Are You Setting the Right Goals for Yourself?

There is a lot more to goal setting than just picking a goal and moving forward.
While that is important, it�s also important to ensure that you are setting the
right goals at the right time so that you can truly be successful. In order to
ensure that you are setting the right goals for yourself, answer the following
questions:

Are You Setting Specific and Realistic Goals?

It takes a little research to ensure that a goal is realistic. If you�re not sure
if something is actually achievable then you�ve not done enough research. Once
you�ve set a goal that is indeed realistic, then you need to be specific enough in
your description of it so that it�s also easy to take the goal, and work backwards
to create a schedule of actions needed to succeed.

Are Your Goals Multifaceted?

Focusing on only one part of your life is a bad idea. People live multifaceted
lives and need to make goals for all areas of their lives in order to feel
successful. If you have a wonderful business and career but your personal life
suffers, then no matter how successful you are, you will not feel successful.
Something will always feel as if it�s missing from your life if your goals aren�t
inclusive. Therefore, make sure your goals include something from each aspect of
your life.

Is Your Scheduling Representative of Real Need?

Once you create the schedule for yourself to reach each goal that you�ve set, you
need to truly consider how representative it is of reality. Say your goal is to be
healthy and reduce your cholesterol by 10 percent in six months. But, you haven�t
set aside the time needed to exercise and eat right. If you don�t schedule in the
time needed, you won�t succeed because something will always be in your way taking
time away from you. It will be very frustrating to practice your schedule because
it doesn�t represent reality.

For instance, if you are going to exercise 30 minutes per day, setting aside only
30 minutes isn�t going to be realistic. You�ll probably need to set aside an hour
to account for getting ready as well as cooling down or getting cleaned up to go
back to work.

Are You Learning from Failure?

Many times when setting goals and
people give up. Using the example
the goals that you have set, when
take into account, don�t give up.
be more realistic.
schedules, instead of learning from failure,
above, once you implement your schedule to reach
you notice there are things you�ve forgotten to
Learn from the failure and change the schedule to

You might find that in practice you have to rewrite all your goals and your
schedule, but this is perfectly acceptable. Many people believe failure is
something negative, but the truth is, if you don�t fail sometimes you�re not going
to learn much and it�s likely your goals are too easy.

Do Your Goals Represent Your Needs and Wants or Someone Else�s?

A lot of people set goals that represent what someone else wants instead of what
they want. This can really cause a lot of bad feelings and resentment which can
derail the best laid plans. As you set your goals for your life, ask yourself if
they�re really what you want for yourself or what someone else wants for you. Ask
yourself if you�re okay with any goal you make being for someone else before you
embark on your journey.

It�s okay to do things because of someone else, but it�s important that you are
honest about that and make some goals for yourself too that don�t involve anyone
else�s needs or wants.

Are You Checking in Often to Stay on Track?

Schedules are very important to the success of reaching any goal in life. To do
lists pale in comparison to a well laid out calendar of tasks and activities that
get you from point �A� to point �B�. Ensure that you look at your schedule every
morning and every night and note when you succeed on sticking to your schedule and
where you don�t. Noticing a pattern of activity can be helpful in fixing a poorly
written schedule as well as staying realistic about whether or not you�re sticking
to the plan.

Are Your Goals Focused Positively?

When writing a goal it�s important to write them in a positive way, or at least a
way that feels positive to you. In the quest to improve your life, try writing down
a goal and then changing the words to sound more positive to see if it isn�t more
motivating. For instance, �losing weight� seems like a good goal, but for some
people it might signify deprivation. So instead, the person might frame the goal as
�improving my BMI by 10 points� or �improving my cholesterol by 10 percent.�

Do You Have Too Many Goals Set at One Time?

Just as setting too few goals can be a problem, so can setting too many. Everyone
has a personal life and a career life and points in between. If you have set goals
in too many areas of life at once, you might tire yourself out and get overwhelmed.
Instead pick one personal goal, and one other type of goal to focus on until you
reach them, and then you can add more goals as time goes on. You don�t need to do
everything today. Slow and steady wins the race is a good motto to hang on to.

Setting the right goals for yourself takes some thought and consideration. Don�t
try to set all your goals in one day - instead, set some goals in different stages
and in different areas of your life and give a lot of thought to why you�re making
the goal in the first place.