Smart Goals – Setting Your Goals
As a New Year comes in, we all begin to think about our goals. Unfortunately, as the year progresses goals are often lost in the hustle and bustle of our lives.
Could it be that we’re simply not setting “smart goals”? Possibly.
We tend to set big goals, attainable, but big. When you set a big goal, it’s important to set a smaller structure of goals.
Our minds can be easily overwhelemed when we think of our big goals. Big goals may be quitting smoking, moving into a bigger house, increasing company revenue and other goals that are not generally attained with just one or two steps.
If we break big goals down into little goals that will bring about the success of our big goal, our minds don’t feel so overwhelmed. You could call it a ‘plan’ but people generally get more satisfaction when they feel they’ve accomplished a goal, even if it is a small one.
Big obstacles broken down into small obstacles appear easier to achieve. They don’t seem to tire our mind out trying to wrap itself around something that sometimes can simply seem impossible.
If a goal may take months or even a year, many people will give up long before many, if any, of the smaller steps involved are accomplished if they haven’t set ’smart goals’.
We’ve all heard of using a picture that reflects our goal and placing it somewhere that we will frequently see it to motivate us. It works. Many people have achieved their success utilizing this method. But it becomes an even more successful method when we couple it with daily or weekly goals.
Studies show that having a deadline in place renders more achievements. Set deadlines on goals and attach pictures, or even written words, with each deadline and not just the final outcome.
If someone wants to quit smoking, have them set a daily or weekly deadline for themselves. Maybe use a calendar, even a makeshift one, that includes each daily or weekly goal/deadline and utilize a picture that reflects progress. Maybe find pictures that show the effect on the lungs of quitting smoking for a week, two weeks, one month, two months, etc. Then a person can visualize their body healing itself as they reach each goal.
Negative pictures can have just as much of an impact, if not more in certain situations, as positive pictures. Consider attaching pictures of what an active smoker’s lungs look like along with the improving lung pictures. Sometimes, the ‘gross’ or ’scare’ tactic can have great impact. Couple that tactic with the person seeing the alternative, of their lungs improving, and achieving their small goals and you will likely see progression to finish.
You could even go so far as for the person to paste a picture of themselves into a picture with a coffin on it with their beloved kids, parents, friends and family members standing around it. Yes, it sounds very morbid, but impactful. Every time they feel like breaking their goals, they can take a look at that picture and decide for themselves if they want to continue on to an early, self-inflicted journey to their passing.
This method can be utilized for any goal. We have to be creative so that we can keep our mind stimulated.
People will sometimes try to avoid negative outcomes before they will work hard toward positive outcomes. So reversing the method of using the picture of a sunny beach or utilizing it hand-in-hand with the negative picture can oftentimes be more successful for the harder-to-motivate person.
When setting your goals, or your client’s goals, set smart goals and be creative. Ensure they are consistently reminded not only of the good that accomplishing their goals will bring to their life but what the failure of those goals will bring as well.
If it’s a new house they want, have them use not only a picture of their dream house, but also a picture of their existing house so that they can consistently compare the results.
The same for if they want to make more money. Or if they want to attain a new skill. Have them consistently see what will happen not only if they achieve their goal, but what will happen if they don’t.
And again, set smart goals, small goals that are steps to the bigger goal and a vision of the accomplishment, or non-accomplishment of each small goal.
If we only think ‘hey, if I accomplish this I’ll have a bigger house, or more money’ it’s too easy for the mind to ditch it and settle because the impact of not reaching the goal isn’t vivid enough.
We have to consistently take new approaches, even if some aren’t so pleasant, to ensure success. Reaching success isn’t all roses and daffodils and pretending that it is could be a set-up for failure.
Karen J. for ProfessionalCoaches.com
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