Although every day offers us an opportunity to begin our lives afresh, many people choose New Year to set resolutions for what they want to achieve because it is a clear threshold in time. But before putting pen to paper this year, it's useful to rewind and fastforward our lives 12 months in each direction.
Go back to New Year's Day, last year. Have we achieved what we set out to achieve back then? Did we truly focus on the priorities?
Wind the clock forward a year into the future. How do we want to feel when we look back at the goals we are setting at this point?
In setting our goals, let's also consider the following:
1) How do our new or revised goals fit with our life purpose?
2) How do we remain focused?
3) How do our goals will stretch us?
LIFE PURPOSE
Sometimes, we set goals to achieve what others expect of us. If we do not believe in the goal, we’re unlikely to achieve it or, if we do, we’ll be left wanting. We must know what we really want from life and how being where we are now helps us to get there.
To find our purpose, we ask what role we want to play on this earth, what we enjoy doing and what we would do if there were no limits. When we have purpose and goal setting working together, we are energised.
STAYING FOCUSED
Self-help guru Steven Covey who gave us The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People equips us with an excellent framework for prioritising activities that will help us and eliminating those that have no bearing on our success.
His four-quadrant box classifies tasks as "urgent" and "not urgent" on one axis, and "important" and "not important" on the other. In the top left, we list tasks that are both urgent and important and, in the top right, those that are not urgent but important. We focus on these two boxes to achieve effectiveness. The other two boxes are for urgent and not important and not urgent and not important activities.
GOALS THAT STRETCH US
To grow, we need to move from our comfort zones and towards new horizons. If we set easily achievable goals, there is little motivation. We need goals that move us emotionally.
Research by Dr Edwin Locke in the 1960s revealed a link between how difficult and specific a goal is and how we perform at the tasks towards achieving it. Specific and difficult goals result in better performance than vague or easy ones. We regard hard goals as more of an accomplishment.
And, of course, it's worth remembering that a goal that isn't written down and reviewed regularly is just dream.
Through effective planning and focus, we become more productive and better equipped to cut out distractions. Whether we look at the year ahead in terms of months, weeks or days, it remains a significant time in which to make our mark.
by Mervin Straughan
NOTE this post first appeared on this blog in 2008.
Comment on this post but if posting goals click on the top menu bar.
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| The write stuff ... imagine looking back from a year in the future at the goals you're now writing. Sense the wonderful feeling of achievement. |
Go back to New Year's Day, last year. Have we achieved what we set out to achieve back then? Did we truly focus on the priorities?
Wind the clock forward a year into the future. How do we want to feel when we look back at the goals we are setting at this point?
In setting our goals, let's also consider the following:
1) How do our new or revised goals fit with our life purpose?
2) How do we remain focused?
3) How do our goals will stretch us?
LIFE PURPOSE
Sometimes, we set goals to achieve what others expect of us. If we do not believe in the goal, we’re unlikely to achieve it or, if we do, we’ll be left wanting. We must know what we really want from life and how being where we are now helps us to get there.
To find our purpose, we ask what role we want to play on this earth, what we enjoy doing and what we would do if there were no limits. When we have purpose and goal setting working together, we are energised.
STAYING FOCUSED
Self-help guru Steven Covey who gave us The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People equips us with an excellent framework for prioritising activities that will help us and eliminating those that have no bearing on our success.
His four-quadrant box classifies tasks as "urgent" and "not urgent" on one axis, and "important" and "not important" on the other. In the top left, we list tasks that are both urgent and important and, in the top right, those that are not urgent but important. We focus on these two boxes to achieve effectiveness. The other two boxes are for urgent and not important and not urgent and not important activities.
GOALS THAT STRETCH US
To grow, we need to move from our comfort zones and towards new horizons. If we set easily achievable goals, there is little motivation. We need goals that move us emotionally.
Research by Dr Edwin Locke in the 1960s revealed a link between how difficult and specific a goal is and how we perform at the tasks towards achieving it. Specific and difficult goals result in better performance than vague or easy ones. We regard hard goals as more of an accomplishment.
And, of course, it's worth remembering that a goal that isn't written down and reviewed regularly is just dream.
Through effective planning and focus, we become more productive and better equipped to cut out distractions. Whether we look at the year ahead in terms of months, weeks or days, it remains a significant time in which to make our mark.
by Mervin Straughan
NOTE this post first appeared on this blog in 2008.
Comment on this post but if posting goals click on the top menu bar.
