The Best Ways to Meet Your Goals

By Susan Leigh

Jobs Indonesia, Careers, Indonesia Vacancy

Goals need to be realistic in order to be plausible and act as a positive spur to success. Too minor and they may not be taken seriously. At worst we may regard them as a joke or we simply put them to one side to be considered or attempted another day. Too difficult and we may continue to avoid the pressure of attempting something too difficult and the then resulting feeling of shame that comes from failure.

The best ways to meet our goals is to:

- start by understanding what motivates us. For some people it may be the competition of challenging themselves against another person. Seeing someone else either chasing on their heels or running a little ahead can be a major spur to make an extra effort. Then there are other people who prefer to compete against themselves, against their own previous times or achievements. They may hate having other people with them in the race and find it a distraction or an embarrassment.

- have interim targets. Feeling that each stage towards the goal can be measured and acknowledged can really help with motivation. Climbing steep steps can feel daunting until we stop to catch our breath and then turn to see how far we have come. Those few moments can provide a breather to gather our thoughts and energy levels and then important time to congratulate ourselves for having already achieved a lot.

- reward yourself along the way. It can be important to have fun from time to time. Even with a weight loss plan it is important to have treats sometimes, a night off work, a birthday meal with dessert, a quality bar of chocolate. The thought of life always being about diets, hard work and deprivation can completely de-motivate after a while. So rewards like an occasional night out, a weekend away, some fun, can help us de-stress and return invigorated back to the project with a new lease of life.

- have a back-up plan. In the case of a major project it can be valuable to have other options and ideas for a back-up plan, just in case every step does not work out as originally intended. That way some good can come from the time, money and effort that has been invested, even if the original goal is not achieved.

- enlist the help of others. People are often flattered and pleased at being asked to help. And asking in the right way can bring willing volunteers on board who may become useful allies over time. Training and delegating to others teaches them new skills, invests in their capabilities and enthusiasm and often motivates those people to work hard and reward the trust that has been placed in them.

A little forward planning, taking time to work to our strengths and the strengths of others can improve the outcome of any projects or goals we undertake and as such ensure that our goals become positive stepping stones to success in all areas of our lives.

Easy Strategies For Goal Setting

By Slawek Polinski

  

Jobs Indonesia, Careers, Indonesia Vacancy

Goal Setting Basics
Here we go, another article on goal setting. You may have heard some of these tips before:

• Be very clear on your goals.
• Write them down.
• Break those goals into smaller goals or action steps.
• Take immediate action.

Now this is just a basic outline on setting and achieving goals which can definitely be broken down into greater detail. Many people know what needs to be done to successfully accomplish their goals and yet many people fall short on their goals.

Why?

1. They aren't doing the basics.
2. Many people know what they should do and either aren't doing it consistently or not at all.

The above steps I have outlined are, as I stated, "the basics" in goal setting and to be effective in achieving goals you must do the basics...consistently and daily.

Here's an example:
All great athletes and ball players know in order to have the best chance in performing flawlessly they must be solid in their basics. If they are not it will open the door to errors and defeat. Just having knowledge of the basics is not good enough to succeed. They must be practiced daily and consistently to have the best chance of victory.

The same applies to setting goals. Just knowing what to do is not enough, the basics of goal setting must be practiced to be successful. For many years I couldn't see the benefit in writing my goals down. "I don't have to write them down because I have a good memory," I thought. Today it does not surprise me why my past goals were seldom accomplished.
Goal Setting Review
So lets review:

• First be very clear and precise about your goal. Saying you want to be happy or successful is vague and needs to be defined. If success, then what does success mean to you? Is it a new job or business? Well then state what kind of job or business you want and by when. The clearer you are on your desired outcome, the better the odds are in your favor.
• IMPORTANT - Write them down! There have been studies done which prove what you write down you remember with greater clarity. Don't make the same mistake I made years ago by thinking you'll just remember it because you won't. You see there is an event called life that distracts us so unless it is written down, it is easily forgotten. Once you write them down keep them somewhere where you can regularly see and review them and don't just file them away. Have you ever gone grocery shopping and forgotten your shopping list at home? Chances are you did not buy everything you needed and that is why you need to see you goal list regularly.
• Break them down into smaller goals or action steps. What are the necessary steps you must now take to move you closer to your desired outcome or goal? By breaking your goals down into smaller steps the original goal will not feel out of reach and you will gain self-confidence as you complete each step.
• Take action! If you want to acquire success in your life and reach the goals you set for yourself, take immediate action. That means now, not later and not tomorrow.

Tip:
The the first thing I do everyday when I sit down at my desk, is to write my daily action steps on post-it notes which I stick to the bottom of my computer monitor. I spend much of my time during the day writing, creating speeches and programs as well as updating my blog so these daily goals are in front of me a good portion of the day. As I complete a task I pull it down and throw it out. This routine has increased my productivity by a considerable amount. Find a place in your home or office where your goals or action steps can be in clear view for you to see. This will help keep life's distractions from keeping you from your goals.

Slawek Polinski is a motivational and personal development speaker inspiring audiences to overcome their obstacles, challenges and limiting beliefs. Slawek motivates people to achieve, purpose, direction an passion in their lives and to reach for heights that were in the past out of reach.

The 11 Basics of Goal Setting

By Leslie Fieger

Careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy

"Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals." -Aristotle

"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal." -Elbert Hubbard

Millions of words have been written about goal setting. Millions of people set goals. Yet, most goals set by most people remain unfulfilled. I have distilled (from experience and education) the eleven essentials of successful goal setting here for you. Follow these and you will accomplish your goals. Fail to follow these and you probably will not. No hype. No rah-rah encouragement. No fluff. Just the simple explanation of how and why to set and ACCOMPLISH goals.

Your goals must be:

1. Original

2. Inspirational

3. Harmonious

4. Realistic

5. Idealistic

6. Specific

7. Adaptable

8. Visualized

9. Affirmed

10. Time related

11. Written down

1. Goals must be original. That does not mean that they cannot be the same or similar to the goals that others may have; it means that they must be yours, not secondhand. Many people set goals according to the hopes and expectations that they have been programmed to have by parents, teachers, society or cultural norms.

As a consequence they do not own these goals. You cannot generally have or hold what is not yours or even if you do manage to keep it, it will not have any value or meaning to you. What's the point then of having it? The real reason you set and hope to achieve goals is not just to have the thing, it is to be happy and fulfilled in the accomplishment.

Set goals that are yours; not inherited or assumed. If they are not your own original goals, even if you manage to accomplish them, it will mean very little to you. Why waste your life pursuing something that will end up as meaningless?

2. Goals must be inspirational. They must arouse your passion. This must be a consuming passion, not some whim or 'someday I'd like to' feeling. You must desire passionately to achieve what you set as a goal. It must drive you to action and you must feel fulfilled in that action because you know that it is leading to the fulfillment of your goal.

It is passion that drives you to move continuously toward your goal. It is passion that keeps you from getting distracted. It is passion that keeps you from getting discouraged. It is passion that fuels your motivation. It is passion that draws others to you to assist in your goals. It is passion that inspires you and others. It is passion that lights your way through the darkness that you will find along the way.

Get passionate about your goals or get passionate about someone else's. Life without passion is not a life; it is merely an existence.

3. Goals must be harmonious. Obviously, you cannot have conflicting goals in life or you will be conflicted. That's the easy part. Your goals, however, must also be in harmony with your core beliefs and your self-assigned purpose in life.

It is easy to understand that to having conflicting goals will raise your stress levels and frustrate you. Yet, people do that to themselves all the time.

It is not so easy to understand that you may have some deep set unconscious game plan for your life (whether from some basic spiritual urge or from some sense of undefined purpose) and the goals you set may actually be in conflict with that real, but hidden, game plan.

First, decide who you are and what you are here to do and then set your goals in alignment with that; or you, yourself, on a subconscious or super conscious level will continually be sabotaging your goals.

4. Goals must be realistic. There is not much point in setting a goal to personally live on Mars, if you are today (in 2003) over 95. The goals you set for yourself must be achievable within the framework of what is humanly possible.

But (and this is important) realistic does not mean what the majority commonly accepts as realistic. Most people did not think that it was realistic to attempt to fly a bicycle with wings and a motor attached, but two brothers named Wright did. Most people did not think it was realistic to build a personal computer for people to use in their home, but two guys named Steve did.

These 4 guys changed reality for all of us. Their goals were obviously, in retrospect, quite realistic. Don't let your imagination be hemmed in by the crowd.

5. Goals must be idealistic. In two ways--they must involve your personal ideals in the five mentioned areas of your life and they must be progressively higher or further ahead than you are at now.

If your goals are not in tune with your ideals, you will be conflicted. Most people are, in some way, in conflict with the different aspects of self: Material and Financial ($$$ & Things); Physical and Environmental (Health of body, home and world); Emotional and Relationship (Happiness, Love, Social contact); Mental and Educational (Learning, Awareness, Self-knowledge); Spiritual and Ethical (Unity, Life purpose, Values, Sacredness). This is why they are unhappy and why they do not achieve their highest potential. Set your goals in harmony with your ideals.

If your goals are not idealistic (in the sense that they are progressive), you will get bored and unsatisfied. People (those who don't understand) often wonder why those who are already extremely wealthy continue to pursue more wealth. It is because the ideal is always being extended or raised. Great achievers don't rest on their laurels. Each goal achieved is merely a stepping-stone to more and greater achievement. It is not the end in itself.

6. Goals must be specific. Goals like "I want to be rich" are not worth the paper they are printed on. Rich must be defined. $1 million in the bank might mean rich to most people but it means poor to many others. It is the same for more ethereal goals. I want to be happy means nothing. Happy must be defined just as rich must be defined. I want to be spiritually fulfilled is the same...meaningless, unless defined.

What does rich mean to you? Exactly. What does happy mean to you? Don't know exactly? Then how on earth will you ever even know if you get there? I have met a lot of people who say that they are on a spiritual path. I like to ask where that path is leading. Most can't say anything specific. It is all very nebulous. If your destination is not defined, how in heaven's name will you know if and when you get there?

7. Goals must be adaptable. One of my favorite jokes (which would offend some readers so I will not quote it here) involves a guy who had set a specific goal but when a gal came along to offer a much better fulfillment, he asked her to help him to accomplish his original one. Many people miss the better fulfillment of a goal because their focus on the one they had originally visualized is too intense and narrow to recognize the better one when it shows up.

Be sure that you are focused on the best possible fulfillment of your goal, not just on the method that you foresaw that goal fulfillment happening.

8. Goals must be visualized. If you cannot see it as real and as true and as a part of the way you live your life...it will not happen.

Many folks, when confronted with some seemingly outrageous possibility or goal, will comment, 'I'll believe it when I see it made real, not just some imaginary ideal.' The dreamers, schemers and achievers of history all had a different approach...'I see it. I believe it. It is real if it exists in my imagination.' Tiger Woods 'sees' his shots landing on the green a few feet from the cup before he takes the shot. The average golfer looks up (usually too soon) from his shot to see where it went. Guess whose shots end up where most often. Visualize the reality in your imagination and it will become real in your manifestation.

9. Goals must be affirmed. You must tell yourself all day, every day, in your constant conscious and subconscious self-talk that your goal is real and achievable. AND, you must tell others what your goal is so that they can 'buy into it' and contribute to it. If you don't believe in it enough to make it a part of your daily conversation and are not passionate enough about it to be compelled to talk about it to yourself and others, it is NOT real for you and it will NOT become real.

You will be surrounded by naysayers. Someone must speak the truth of the reality of your goal. That is your 24/7 job. Constantly affirm where you are headed and why. You'll end up not only convincing yourself but the world as well.

10. Goals must be time related. Everything exists in space and time. If something is not defined precisely in space and time, it does not exist. A goal of someday, I'd like to be financially secure, or someday, I'd like to climb that mountain does not, and it is highly likely that it WILL NOT ever, exist as anything other than nebulous wishful thinking. You must set specific times for your goals to be made manifest OR you will be forever going towards you goals and never quite reaching them.

Almost everyone in developed countries sets the goal of retirement in financial security, but the overwhelming do NOT achieve that. Why? One of the reasons is that it is always a 'someday' goal not a 'by June 21st 2004' goal. Of course, it is also likely that these people are also not applying the other 10 rules of effective goal setting.

11. Goals must be written down. If it exists only in your head, it is only wishful thinking. This is the basic, proven by experience, truth of the matter...95% of people who have specific written goals, accomplish them; and 95% of people who have unwritten goals (specific or not) do not. If you can read that sentence and not begin immediately to write down your goals, you might as well resign yourself to the fact that you will not accomplish what you imagine you want to be, do and have in life.

7 Things You Didn't Know About Goal Setting

By Alex Work

Careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy

We have all heard about SMART. SMART goals this, SMART goals that. Is that all there is to goal setting? Of course not!
Here are seven things you should be thinking about when you are setting goals:

1. Goal setting is messy. Chasing after our dreams is rarely a journey without casualties. Usually it's our pride or self-confidence that fall victim to plans that were a little ambitious. Either way, making radical changes to our lives is not a cut-and-paste process, it requires getting a little dirty sometimes. Accept that things won't go according to plan, and vow to see it through.

2. Stop doing the same thing. We have this weird habit of falling back into patterns, promises and goals that are familiar to us. Why do we do this? We're creatures of habit. If you bombed at a goal to run a marathon, don't take the same approach. Try something different until you find something that works.

3. Don't make ridiculous goals. "I am going to go to the gym every day" is a toughie. What if you get sick? If you miss a day to pneumonia does that mean you've failed? Be realistic about what you are capable of.

4. Surprises are coming your way. Nothing even goes according to plan a hundred percent of the time. If it did we wouldn't have protracted wars, famine, or deviance. If our plans fell in place every time it would be a boring place to live. Accept that things are going to go askew from time to time, and be willing to not let yourself get knocked off the proverbial horse when that first big surprise comes bouldering down at you from the top of your mountain.

5. Too much change isn't a good thing. We need time to break bad habits. It's extremely difficult to unshackle ourselves from years or decades of sloppy habits and attitudes. Don't expect a miracle change overnight. Trying to change too many things at once will water down your efforts. Focus your energies on changing one or two things at a time.

6. Don't make your goal public until you have really thought it through. Big public declarations generally only make you look silly in the long run. And this makes you less likely to strive to make big, positive changes in your life the next time around. Research your goal, get a good idea of whether it is realistic or not, and then dive into it.

7. Start Immediately. Waiting until next week, next month, New Years or whatever to start something ensures that you will never get to it. If it's so worth accomplishing, why on earth would you want to wait another day to get started? The desire to create life-lasting change should originate from your passions and motivations, not a date on the calendar.