A major reason people are not happy with life is because they simply do not set smart goals. They are like a ship without sails drifting aimlessly wherever the currents and winds take them. The only plans they make are what to watch on TV that night and what TV dinner to accompany the show.
With goals I am always reminded of how vital they are from Victor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning” The book recounts Frankl’s experiences as an imprisoned Psychologist in a Nazi concentration camp. The people who survived the camps had goals. Victor wrote
“Any attempt to restore a man’s inner strength in camp, had first to succeed in showing him some future goal.”
Other Benefits Of Setting Goals
- Be a Happier Person
- Perform better in all areas of life
- Be more self-confident with less stress and anxiety
- Better concentration
Too Many Goal Setting Experts
We have all heard how important goals are a hundred times from a hundred different people. A web search on “goal setting” will give you a list of a couple million online resources on setting goals. It seems everyone is an expert on how to set goals. But how many of us have actually taken time to write out our goals and then refer to them daily. We always say we will do it tomorrow but tomorrow never comes.
Recommended Course On Goal Setting
My favorite online course and tool for setting, planning and managing goals is simpleology.com. The initial course is completely free “Simpleology 101 The Simple Science of Getting What You Want” . To be honest the free level is good enough, no need to pay for the upgrades. You get a complete course on goal setting and some useful online tools that you can install on your PC to keep you on track.
SMART Goals
It’s pretty universal the experts will tell you to set SMART Goals.
Specific
- Specific goals result in specific actions that can be evaluated objectively.
- Vague goals are hard to break down into specific actions. You will never know if your goal has been reached.
Measurable
- Measurable goals have specific evidence of progress. You can see the results which in turn provides you with the motivation and encouragement to continue.
- the measure can quantitative (e.g. a happier person) or qualitative (percentages, dollars)
Attainable
- Attainable goals have enough challenge to motivate but at the same time they need to be realistic and achievable so you don’t loose heart.
Relevant
- Relevant goals contribute to you Life goals or Life dreams. They must be Your goals not someone else’s.
Timely
- Goals need to have some completion time associated with them otherwise you will never get them done. We sometimes need a sense of urgency to get us moving.
Achieving Goals
Why do most people fail to achieve their goals ? Here are some of the major reasons. I am sure you can think of many others.
- Not enough thought put into the effort required to achieve the goal. The goal is just a dream.
- Too many goals. No single goal is a priority and they will never get the feeling of completion and accomplishment, just a feeling of being overwhelmed.
- Keep changing goals as new “interests” arise. Similar problem as the previous. It is ok to tweak individual goal plans as you learn better ways to achieve them but it is not good to completely change them. You will get nowhere fast.
- The goal is never reviewed daily. As a result the goal setter is not accountable and eventually will soon forget about it. We need to be reminded of and adjust our goals daily. Write down your goals and refer to them daily.
“An unwritten want is a wish, a dream, a never happen. the day you put your goal in writing is the day it becomes a commitment that will change your life. Are you Ready?” Tom Hopkins
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About Danny Sheehan
Danny lives in Hong Kong but is originally from Australia. He is Married to Maggie and together they have two children with whom they enjoy sharing and enjoying an exciting life with daily. Danny's passions are freedom, adventure and discovery, mainly in nature and science but also spiritually. He is a great believer in living in the NOW.
More about Danny Sheehan
Passion For life