When the end of a cycle approaches and we see the next one around the corner, we begin to think about what we set out to do at the beginning and did not fulfill, what we stopped doing, what we could have achieved with a little more effort or maybe what we let go without a fight.
We also put our best effort and attitude to program and plan new actions for the next cycle, we resume activities that we left unfinished and in some cases we rethink purposes that perhaps have been for many years without being more than that… purposes.
The mere fact of thinking or verbalizing what you want to achieve in your life is not a guarantee that it will be achieved, to achieve what you want and not a frustration for not having achieved what you wanted you must consider your objectives and goals very well, but first you must know where you are located at the moment and where you want to go.
The first questions you should ask yourself to clarify your present and your near future are:
• What do I want?
• Where do I want to go?
• Because I want it?
• How can I do it?
After answering these questions, and for this you must take all the time that is necessary, because, generally, these questions conflict with our idealized self-image and our comfort zone, it is very important that you clearly define the goals you want to achieve.
But setting goals is more than defining what you want in the future, goals and objectives depend on our skills, attitudes, aptitudes and the price we are willing to pay for them.
Remember that: "Where you have your attention, there you have your intention."
Goal setting
To set your goals you must take into account the following:
• Make your goals specific: you must make your goals as specific and explicit as possible, it is not the same to set a goal like "I'm going to lose weight" than a goal like "I'm going to lose 2 kilograms of weight every month.".
• That your goals are measurable: in order to guarantee that something is being accomplished, it must be measurable, if your goals do not have a way of being measured, they are not set properly, and this depends a lot on how specific they are.
• That your goals are agreed: you cannot conflict with your own interior or with other people, if one of your goals is to change cities, but your partner or your children are not willing to share that goal, or the circumstances are not favorable to do so is not a well-planned goal.
• That they are realistic: the most important thing about a goal is that it be realistic, that is, that they think about it and plan it with your feet firmly on the ground. An unrealistic goal is to have a five-star restaurant chain, internationally, in the first half of next year; a more realistic goal would be to open an Italian food restaurant in the first quarter of next year.
• That they are delimited: the goals must be delimited in time and space, you can set yourself a goal at a local, regional, national or international level, it all depends on the time you allocate for each of them and the resources you have available, setting goals depends a lot on how realistic they are.
Once you have set your goals according to the elements that I have just given you, you must select a maximum of 5 and write them on cards or a sheet of paper.
The more goals you have to achieve, the more difficult it will be for you to focus and carry them out, the amount generates confusion and in some cases this confusion is generated by conflicts that arise between the very approach of the goals.
After you have written down your chosen goals, carry out an evaluation of them so that you yourself realize how important they are for you and for your life project:
• Why do I want to achieve this goal?
• What would you do after achieving it?
• Is it related to what I really want to be?
• Is it an important part of who I want to be?
• Does it conflict with other goals?
• What would happen if I don't achieve this goal?
These questions will help you to affirm the approach of the goals you have chosen for the next year, or on the contrary, they will lead you to rethink some or all of them.
Strategies and actions
The mere fact of setting and writing your goals and reading them constantly is not going to make you achieve everything that you set out to do this end of the year, the most important thing is to plan strategies and execute actions that lead to fulfill what is proposed.
Strategies are methods by which we intend to execute an action or guarantee an action, it is the way in which we will execute and carry out the necessary steps to achieve the task. Action for its part are the immediate steps that are executed one by one to reach the end. In front of the base of a mountain, the strategy to climb it is the step we will use, or the way we will climb it, the action is each of the steps we take until we reach the top.
When the goals have been set, written and evaluated, it is time to design the strategies to meet them and these strategies will help us generate the necessary actions to reach the end of them.
Implementation
Once you designed your strategies and you have very clear the steps to follow to achieve your goals, the moment of implementation arrived and this is where the magnificent journey begins that will take us to a end of the year full of satisfaction and fulfilled wishes.
For the implementation to be successful, keep in mind the following:
• Focus on who you really are
• Focus on what you really want
• Don't try to cover too many things or goals at once
• Manage your mind very well
• Constantly review your strategies
To help you keep track of the progress you are making throughout the year, I suggest you make the following charts through which you can analyze whether the strategies implemented are adequate or need a variation.
© Copyright 2009 Lorena Panesso - All rights reserved
