“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential.”
Russell M. Nelson
This past weekend I was asked to teach a class about achieving goals. I felt a little inadequate and certainly nervous but went ahead and taught the course. I was surprised by the responses I received. People were thrilled by what they had learned, and in turn I was thrilled to know they actually learned something and found value in what I was teaching. The main points of my lesson centered around 4 steps needed to accomplish goals. I believe if we follow these four steps, success will come in only a matter of time.
#1 Write them down
I’ve heard that only 50% of people who claim to have goals in life actually write them down—yet those who write them down are 10 times more likely to accomplish them. Thus, the simple act of writing down our goals can go a long way in helping us achieve them.
#2 Plan
When setting goals, we must take time to plan. Are the goals we are setting realistic meaning we will be able to dedicate the appropriate amount of time to achieving them? For example, I once had a goal to improve a skill so I set a goal of practicing that skill one hour every day. Soon, I realized though that this goal was unrealistic. On Wednesdays I was booked my entire day with other obligations thus rendering it nearly impossible to accomplish my one hour for that day. This was poor planning on my part. At that point, I realized that if I only slightly altered my goal to practice 30 hours a month rather than one hour a day, I could be successful! I was able to make up for lost times on days that I had more time to dedicate to developing this skill. Rather than fail, with this new plan, I was able to accomplish the goal.
Let me give you another example on the importance of planning. Let’s say my goal is to exercise 45 minutes a day. To plan properly and to improve my chances of success, I should determine at what time each day I could commit myself to achieving this goal. Looking at my schedule perhaps I could set aside 8pm to 9pm each day as my time to dedicate myself to accomplishing this goal. Our lives are busy and failing to plan for the appropriate time, steps, or actions needed to accomplish our goals will lead us to failure. Thus, developing a plan from the get go will help us accomplish them!
#3 Review them Daily
How many times do we set goals, write them down, and then leave them where they will never be seen again? I know I’ve been guilty of this in the past. So, if we want to achieve our goal, we must review them daily!
#4 Measure Progress
This is perhaps the most valuable step for me. We must measure our progress toward achieving our goals daily. To do this, we must have a measurement tool we use that tells us how we are doing. I’ve become very proficient at developing my own measurement tools using Excel Spreadsheets based on my goals. These spreadsheets help me track my progress and give me a snap shot of how much further I have to go to get there. I believe utilizing an effective measurement tool to keep track of our progress toward accomplishing a goal is critical to success. (If you’d like more information or would like to see some examples of the measurement tools I’ve used, please contact me at burntham@gmail.com)
Though in much less detail than my class, this gives you an idea of my four steps to achieving goals. Nothing new per say and certainly nothing extraordinary, but I know that following these 4 simple steps will allow us to accomplish our goals. And as we learn to accomplish goals in life, we will more fully reach our potential which will have a great impact on the results we attain in life. Good luck!!
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