Good Personal Goals - Goal For Success

The following are guidelines to set good personal goals. They will help you learn how to set goals in life and how to achieve goals. The importance of setting goals can not be overstated.

Find out the three questions that are critical in setting personal goals and career goals, and find out how to stay motivated, and when to set your goals. There are many different approaches in setting appropriate, and attainable personal goals.

Some people suggest that you make a list of all your wishes. Then, pick out the most desirable one, and set your goal to achieve that one wish.

Other people suggest you should categorize goals for all areas of your life: for example, career, family, financial, leisure, educational. You then set goals for each category. I would caution you in using this method initially because it may result in setting so many goals that you find yourself becoming overwhelmed.

Other people suggest picturing how you want your life to look in 10 years, and then set your goals accordingly. This method can work as long as you break the long-term goals into a series of smaller ones.

While all of these suggestions have merit, you must be careful not to set goals that are too numerous, or too complex, so that you become overwhelmed, and end up accomplishing none of them. Like anything else, you learn to do, start by keeping it straightforward and simple.

As you learn by achieving actual results, you can expand the number of goals, the complexity, the time frames, and your horizons.

The best way I have found to determine my goals is to ask myself a couple of very simple questions. The first and most obvious question is, ?what do I want?? I have tried different methods, but the one that seems to work best for me is shown below.

Just Answer Three Questions.

On a separate piece of paper, answer these three questions:

First question: What three things would I like to achieve in the next five years? Make sure your list of long-term goals that you list as answers are specific and measurable.

The second question: in my opinion, is the key to successful goal attainment: Where am I today concerning my three goals, and what actions do I need to take to get me from where I am today to where I want to be? The answer to this question will help you determine what steps you need to take to reach your goal.

The third question: What is the time frame required to complete each action step? Putting time frames for each action step allows you to monitor your progress, and helps to keep you on track

How To Stay Motivated in Attaining Your Personal Goals

There will be times when you get discouraged or start to doubt yourself as you work towards attaining your goals. The best way to overcome these feelings is to go back to the reason you set your goal in the first place. Then, visualize how you will feel once your goal is achieved.

Think of each benefit your achievement will mean to you, and how your life will positively change. Write down each benefit and post them in an area where you will see them every day; this will help you to remain dedicated to the achievement of your goal.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I felt discouraged, and doubted my abilities when I started writing. A couple of times, I almost had myself convinced my writing was inadequate, that no one would benefit from what I wrote, and that no one would ever buy it.

At this critical point, I stopped and visualized how I would feel when my published book helped people realize their dreams.

The satisfaction of knowing I was able to help other people motivated me. I was also inspired by the freedom and ability to be able to write. Developing effective writing skills has been a lifelong goal and one with which I have struggled for years. For me, being a successful author would give me great satisfaction.

When you feel discouraged, stop, step back, and think about why you originally set your goal. Remind yourself of the significant difference attaining your desires will make in your life. Then, move forward with an “I can do it!” attitude.

Another thing that I found helpful to keep self-doubts at bay was to talk to my best friend about my feelings. This is a person with whom I had shared my goals, a person who encouraged and supported me when I felt discouraged. Just talking to my friend about my concerns motivated me to keep going.

Once you set your goals, share them with someone who will support you, and who will be there when you need to talk.

And, of course, what has always helped me has been to read inspirational books or motivational quotes. Reading about the author of the quote inspired me. After reading about how many of them overcame great odds or obstacles before they were successful, I knew if they could do it, I could too.

Don't let you, defeat you. You will have enough challenges along the way without engaging in self-defeating thoughts. Be persistent, be determined, be dedicated, and be a winner.

You can accomplish whatever your mind can see!

“Accomplishments will prove to be a journey, not a destination.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

When Should I Set Personal Goals?

To set goals properly, you need to be able to sit and think. Find a time and place where you are free of all distractions. Schedule ample time for yourself so you won’t be distracted by other demands. Plan to set your personal goals today, not tomorrow, or next week.

These are the most common reasons I hear for not setting goals:

I’m too old
I’m too young
I don’t have time
Goals don’t work
I like to be flexible

In my opinion, all the above reasons are simply excuses! For some people, it is much easier to find an excuse than to take action. One of my greatest challenges is to help people who whine and complain about what they don't have, yet who take no action to acquire more for themselves. They act as if the world owes them.

I’m too old

What is old? Amazingly, I hear this excuse not just from 60-year-olds, but sadly, also from 30-year-olds. My firm belief is that no matter who you are, or how old you are, you will age well beyond your years without having goals.

Many older people still set goals, achieve them, and then set new ones. I believe that they will live longer because they have a purpose.

I’m too young

The best time to set goals is when you are young. The younger you start to set goals, the more you can achieve. I work with a woman whose nephew started to set specific goals for himself at the age of 15.

Today, at age 25, he drives a very expensive car, has a university degree, and has a high-paying position in the field he desired. He did not realize his accomplishments without setting his goals, being committed, and taking action.

I don’t have time

When I hear people say they don’t have time, I have to laugh in dismay. Imagine anyone who says they don’t have time to set goals, to plan their life. It’s like saying you have no goals in life. These people usually accomplish very little because they are not focused.

I told one of my relatives that I was writing this book. He replied by saying he would also like to write a book, but he didn’t have the time. It was not a lack of time that was the problem; it was a lack of commitment.

It is amazing where you can free up time. When I was writing my first book, I had an extremely demanding full-time job, two teenagers, and a husband with who I wanted to spend time.

I found time to work on my book by getting up one hour earlier each morning. I also found time by working on my book during lunch. I could have very easily used the excuse that I didn’t have time.

Time is one commodity we all have in common. What makes us different, however, is how we use it. The secret to achieving goals is to take one step at a time over and over again. You do not have to accomplish your desires all in one week, one month, or one year.

Break your action steps into small pieces with realistic time frames for each one. In this way, you will eliminate the self-imposed frustration of not accomplishing what you want quickly enough.

Goals don’t work

I am always amazed at people who have never set goals, yet know so much about how goals don’t work.

The possibility of failing, or what some people perceive as being unsuccessful, is as good an excuse as any to adopt for goals not working. But, a person’s commitment and perseverance will determine if their goal will be achieved or not.

Your attitude determines so much. If you truly believe that goals are not a waste of time, then you will find that they will help you achieve what you desire. As Napoleon Hill said so well in his book, Think and Grow Rich, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.”

The same applies to the opposite thinking. If you think a list ofÂ life goals will not help you succeed, then you are right, they will not. Your thinking has already defeated you in achieving success.

I like to be flexible

An action plan that helps you to achieve your goals should also be flexible. It should never be carved in stone. As you begin to implement each part of your action plan, you will obtain experience that may alter your overall action plan. That’s okay, change your action plan, alter it. Don’t carve your plan in stone.

One of my early steps in my action plan to write required that I write my interpretation and thoughts based on quotes from famous or historical figures for every day of the year.

Once I started working on that book, however, it became very obvious that to continue with this step would create a book that was far too large.

So, I altered my action plan by only writing my comments and thoughts for one quote out of every three. If I had decided not to consider this change, the book would have been too costly to print, and ultimately, left unpublished. An action plan needs to be flexible.

Don’t allow excuses to stop you from setting your goal and action plan to achieve what YOU want.

Make time to set your goals and action plans today!

As Yogi Berra once said, “Goals are different than dreams. Goals have a time limit and an action plan; dreams don’t.”

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