Effective Goal Setting Techniques

Effective Goal Setting Techniques
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Setting both short term and long term goals can help you improve your productivity, efficiency, work and home life. Reduce the amount of time you waste each day and free up time for leisure activities or other priorities, like family. Goal setting is a key component of personal organization, enabling you to choose how to use and manage your time.

Get Organized

Organizing tasks and projects at home or work can help you to set reasonable and attainable goals, and work to achieve them. Break projects and goals down into smaller tasks and actionable steps. Delegate those tasks, defer them to later or handle them as soon as possible, recommends David Allen, author of Getting Things Done. Sorting paperwork, emails, and ideas, thoughts and actionable tasks can clear your mind, your desk and your inbox, allowing you to focus on your goals.

Write It Down

Putting your goals in writing can help you to maintain your focus. You can use a notebook, track your goals online, or keep them on your calendar. Track your progress toward your goal to stay motivated. Make you goal specific and make a plan to achieve it. Set a timeline or deadline to help you avoid procrastination. Assess your goals periodically to see if they still fit with your life and needs, recommends Gary Ryan Blair, the GoalsGuy.

Support and Accountability

Create a support system to achieve your goals. Friends, family members, co-workers and mentors can all be a good choice. You should select people you feel connected to and admire to help you succeed and hold you accountable. Reward your successes in progress toward your goal, recommends Time-Management-Guide.com, but expect steps back or failures as well. Make a promise to yourself that you will achieve your goals and remember that you owe it to yourself to keep your promise.

References

Article reviewed by Jenna Marie Last updated on: Aug 12, 2010

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