Moving into a new year, it is vital to commit your thinking to paper and write out your goals for the year. Committing goals to paper is a powerful exercise which uses first, out conscious mind to determine what we want to achieve, and then frees our mind from having to consciously remember our goals to enable our unconscious mind to do its job, utilising our Reticular Activating System to go “searching” and notice opportunities and synchronicities to achieve our goals.
Successful goal setting is a 5 step process:
Step 1 Identify what you want
Begin by asking yourself “what do I want?” in each major life are:
- Physical
- Emotional
- Mental
- Lifestyle
- Spiritual
- Business/ career
- Finances
- Relationships
- Family
- Partner
It is important to dream big and to let your thoughts just flow without limiting or judging these ideas. One way that I find useful is to begin and frame this activity by asking yourself, “If I had every skills and resource in the world what would I choose to be, do and have?”
Step 2 SMART Goals
Once you have decided these, you need to make these SMART goals by stating them as if they have already happen and are real and concrete. To do this, ask yourself, “How would I know I have this?”
Step 3 Benefits of achieving your goals – what’s in it for you?
Make a list against each life are of the major benefits of achieving your goals
Step 4 Potential Blocks
Sometimes we have limiting beliefs or there are some potential blocks that could stop us form achieving our goals. It is important to identify what these potential b locks are then we can include in our strategy a way to address these and mitigate any risk so that we can remain on track to achieving our goals.
Step 5 Take Action
Once you have identified what you want and how you will know we have achieved it, you need to take action to achieve your goals. You will need to ask yourself what steps need to happen for you to achieve your goals. Next to each goal write down what you need to do step by step to achieve it.
Remember, a goal without action is only a dream.
Here is an example of a goal list
| Life Area | Goals | Potential Barriers | Actions |
| Physical | Weight 59kgExercise daily / Yoga dailyIncrease raw food in diet to 90%
Sleep 8 hrs / night Stop smoking |
Lack timeLack motivationToo busy
Boredom |
Maintain daily habit of exerciseKeep journal of exercise and dietGo to bed at 9 pm |
| Emotional | Maintain emotional resilienceBe spontaneously joyfulPractice mindfulness
Manage stress |
Notice emotions moment to momentReframe negative emotionsMeditate daily | |
| Lifestyle | To spend time with people who inspire me and have funTo travel to AfricaTo have a 3 day weekend every month | Too busyLack funds | Invite friends to lunch monthlyResearch trip to Africa and make plansPlan long weekend each month and put in diary |
| Mental | Be leading expert in my fieldFeed my mind with stimulating and uplifting knowledgeTake piano lessons | Lack time | Read inspiring and educative literature dailyStop watching news and reading newspaperFind piano teacher
Have piano tuned |
| Spiritual | To grow in my knowledge and wisdom of divineness and oneness | Meditate dailyRead inspiring texts from world religionsSpend time in contemplation
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| Partner | To maintain and grow our wonderful relationship in a mutually supportive and nurturing way | ||
| Family | Spend time quarterly with extended family | Keep in contact by email with extended familyOrganise one family event / year | |
| Financial | To pay off credit card debitTo reduce mortgage by 20%To fund 2 investment properties
|
Maintain savings planIncrease monthly repayments on mortgagePay off credit card each month | |
| Business | To have a mentorTo grow business to $2 million turnover | TimeLack delegationLoose focus
|
Ask person I admire to mentor meDevelop business plan for2010Develop new business lines
Commit 20$% of budget to marketing Do 5 things every day to grow business |