World of one Aries: February 2010

It's time to replace your clock with a compass so you can head out in the right direction.

Why is it important to set goals?

Goals are important because you will get what you strive for. By actively thinking about what you intend to accomplish, you will work on achieving those accomplishments. Any area of your life which you focus on will improve, simply because you take the time to assess your habits.

Setting Effective Goals

When you set goals, you need to take many questions into account: what, when, why, and how. What are you going to accomplish? Be sure to be concrete about your answer. When are you going to complete the task, or achieve your goal? Why is this important to you? How are you going to realize your goal; what is your strategy?

There is an easy acronym to help you create effective goals:

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable

R - Realistic

T - Timed

You need to create specific goals. The goal "I want to become a better swimmer" is almost impossible to judge because it is not specific enough. A better goal would be "I want to earn my bronze medallion by next June" or "I want to swim 10 laps of the pool twice a week."

The reason that "I want to earn my bronze medallion by next June" is a more effective goal is that it is measurable. There is a clear marker of achievement that you can earn.

Goals need to be attainable. It is not only unproductive to say "I want to lose 40 pounds by next week," it is also counter-productive. Unattainable goals are counter-productive because when you make a goal that you do not achieve, you experience an emotional let-down. It is not wise or healthy to get your heart set on something that is out of reach. However, keep in mind that goals should also be a stretch.

This is not to say that your goals cannot be large: they can! But your goals also need to be realistic. If you set a goal that is unrealistic and attempt to work towards it, you will exhaust yourself and your resources. Rather than setting one large goal in a short time-frame, instead, create smaller goals that will lead you to accomplishing your long-term goal. Breaking your goals into smaller chunks helps you create goals that are more specific, often more measurable, more attainable, more realistic, while creating a time-line for your larger goal. Having mini-goals is one of the keys of successful goal setting.

The idea of creating smaller goals leads us to the idea that goals need to be timed. Putting a timeframe on your goal ensures that it will not drop down to the bottom of your priority list. It also makes measuring your goal easier. Saying "I will sell $500 before 5 o'clock this afternoon" means that at 5:00 you will stop to check your progress.

When you create smaller goals in order to achieve your larger goals, be sure that they are on a timeline as well. If your large goal is to find a better job at Company X by next Christmas, your smaller goals could be on a weekly basis. For your first week, you would create a contact at Company X and attempt to establish if there are any openings. Week two, you could update your resume and cover-letter. Week three, you would make a follow-up phone call. Your smaller goals would function as milestones that are attainable and realistic, while still being specific, measurable, and timed.

One of my favourite quotes is "We tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year." I see this time and time again. Great things can be accomplished over long periods if we keep heading in the right direction.

Because goals are so important, when you begin to create your workbook, we will focus on how best to express your goals in your workbook.

Setting your Goals

The best goal setting exercise that I know takes only 40 minutes. Take this time to establish your goals now.

In order to achieve goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timed), it is important to make sure that your goals are focused on many aspects of your life.

I take into account 11 major areas when I establish my goals:

1. Career

2. Earnings

3. Personal relationships

4. Family

5. Health

6. Spiritual

7. Personal appearance

8. Education/learning

9. Free time/hobby

10. Vacation

11. Improve your home

Consider having goals in each of these 11 areas. Add new areas if there is something important to you that you feel is not covered.

A 60-Minute Goal Setting Exercise that can save you 100 hours in the next month

I think that most people would agree that the people who have goals are more successful than those who do not have any.

I often talk about leadership and management. Leadership is about doing the right things while management is about doing things right. Often when we study time management, we study efficiency (doing things right) and make the assumption that we have the effectiveness (leadership) solved.

The first step in any time management system should be to work on goals and as such, I use the following 60 Minute Goal Setting Exercise.

Step 1: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down "values" and then spend 10 to 15 minutes writing down everything that you value. There is a great website: www.stevepavlina.com/ that has a list of several hundred values to start your mind thinking in the right direction. After the time is up, stop doing this and move to Step 2.

Step 2: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down "lifetime goals". This is where you can dream; for example, what places would you like to visit; what experiences would you like to have; what would you like to accomplish within your lifetime. This might include traveling to Australia; getting a university degree; living in an X square foot house, etc. There are no rules to this brainstorming - simply make a list.

I have done this goal setting exercise many times and I tend to use the same list of lifetime goals and add to the list each time I do the exercise.

Step 3: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down what you would do if you had six months to live. This part of the exercise really came home to me this week when one of my close friends died at 36 years old. Some of us may have only six months to live; however, we may not know it yet. List everything that you would do if you had only six months to live. Part of the purpose of this exercise that I found works well for me is that it brings the truly important into focus. Often I find things that I would do if I had only six months to live that are not listed on my life time goals.

Step 4: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down your goals for this year. After doing the first three steps, you will find this step much easier than the others. These are the goals to focus on NOW.

This total exercise will only take an hour. An hour spent clarifying your goals can save you hundreds of hours.

Here is the same exercise; it has been expanded on to help you get started.

Your Four Pages

Take four blank pages, and label each one at the top: Values, Lifetime, Six Months to Live, and One Year Goals. You will spend ten minutes (and only ten minutes) to fill out each sheet to describe you and your goals.

1. Values

On this page, list your values.

The following list of values from Steve Pavlina might stimulate your thought:

1. Abundance

2. Acceptance

3. Accessibility

4. Accomplishment

5. Accuracy

6. Achievement

7. Acknowledgement

8. Activeness

9. Adaptability

10. Adoration

11. Adroitness

12. Adventure

13. Affection

14. Affluence

15. Aggressiveness

16. Agility

17. Alertness

18. Altruism

19. Ambition

20. Amusement

21. Anticipation

22. Appreciation

23. Approachability

24. Articulacy

25. Assertiveness

26. Assurance

27. Attentiveness

28. Attractiveness

29. Audacity

30. Availability

31. Awareness

32. Awe

33. Balance

34. Beauty

35. Being the best

36. Belonging

37. Benevolence

38. Bliss

39. Boldness

40. Bravery

41. Brilliance

42. Buoyancy

43. Calmness

44. Camaraderie

45. Candor

46. Capability

47. Care

48. Carefulness

49. Celebrity

50. Certainty

51. Challenge

52. Charity

53. Charm

54. Chastity

55. Cheerfulness

56. Clarity

57. Cleanliness

58. Clear-mindedness

59. Cleverness

60. Closeness

61. Comfort

62. Commitment

63. Compassion

64. Completion

65. Composure

66. Concentration

67. Confidence

68. Conformity

69. Congruency

70. Connection

71. Consciousness

72. Consistency

73. Contentment

74. Continuity

75. Contribution

76. Control

77. Conviction

78. Conviviality

79. Coolness

80. Cooperation

81. Cordiality

82. Correctness

83. Courage

84. Courtesy

85. Craftiness

86. Creativity

87. Credibility

88. Cunning

89. Curiosity

90. Daring

91. Decisiveness

92. Decorum

93. Deference

94. Delight

95. Dependability

96. Depth

97. Desire

98. Determination

99. Devotion

100. Devoutness

101. Dexterity

102. Dignity

103. Diligence

104. Direction

105. Directness

106. Discipline

107. Discovery

108. Discretion

109. Diversity

110. Dominance

111. Dreaming

112. Drive

113. Duty

114. Dynamism

115. Eagerness

116. Economy

117. Ecstasy

118. Education

119. Effectiveness

120. Efficiency

121. Elation

122. Elegance

123. Empathy

124. Encouragement

125. Endurance

126. Energy

127. Enjoyment

128. Entertainment

129. Enthusiasm

130. Excellence

131. Excitement

132. Exhilaration

133. Expectancy

134. Expediency

135. Experience

136. Expertise

137. Exploration

138. Expressiveness

139. Extravagance

140. Extroversion

141. Exuberance

142. Fairness

143. Faith

144. Fame

145. Family

146. Fascination

147. Fashion

148. Fearlessness

149. Ferocity

150. Fidelity

151. Fierceness

152. Financial independence

153. Firmness

154. Fitness

155. Flexibility

156. Flow

157. Fluency

158. Focus

159. Fortitude

160. Frankness

161. Freedom

162. Friendliness

163. Frugality

164. Fun

165. Gallantry

166. Generosity

167. Gentility

168. Giving

169. Grace

170. Gratitude

171. Gregariousness

172. Growth

173. Guidance

174. Happiness

175. Harmony

176. Health

177. Heart

178. Helpfulness

179. Heroism

180. Holiness

181. Honesty

182. Honor

183. Hopefulness

184. Hospitality

185. Humility

186. Humor

187. Hygiene

188. Imagination

189. Impact

190. Impartiality

191. Independence

192. Industry

193. Ingenuity

194. Inquisitiveness

195. Insightfulness

196. Inspiration

197. Integrity

198. Intelligence

199. Intensity

200. Intimacy

201. Intrepidness

202. Introversion

203. Intuition

204. Intuitiveness

205. Inventiveness

206. Investing

207. Joy

208. Judiciousness

209. Justice

210. Keenness

211. Kindness

212. Knowledge

213. Leadership

214. Learning

215. Liberation

216. Liberty

217. Liveliness

218. Logic

219. Longevity

220. Love

221. Loyalty

222. Majesty

223. Making a difference

224. Mastery

225. Maturity

226. Meekness

227. Mellowness

228. Meticulousness

229. Mindfulness

230. Modesty

231. Motivation

232. Mysteriousness

233. Neatness

234. Nerve

235. Obedience

236. Open-mindedness

237. Openness

238. Optimism

239. Order

240. Organization

241. Originality

242. Outlandishness

243. Outrageousness

244. Passion

245. Peace

246. Perceptiveness

247. Perfection

248. Perkiness

249. Perseverance

250. Persistence

251. Persuasiveness

252. Philanthropy

253. Piety

254. Playfulness

255. Pleasantness

256. Pleasure

257. Poise

258. Polish

259. Popularity

260. Potency

261. Power

262. Practicality

263. Pragmatism

264. Precision

265. Preparedness

266. Presence

267. Privacy

268. Proactivity

269. Professionalism

270. Prosperity

271. Prudence

272. Punctuality

273. Purity

274. Realism

275. Reason

276. Reasonableness

277. Recognition

278. Recreation

279. Refinement

280. Reflection

281. Relaxation

282. Reliability

283. Religiousness

284. Resilience

285. Resolution

286. Resolve

287. Resourcefulness

288. Respect

289. Rest

290. Restraint

291. Reverence

292. Richness

293. Rigor

294. Sacredness

295. Sacrifice

296. Sagacity

297. Saintliness

298. Sanguinity

299. Satisfaction

300. Security

301. Self-control

302. Selflessness

303. Self-reliance

304. Sensitivity

305. Sensuality

306. Serenity

307. Service

308. Sexuality

309. Sharing

310. Shrewdness

311. Significance

312. Silence

313. Silliness

314. Simplicity

315. Sincerity

316. Skillfulness

317. Solidarity

318. Solitude

319. Soundness

320. Speed

321. Spirit

322. Spirituality

323. Spontaneity

324. Spunk

325. Stability

326. Stealth

327. Stillness

328. Strength

329. Structure

330. Success

331. Support

332. Supremacy

333. Surprise

334. Sympathy

335. Synergy

336. Teamwork

337. Temperance

338. Thankfulness

339. Thoroughness

340. Thoughtfulness

341. Thrift

342. Tidiness

343. Timeliness

344. Traditionalism

345. Tranquility

346. Transcendence

347. Trust

348. Trustworthiness

349. Truth

350. Understanding

351. Unflappability

352. Uniqueness

353. Unity

354. Usefulness

355. Utility

356. Valor

357. Variety

358. Victory

359. Vigor

360. Virtue

361. Vision

362. Vitality

363. Vivacity

364. Warmth

365. Watchfulness

366. Wealth

367. Willfulness

368. Willingness

369. Winning

370. Wisdom

371. Wittiness

372. Wonder

373. Youthfulness

374. Zeal

You don't have to choose values from this list; you can make up your own. This list is just to get you thinking.

2. Lifetime

On your second page, list what you want to accomplish, experience, or become in the course of your lifetime.

This list is one that you can add to at any time. I have moved my lifetime goal list to my workbook. Whenever I see something that looks really cool, I can add that to my list. In my workbook, my lifetime goal list keeps on growing and growing until I have pages filled with things that I would like to accomplish, experience, or be.

3. Six Months to Live

On your third page you write down all the things that you would want to do if you had six months to live.

The benefit of this page is that it helps you refocus. I find that when I write this list, it is often very different from the lifetime goal list, and it gives me a new perspective on my goals. If I had only six months to live, maybe I would spend more time with my family. Maybe I would want to travel, and swim with the dolphins in New Zealand. These goals are often different than lifetime goals and are also important to keep in mind while planning your life.

4. One Year Goals

For this final page, you can look at your other pages to create a list of goals that you would like to accomplish this year. Be sure to take some goals from your list of lifetime goals, and plan to achieve them in the next year. Remember that these are goals, and so must be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timed. Define your goals carefully.

If you have not already done so, take ten minutes to complete each goal sheet: Values, Lifetime, Six Months to Live, and One Year Goals.

Congratulations on completing these goal sheets!

You have taken the first step to a more productive lifestyle in which you will be able to accomplish your goals.

Choosing your Top Four or Five Goals

Once you have completed these four sheets, you assess what you have written and you choose your top goals for to work on for that month. For my top goals, I only choose goals on which I am willing to work an hour a week. If you are not willing to spend one hour a week on each of your top goals, then clearly these goals are not that important to you at this time.

Now that you have selected your top goals, you have a couple of options on how you want to proceed that are outlined below.

When I complete these four sheets, I then take a business card and I write down my top goals. I don't write the entire goal out; I just write a brief note that reminds me what my goal is. For instance, if my goal is to have tomatoes grow in my garden this summer, I might just write "Garden." Then, every day for the month, I look at my business card once in the morning. I put a copy of the business card on my To Do list so that I see it many times during the day.

Another approach to your top four goals is to write them out a certain number of times every day. You can also say them aloud every day. Some people record their goals on tape and listen to them every day while doing other activities, such as exercising, driving, or falling asleep in bed at night.

You can tell other people what your goals are to get support. It is best to tell other people your 'stop goals,' because people will definitely want to tell you to stop detrimental habits. Don't tell people your 'get goals' because you might be ridiculed, or they might be envious of your high aspirations. Using other people to help achieve your goals is a valuable tool, but it depends on the people around you and how supportive their attitudes are.

Another useful tool is visualization. Imagine how things will be when you accomplish the goal. The more vivid your imagination, the more effective your visualization will be. How will people treat you? What will it feel like? Where will you be? What time of day is it?

You can use any of these tools in conjunction with each other.

Habits