

He doesn't get a raise based on it.

He doesn't get evaluated (not really anyway) on it.

He doesn't even have to follow up during the year on it…. At least not as long as he puts in new and unique goals from the year before.

I always know when it is time for him to set his goals, because he huffs and puffs his way to his computer, he huffs and puffs as he tries to find the file, and he huffs and puffs when he realizes how FEW of the past goals he actually achieved.

Then, when he's done huffing and puffing and questioning why he didn't get these things accomplished and he's finished moping and feeling sorry for himself he turns on the hockey game and has a nap.

And he wonders why he didn't meet his goals.

To me, the question is always the same, why are you setting goals if you have no intention of meeting them?

His answer: "Because my boss wants them".

A couple of years ago I had a fantastic calendar. I only found it one year, and I really wanted another one – the calendar was a goal setting calendar – and every month there were some prompts for you to fill in goals based on the monthly theme. Some months there were personal goals, health goals, family goals – and of course business goals. I loved this tool. It had little flower stickers for you to put on the calendar when you met a goal and it really helped to get me organized.

Top that off with the ability to let me see where I was wasting my time, and it really helped me cut out some of the tasks I didn't really need to do or maybe didn't need to put on the calendar. (I also had a chance to see that I didn't spend nearly enough time on ME.)

Here are some simple tips to assist in Setting and Achieving Goals

• Create simple goals that have a probable end. Open ended goals that have no end are very difficult to achieve. For example: improve my driving…does that mean parallel parking, not following too closely, not driving too quickly…
  If we create a more manageable and measurable goal it is easier to meet and stroke off the list.
  
  • Practice parallel parking twice a week for three weeks þ and be able to parallel park my car on the first attempt.
    

    My mom always said practice makes perfect. If I practice the task I won't get rust and I will improve. It is now measurable as well because we specify ONE attempt (not the ten like on Canada's Worst Driver).
    

• Keep your goals in sight. If, like my husband, you make a list of goals and then don't follow up on them you will never achieve them. Although they are in the very back recesses of his mind, he doesn't visit them more than once per year.
  
  • Place your goals on a sheet of paper (sticky notes work too) and keep them on your bulletin board or in your day timer. Keeping the goals in view helps you see what you wanted to achieve so that you are able to analyze why you are or are not achieving them.
    
• Create 3 lists for goals…Short Term, Middle Term and Long Term. Short term goals are things that you would like to achieve in the next 3 months. Middle term goals are goals that can be achieved in the next 6-9 months and long term goals are those that may take up to or over a year to accomplish.
  
• Measure your success. Put happy faces, stickers or other items on the goals you have met. Seeing your successes in small manageable chunks makes it much easier to finish tasks that may have been on your list for quite some time.
  
• Revisit your goals on a regular basis. Your life changes all the time. You make decisions that affect other things in your life. If you get a new job doing something in a completely different field, then the goal to learn the new software at work isn't required anymore so take it off your list.
  
  • Edit the list of goals to ensure they are still appropriate for you. You may want to change the way your success is measured, you might want to add or delete goals.
    
• Don't be discouraged if a goal you think is a short term goal takes longer to achieve. If goals were easy to attain we wouldn't need them. Some goals may take longer to achieve then others…try to be OK with that!
  

The more you see the goals, and work with them the more attention you pay to getting those goals off your list of things to do!