Achieve Your Goals
Author: Sheila Cohill

DETERMINE YOUR GOALS

When people set goals, they all too often create a "laundry list" of hopes and wishes they never get around to fulfilling. While their feelings and thoughts might be in the right place when they make their list, they probably haven’t thought realistically about how they were going to achieve their goals.

To determine a goal, you need to feel it’s right, think it’s right, and then do it right!


Feel It

Go ahead and list up to three lofty, idealistic desires. Remember, at this point you’re not thinking about how you’re going to achieve them; you’re just throwing out some ideas that feel right to you. Limit the number to three so that the tendency to create a "laundry list" doesn’t interfere. Be general. Choose broad aspirations.

From the three items you feel strongly about, pick the one that has the most immediate value to you.


Think It

Now that you have a desire you feel strongly is right for you, bring it down a notch to a more practical level by thinking about it. Phrasing your desire in words will help to clarify your thoughts about it and narrow it down to a more specific, and therefore more practical, level. Your phrase should have three parts.

The first part should be the words, "I choose to." These words indicate that what you want is something you are deciding you want. It gives you an upper hand because the decision to go after the desire is yours and yours alone.

The second part of your phrase should be a word of action, a verb. Since you can’t achieve a goal without taking some action, you need to phrase your goal with an action word.

The third part of the phrase should include words that make your action measurable. Be specific. For example, if you want to lose weight, your phrase might be, "I choose to lose twenty pounds."

Don’t worry at this point about how you will do it. Just think about what it is you want to do and in three parts state your goal.


Do It

Once you have stated your goal, you need to do only two things: plan specific steps on how you will go about achieving your goal, and follow that plan.


PLAN THE WORK/WORK THE PLAN

Yes, work is involved! But it’s the kind of work that has a good purpose, because you are choosing the goal based on a strong feeling that it’s right for you.


Plan the Work

To plan the work, start with your stated goal and add the specific steps you need to take to achieve it. First add the word "by" to the phrase you developed earlier, then begin each specific step with another action word followed by a specific, measurable
description.

For example, if your stated goal is, "I choose to lose twenty pounds," you might change it to the following statement: "I choose to lose twenty pounds by exercising thirty minutes every day, adding three portions of vegetables to my diet each day, and reducing my intake of chocolate to one candy bar a week." Notice how each of the three specific steps begins with a verb and is very specific about measuring the action described by the verb.

If possible, next break down your specific steps into even more specific sub-steps, and include these in your plan. For example, after your goal statement, you might add, "To exercise thirty minutes every day, I choose to alternate between following a thirty-minute aerobics video; walking for thirty minutes; or lifting weights to tone my abdomen, arms, and legs." With each step or sub-step, get as detailed as possible. Put each specific, detailed action you choose to take in your plan.

As an incentive, some people might prefer to set a time limit on when they will reach their goal. Others might find that placing a time limit produces too much anxiety to take the necessary actions. If you want to put a time limit in your plan, add to your goal statement a sentence such as, "I will lose twenty pounds by my birthday this year." If you don’t want to give yourself a time limit, then don’t.


Work the Plan

To work the plan, read your plan every morning and every night. Doing so will keep you motivated. Also perform each specific step or sub-step in your plan.

It sounds simple, and if you keep up your motivation and follow through with your specific steps and sub-steps, you will achieve your goal. But sometimes, things don’t always go as planned.


WHEN PLANS GO AWRY

Adapt--that’s the key to achieving your goals when your plans to reach them go awry. Adapt the specific steps or sub-steps you need to follow, adapt your goal statement, or adapt your whole plan if necessary. After all, you’re choosing to bring your desire to fruition, and if you still have the desire, you now know how to go about getting it.

If you can think on your feet, you’ll be flexible enough to act when things don’t go the way you expected. Learn to adapt to conditions around you, or learn to adapt the conditions around to you--do what you can to align outside forces with your plan without giving up your desire, and you will achieve your goals!








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Sheila Cohill (http://SheilaCohill.homestead.com/) is a freelance writer and editor who contributes biweekly to the Personal Development topic (http://www.Suite101.com/personal_development) at Suite 101 (http://www.Suite101.com).

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