Something for Yourself: Setting Goals

Last week in Something for Yourself I talked about writing a personal mission statement.  I think this is something everyone should do for themselves to make sure you have a written guideline for how you want to live your life.  

Another important step towards personal development is setting goals.  We're all familiar with setting a New Year's resolution, but those rarely stick, probably because we're not clear on what we really want to accomplish and how we're going to make it happen.  

I think one of the most important steps to setting your goals is to actually write them down.  If you take the time to put your goals on paper (or a computer screen) then you have something to look back on and remember what you want to accomplish.    

Here are some SMART tips on how to set a goal that you can stick to:

The SMART guideline for setting goals is a great way to make sure you are actually capable of completing those goals.

• Specific: by being specific with your goals you will know exactly what you want to accomplish.  Otherwise you run the risk of not remembering what you are working towards and why. 

• Measurable: when a goal is measurable it means there is some sort of metric you are measuring against.  Instead of telling yourself you want to start a savings account you should set a specific amount that you want to save by a certain date.
• Attainable: this one may seem obvious, but sometimes we set ourselves up for failure by having goals that aren't realistic and attainable.  It's important to set yourself up for success by choosing goals that you can actually reach.  You'll feel that much better when you do accomplish them. 
• Relevant: making relevant goals is important because you want your goals to line up with your overall mission in life.  If your goals contradict where you ultimately want to end up, then you're working against yourself.
• Time-Bound: by setting a goal that is time-bound you are giving yourself a deadline of when you want to accomplish your goal.  This allows you to track your progress against a moment in time when you are hoping to be done with your goal.

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I hope these tips have been helpful to you and will give you some guidelines for setting goals you can actually achieve.  Next week I'll be writing about gratitude and how it can impact your life in a positive way.