Just like that, we are already in the last quarter of year 2012! I know that so many resolutions and goals set at the beginning of the year are still to be achieved; but guess what? You can still achieve a lot. One of the biggest secrets to achieving your goals is so simple it's almost laughable: write them down.
Writing down your goals is truly the path to greatness. I know many successful people who were committed to setting goals, placing them in writing, and working towards those goals every day, every week, and every month.
One or more of your goals will fall into one of these categories:
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Wealth
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Health
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Personal Self (your intellectual and artistic pursuits)
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Social Self (how you relate to your friends, family and community)
You may want to refresh your memory i.e. go over your goals again and check where you dropped off; then write them down. Once you have defined your goals and written them down – it's time to take action. Clarify why you have chosen these top four life goals and give yourself a reasonable timeframe to achieve them. Then, break each goal into smaller "chunks" — yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily objectives.
Here's an example of just how you can do so. Let's say that your wealth goal is to make an additional N5,000,000 in sales over the next five years.
That means that your goal for this year is to make N1,000,000 in sales.
At the beginning of EVERY MONTH, break each of your four major goals down into a smaller goal you'd like to accomplish that month. Your wealth goal for each month (keeping in mind that your five-year objective is to make N5,000,000 in additional sales) should be to make N83,332. You'll want to come up with actions you can take on a monthly basis to reach that goal. For example, you could attend a different networking event every month.
Next, every Monday morning, chart your goals for the week ahead. Your target sales figure for each week would be about N20,800. Make a list of actions you need to take to reach that goal, like reading one new book about sales strategies every week.
Finally, you should list your daily goals. These are specific actions you can take each day that will help you achieve your weekly, monthly, and yearly objectives. For example, you can determine just how many sales calls you need to make each day to reach your weekly sales goal of N20,800.
If you want to be even more specific, you can break your daily goals down into hourly goals, so that you have a targeted action you can take each hour.
This goal-setting system works because it takes very large, sometimes very nebulous, ambitions and breaks them down into specific tasks – things you have to learn, things you have to know, and things you have to do. Transforming your dreams into tasks may take away some of the romance, but what you'll receive is a growing excitement about how increasingly likely it is that you will accomplish your dreams. (Not to mention the satisfaction of taking measurable, constant steps toward reaching those goals.)
Please remember that all highly successful people have certain common characteristics. The ability to set measurable goals and act on them is at the top of the list.
The ability to organize yourself is not imprinted in your DNA. The skills and qualities common among successful people are learned behaviors based on experience and results. In other words, you can learn them NOW.
When working on your goals (hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly) stay in the moment! Being able to focus your energy and compartmentalize your tasks is vital to accomplishing one goal at a time. Always be aware of your long term goal, but make sure that you focus on the task at hand, and finish each item on your "to do" list.
Here's how you can begin today:
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Write down four goals that you have clearly defined
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Break those goals into manageable yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily "chunks"
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Make an emotional commitment to taking regular action toward achieving your goals
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Monitor your goals regularly for progress (daily, weekly, and monthly)
Making a master plan work is about simplifying your interests and acting upon them in a very simple way. When you receive the emotional gratification of taking one forward step toward one cherished goal, you'll find it that much easier to take the next step. Let me know how it goes; I look forward to hearing about your success; share with us.
To Your Online Succcess!
I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
