Leaders set goals. What are your goal achievement strategies?
January 26, 2009 by Suzi Dafnis
In a recent blog post my favourite marketer Seth Godin said:
“It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact… those people have goals.”
I’m currently compiling the next issue of our Women in Business e-newsletter and would like to include your tips for goal achievement (as opposed to goal setting).
What has worked for you? What has not? Please add a comment to share your thoughts.
A compilation of these answers along with your contact info (and permission of course) will be published for our community of women across Australia to learn from.
Here’s a sample of our current newsletter
NEWS: We’ve just announced a new business webinar on Goals. We’ll be looking at a number of ways to set goals… So you can pick and choose ones that suit you. But more important than setting the goals is how do you achieve them in your already full life? You’ll learn a number of tips and tricks to do just that based on actual experience… not just theoretical ideals. Here’s the info.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Warm wishes,
Suzi Dafnis
hi Suzi
Here are my strategies for goal achievement:
* Books – reading books written by leaders in business to broaden my knowledge
* Coaching – working with a coach to keep my motivation and focus
* Community – sharing goals and challenges with a business community to give me access to different insights and perspectives.
Kind regards, Maria
At the start of the week, I identify, document and where appropriate diarise, the SMART things I’m doing during the coming week.
S = Significant events
M = Meetings (includes training eg. ABN webinars)
A = Achievements to attain
R = Recognising roadblocks
T = Time out eg. exercise or something for me.
Then I meet with my accountability buddy for a walk and a coffee to go over my SMARTs for last week and what is planned for the coming week.
As a solopreneur it has been very helpful to keep me focussed.
As coaches we are always looking at ways to attain our business and personal goals. As a visual person I need to see where I am going and many years ago created a vision/dream board. Placing photos/pictures of what I wanted in my life..
That was over 4 years ago and glad to report most things on that board I live daily. Now being on the internet I have found the best tool to have the visual, with inspiring music and my personal pictures. It is my Mind Movie
http://www.mindmovies.com/6/?12766
here is mine if you want a peak where we are going..
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy_IiCQP-UE
Hello Suzi,
Here’s what works for me and – without exception – all of my coachees when it comes to achieving goals: Write your goals down or, if you like, draw pictures of them. After you have finished your list or picture put it where you can see it every day.
“Goals that are not written down are just wishes” is an old saying that is only too true. Writing down your goals is the first step towards achieving them. Why? Because the moment you put them on paper they become tangible and you create a commitment on your part.
I find that, if you’re an extremely visual person look for objects that symbolise your goals in stead of writing about them. Or get your camera and take photos that stand for your goals! Be creative and have fun!
Looking daily at my “collage” of goal objects, photos, drawings and writings not only focuses me on achieving my goals but also makes me smile and energises me to work on accomplishing them.
According to statistics only about three to five percent of the population actually takes the time to write their goals down. And guess what? It’s exactly the same percentage that achieves them. That’s quite an eye opener for myself and everyone I work with. Hope it is for you too!
Good luck and best wishes,
Claudia Raab
Hi Suzi
I LOVE writing goals down, heres how i make sure i acheive them:
*What are the top 3 goals for your business and personal life over the next 12 months?
*What are the top 3 goals for your business and personal life for the next 90 days/3 months? (Make sure they are in line with your 12 month goals, if you acheive your 3 month goals do they take you one step closer to acheiving your 12 month?)
*Do them same for the next 1 month/30 days.
*Take each of your 30 day goals and write a list of ‘to-dos’ for each of them, make sure it is very practical, something you can tick off. Put the to-do’s in order of first to last task needed to accomplish the goal in full.
*Put a time frame next to each ‘to-do’ ie, 30mins, 2 hours, 5 hours, etc… however long you think it will take you, double it! if you think the task will take you 1 hour, write down it will take you 2. Because we usually understimate and it is always better to get it done quicker than we thought rather than longer.
*Put your to-do’s into your weekly planners (i use outlook) for the next 1 month. So for example if you have a 2 hour goal to ‘write content for your home website page’ where is that going to fit in your weekly calendar… monday 1-3pm? Make sure you have approx 5 hours of your goals tasks in each week. (if you can do more great, but a min of 5 hours each week is my recommendation)
Having your goals broken down into well thought out practical to-do’s and diarising them make it so much easier to accomplish during each week. This is really motivating and makes you really feel like you are acheiving and working towards your bigger and long term goals. Have Fun!
Hi Suzi
A favourite achievement strategy is my daily ‘ten-minute review’ of what I have done during the day to achieve my outcomes.
*I generally do this just before I go to sleep to allow my unconscious mind to integrate any lessons while I’m sleeping.
**Someone else may prefer another place and time. The point is to be able to relax undisturbed for a few minutes at the end of the day.
*I run a mental video of what I have done during the day, particularly peak events.
**Someone who is more comfortable with auditory cues may prefer to enter these memories via their sounds. On the other hand, a person who prefers the kinaesthetic mode may like to recall what these events felt like, and go from there.
*As I watch this video, I ask myself how I could have done better, however I describe that result. For example, how could I have been more effective, efficient and/or compassionate? In asking and answering these questions, I benchmark my performance.
**BTW, it’s important that I undertake this Q&A from the perspective of a loving yet detached observer. Berating or feeling sorry for myself simply interferes with the process.
*I then re-run my mental video. While I do that, I re-imagine myself being, thinking and acting in the way I would prefer. I allow myself sense fully what it would be like, to be the way I am imagining.
*As I doze off, I give myself (ie my unconscious mind) a very specific and firm instruction to:
**learn from the day’s experiences, and
**use this learning appropriately to improve my future performance.
*When I plan my new day (mentally and on paper), this benchmarking process and lessons learned enable me to stay on track.
Best wishes
Jeanne Hugoe-Matthews
Whenever I have been shown goal-setting processes in the past, I have felt overwhelmed by their complexity. Breaking bigger goals into smaller pieces then working out plans for each of the pieces all got too hard!!
So, I developed what I call the Pick, Peel, Squeeze technique, which only has three simple steps:
Pick a goal – make sure it is one you actually want, not a “should” or a “would be nice if”!
Peel away the obstacles – what has stopped you doing this already?
Squeeze – decide on then take the first baby step as soon as possible…the motivation created by the first drop of action will help you get going on the rest of the steps.
These three steps will help you get “juiced up” about your goal and the small results you get at the start will soon multiply.
Positive outcomes lead to more positive results…
…which fits perfectly into my motto, that “positivity pays”!
Happy Juicing!
Helen Mac
http://www.helenmac,com
When setting goals i teach and practice a tool called the TROW model.
T = Long term goal
G = Short term goal/steps you can start taking towards the long term goal
R = What is your reality? Where are you currently? Is there possiblities for any obstacles etc. So basically identying your position now
O = What options do you have and what actions can you start taking immediatley
W = When will you do this by? How will i know? etc.
Before i even start this process, i visualise the outcome, then i visualise what would happen if i did not achieve this goal, i.e. the worst possible scenario (extreme pain).
This enhances the ‘wanting to achieve the goal even more’.
So now we can see the end goal acknowledging the greatness of achieveing it and how easy it can be as long as we are motivated and determined. If we fall then we go back to, what would i not have/lose if i do not take the action, what else can i do?
Goal achievement – wow. That is a huge area…
The following items work for me:
Staying focussed;
The needs to be in front of me so I can read/see it every day (for example: I have a 7-year plan above my desk and in my compendium as well as a “day in my life” seven years from now.)
Action;
take lots of action towards the goal. Even if they are little action steps and CELEBRATE THEM!
Environment;
Having the right environment and the right people around me to help me on my path towards my goal. It is so important to have the right, supporting people in my life. They keep you going in times when you feel you may not achieve what you want. It sometimes means letting go of people that do not serve a purpose any longer (closing that energy loop, as you’ll need that energy for action and focus)
Believe;
truly belief you can DO IT! Also having that real emotional connection to my 7-year plan is such a driver…
Consistent;
Being consistent in doing the right thing every day. Also review what you have done and work out how to improve it if it hasn’t given you the result you want or doesn’t move you closer to your goal.
Share with others (use your network);
Talking to people about what I’m doing is important for me, as it gives me new ideas, review what I’m saying (listen to my language) and keeps reminding me I am doing this for ME. (Also, it ensures that some people will keep me accountable..)
Cheers,
Bianca