Goals Setting - Why? What? How?

Goals Setting - Why? What? How?

Without destination, No one can reach no where. Our destination determines the direction we take. Would you board a train, or plane without knowing where it is going? Of course Not. Exactly the same case is with life. Life has no meaning if you don’t know what to achieve and what to do.

GOAL SETTING

Knowledge helps you to reach your destination - provided you know what the destination is. It is very important to have goals in life. To become successful, you should have first some goals, the purpose of your life.

People confuse goals with dreams and wishes. Dreams and wishes are nothing more than desires. Desires are weak. Desires become strong when they are supported by 5Ds.
• Direction
• Dedication
• Determination
• Discipline
• Deadline
These are what differentiate a desire from goal. Goals are Dreams with deadline, clear direction and an action plan. There is a big difference between written and unwritten goal. A written goal brings clearity and has the magnetic power to attract the goal. Goals can be worthy or unworthy.

Steps to turn a dream into reality-

• Definite, clear, written goal
• Proper action plan
• Read your goals and action plan twice a day

Your Goals should be SMART.

1. S for Specific. The statement “I want to loose weight” is wishful thinking. It becomes a goal when you pin yourself down to “I’ll loose 4 Kg in 90 days”.
2. M for Measurable. Measurement is a way of monitoring your progress. “I want to be happy.” Its not a goal, happiness is a stae of mind. The goal can be like- “I’ll spend one hour a day with my family that will give me happiness”. Now it’s a measurable goal. If you cannot measure it, you cannot achieve it.
3. A for Achievable. Achievable means that your goal should make you stretch or ne challenging, it should be slightly out of reach, but not oit sight. Out of reach is motivating, but of sight is demotivating.
4. R for Realistic. If your is to lose 4 kd in 4 days, it's being unrealistic.
5. T for Time Bound. You should set a starting date and a finishing date to reach your goal.

This was characteristics of Goals. And now there are 3 types of Goals-

1) Short Term - up to one year
2) Mid Term - up to three to years
3) Long Term - up to five years

Goals can be longer than five years but then they become a purpose of life. A lifetime goal is called a Purpose. Our short term and mid term goals must lead us to our purpose to achieve what is called Alignment. Having a purpose is very important.

Goals are more easily be achieved if they are broken into small ones.
As Gean Gordon also said that "Life is hard by the yard, But by the inch, It's a cinch"


Goals should be Consistent with Our Values.
Goals lead to Purpose in life. It is the starting point for success. Aim for the moon. Even if you miss, you will become one of the stars. All of us has in the world has purpose in life. And that purpose of course varies from person to person. An orchestra would be pretty dull if everyone played the same instrument.

It doesn't matter where we are today. What really matters is the direction we are heading in. Effort and courage without purpose is wasted. Worry leads to negative Goal setting. And obviously we don't want this to happen.

Now its also important to take into consideration that, Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking chair keeps moving but covers no distance. There ia a big difference between activity and accomplishment. If we confuse activity with accomplishment, we could fall for a trap, and we could be making great time but we don't know our destinations.


Now last thing about Goal setting which we should keep in mind that many times we have totally useless goals amd we end up in losing our energy in life. We all have seen a dog relaxed by the roadside corner. The moment a vehicle comes he jumps up, runs behind the car, goes fifty yards but doesn't catch the car. He comes back relaxed and sits back at the same spot. Till how long? Till the next car comes. Again he jumps, runs full speed behind the car goes fifty yards, doesn't catch the car, comes back relaxed. Again he sits back at the same spot. Till how long? Till the next car comes. A man observing this dog's behavior and he asked his friend, "Do you think that this dog will ever be able to catch the car? " His friend replied, "That's not even the question that came into my mind, I am wondering, what he will do, if he ever caught one. " Many times in life we keep behaving like the dog chasing totally useless goals and losing energies in life."


Now last but least, Action is the king. The goals, roadmap, planning, all these things are of no value if action is not taken on time.
As also Said by Gen. George, that-
"A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan next week. "