Your mind provides your most important goal-setting tool. In order to maximize your chance of accomplishing all that you desire, you will need to apply time-tested goal-setting techniques to the initial formulation of your goals. You will also have to create a detailed strategic plan for achieving these goals and build feedback, review and analysis into the process of executing them.
Imagery
The first step in getting your mind to work for you is to fill it with positive images. Choose goals that passionately arouse you, rather than goals that bore you or have been set by other people's expectations. You should also choose goals that you can easily visualize; if you want to get into shape, for example, imagine yourself thin and healthy-looking. Your goal should be clear enough for you to easily understand it and immediately identify the first steps you need to take to make it happen, according to the University of Kentucky.
Performance Orientation
State your goals in terms of your own performance rather than the ultimate outcome, advises MayoClinic.com. Instead of aiming to finish in the top 10 percent in the marathon, for example, set a target finishing time. Better yet, set your goal to run a certain number of miles in practice three times a week and to match or exceed your best practice time in the race. This orientation keeps achieving your goals within your control.
Positive Statements
Frame your goals as positive statements by focusing on what you want to do, rather than what you want to avoid, counsels the Turner Leadership Academy. Sometimes this is difficult, as in the case of trying to frame "quit smoking" positively, for example. In such a case, you might want to set a positive goal for which quitting smoking will be required, such as running a marathon.
Challenge Level
Find your ideal challenge zone in which motivation is maximized. If your goals are too challenging, you will lose heart when it becomes clear that you cannot achieve them. If your goals are too easy, you will not get excited about accomplishing them. Find the middle ground between these too extremes. If you must err, err on the side of greater challenge, because you may find out that you can do more than you think you can.
Priorities
You are likely to be tempted to set too many goals. If you become overwhelmed, you will end up dropping some of your goals, thereby wasting the time and energy you already invested in them. The key to avoiding this is to prioritize your goals from the very beginning and eliminate or postpone low-priority goals.
When prioritizing, consider not only objective factors, but also your personal feelings; taking a trip to Hawaii, for example, might be more important to you than it would be to someone else. If you become overwhelmed midway through, you will know which goals to eliminate first as long as you have them prioritized.
Flexibility
Obstacles will arise to frustrate your plans. Build contingency plans into your goal-setting process in the form of if-then statements, advises MayoClinic.com. You should also plan for failures in your own willpower. Identify in advance the temptations you may face; an office picnic may threaten your diet goals, for example. Plan in advance how to overcome these challenges and how to forgive yourself quickly if you do slip.
Journaling
Write all of your goals in a journal, and include all of the steps necessary for accomplishing them. Check off goals and steps as you accomplish them. Include a comments section in which you analyze your failures, design plans to remedy them and keep track of how well your remedies worked. If you slipped up and had a cigarette while at a bar, for example, you might want to add a goal of avoiding bars for a month after you quit smoking. You might want to organize your journal into a contract with yourself; just make sure to leave room for modification.
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