Personal Growth – Goal setting

With the start of 2009, many of you are setting your goals for the coming year. For some, this is relatively easy, for others it seems like a daunting challenge. A wise and timely adage bears repeating here. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So… how do you go about assessing your life and setting your goals for the coming year?

It is Sunday morning and I’m going through this myself. One of the techniques I like best is to compartmentalize your life, and then look at each area individually. The areas I use are:

  1. Quality of Life (Hobbies & Interests)
  2. Physical
  3. Spiritual
  4. Work
  5. Finances
  6. Relationships
  7. Worldly Impact (Am I impacting the world in a positive way… giving back)

Take each area and rate yourself on a scale of 1-5 (5 being completely satisfied). Starting with the area with the lowest number, ask yourself, what do I need to do in the next 90 days (the goal) to move ONE notch up the scale. Remember… goals should be SMART… (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Framed).

Now, take one or two of these, and focus on achieving them over the next 90 days. When completed, move on to the next two. Keep going throughout the year.

Sounds simple doesn’t it. So why don’t more people achieve thier goals? I saw Lindsay Lohan giving some bad advice as I was channel surfing the other night. Basically she said no one ever achieves their goals and all it does it makes them feel guilty. So why bother? She advocated being happy and living life in the moment. No wonder why she has so many problems. She has a point though. Why don’t more people achieve their goals?

It is not lack of commitment, as most of you are probably thinking. It is a lack of belief. If you are having trouble achieving your goals – ask yourself… what do I have a hard time believing. What is preventing me from believing that I can really achieve my goal. Then the hard question… why??

Best of luck… remember… there is no try. Just “do”.

All the best
All the time
JT