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August 17th, 2010Goal SettingSo how do you know what kinds of goals you want to set? Well, you have to real know yourself before you can set goals that are true to you…..unless you are like I have been and that is stuck in the getting to know yourself. If you aren’t 100% sure that a goal you are setting is true to your values, beliefs and destiny, you may need to go back to the ‘getting to know you’ phase. I would recommend having a look at yourself on this level every so often anyway.
What makes you happy?
If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do?
If you knew you could get it, what would you have?
If you knew it was possible, where would you live?
Who do you like spending time with?
What do you like / dislike about your job or business?
What do you like to do to relax?
These are just a selection of the questions that you should ask yourself before defying your goals.
For example, if you love relaxing by the ocean, it would make more sense to have a goal or living near there ocean, not a fancy high rise apartment just because it’s a current trend.
Another great exercise to do, is work out what the current balance is in your life, and work out how you would like it to look.
We are going to look at 7 core areas of your life.
Health & fitness
Business / career
Relationships
Finance
Spiritual & Mental Wellbeing
Contribution
Fun stuff
You may find some goals can go in more than 1 category eg bike riding (health & fitness plus fun stuff). In these instances I would put the goal in the area that will be more beneficial to you life. In my circumstances bike riding for fitness is probably of greater benefit than bike riding for fun.
A few years ago, a woman suggested to me that if you really wanted to go for a goal, it would be a good idea to write out your 52 reasons for achieving that goal. Can I tell you, it is a very hard exercise, but one that is really worthwhile. I wouldn’t do it for every goal you set – but I would certainly do it for the more audacious goals on your list. It really helps separate the ‘maybe goals’ from the ‘really care goals’. For example, I have 52 reasons for wanting to achieve my health & fitness goals, but there is no way I could come up with 52 reasons for wanting the new Audi SUV!!!!! It’s not that there is anything wrong with having a new car as a goal, but for me it’s not going to change my life dramatically. My current car is great.
What are your 52 reasons for your major goals? Challenge yourself to write them out, for at least 1 goal, and if you’re up for it, send it in to us. Put the reasons out there in the universe and they are more likely to eventuate.
Tags: Goal Setting -
July 28th, 2010Goal Setting
OK, so today I googled ‘goal setting’ blogs…this is what it came up with 597,987 for goal setting…arghghgh.
Why would I want to try and compete in a market like that??? Well, because that is MY GOAL!!!! Ok, so that wasn’t that funny or clever.
So many of the ones I looked at just seemed to be disguised sales pages. That is not what My Goal Friend is about, I can promise you. I truly want to create a community, a tribe if you like – of people that will share with and care for their fellow members….as well as getting great info from the My Goal Friend team.
What are the most common goals set by people?
Well I didn’t use Google for this one….I simply asked a few people I knew.
- Healthy Weight
- Better relationships
- More money
- Better work / life balance
- Improved fitness
Now I want to know more, so I’m asking all my Facebook friends to help me research this.
I’m working on my speakers for the series at this stage, and there is no point getting a speaker in a certain area if it’s only an area that I think is important. Memo to self, maybe do something in Survey Monkey to send out.
I’ll tell you the areas I’ve been working on so far.
- Health & Fitness
- Finance
- Spirituality
- Relationships
- Business / Career
- Family
- Social
What do you think? Am I missing anything major??
Tags: blogs, Goal Setting -
May 19th, 2010Goal Setting
Most of us have at some stage set goals. Some of them have been achieved, others not. What is it that sets these goals apart? What is the box that needs to be ticked in order to reach that goal? To be honest, I don’t believe there is any ONE thing that makes you reach a goal whether it is personal, or business. What I do believe is that there are steps that need to be taken in order to reach a goal, and when you couple these with an infallible reason for wanting that goal you are more likely to succeed.
- Work out what the goal is. Be very detailed. If you goal is own a new car. What is the make? What extras do you want? Colour? Manual / Auto?
- Get a taste of your goal. I’m all for doing this before you get further along in the process. Using this example, I would go for a test drive in your goal car. Take a picture of you with it while you are there. Is it still the car you want after the drive?
- Work out what steps are needed to reach your goal? Staying with the car idea, will you need to save money? Will you need to arrange finance?
- Write a SMART Goal. SMART Goals have been detailed for a gazillion years, and have various versions. Here is the one I tend to use.
Specific You will own a XYZ car
Measurable You will need to save $1000 a month / every month for 10 months.
Achievable You will have saved $10,000 in 10 months for the car deposit.
Realistic You are willing and able to save this money.
Timely On 01/04/2011 you will be parking XYZ car in your garage.
- Turn this goal into a powerful statement. “It is the 1st of April 2011 and I am so proud and grateful for what I have been able to achieve. I felt like a princess driving my new XYZ car into my garage this morning. I can now get anywhere I want, in the style I like to travel and I have that great DVD player in the back to stop the kids annoying me with ‘are we there yet’. I no longer have to rely on public transport when John has the car, so now I have so much extra time to do what I want, when I want”
- Surround yourself with your goal. Keep the picture of you and the car in your diary, on the fridge, on the bathroom mirror – everywhere. Also keep copies of your statement visible everywhere. For this goal I would also get copies of the car brochures and have them stuck up, and see if you can get a miniature version of the car to stick in your handbag.
- Keep a goal Tracker handy. For each goal this would be different. For a savings goal I would have a daily expenditure sheet that you will in every night. Review this weekly to see if you are on track.
- Get a Goal Friend. In this case it would be great to have a savings pal – but it doesn’t have to be a person. You could set up a direct debit to take a set amount of money from your saving account into a high interest account (that can’t be easily accessed). How good a friend would that be? For fitness goals see if you can check in with a friend etc once a week to keep you on track.
- Stay in tune with your goal Some people ‘set and forget’ and see what happens, I’m more of a keep experiencing your goal so you keep the fire in your belly. Tell the guy at the car yard what you are trying to do, and see if he’ll let you sit in the car once a week. There is nothing like that new car smell to keep you wanting it. If it’s a slinky black dress in a shop you are aiming your weight loss for – go and try it on, every week.
- Celebrate you goal. I would do this for all the little steps and then the big celebration. Staying with the car, I would celebrate every $1000 with a small treat. Say you have given up buying coffee 3 times a day – allow yourself a day of coffee. Then when you get to the end you need a big celebration. Reaching a goal is a big thing that many people don’t fully appreciate. I would give my new car a name and pop a bottle of champagne when I parked in my driveway (I wouldn’t recommend cracking it on the car like you do a boat).
I hope you’ve enjoyed my version of specific goal setting. Later on, I’ll write about how to identify goals in the major areas of your life.
Remember – if you don’t set and achieve goals you could still be doing the same same in 20 years time. Goals are what move us along in life.
Tags: Goal Setting -
May 4th, 2010Uncategorized
The first blog post for My Goal Friend.
My Goal Friend has been a long time coming, and it’s not there yet. What I’ll be doing is talking about the set up process for my new Membership Site ‘My Goal Friend’ on this blog, as well as updates on my personal goals and goal setting in general.
Launch date is Tuesday 17th of August….so I better get cracking!!!!
Tags: Blogging, Goals, Membership Sites -