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Your Goals for 2008: Staying On Course

Written by: Trina Roach-Raschke

Article Overview: How can you insure that your professional objectives for 2008 are not only more realistic than they were in 2007, but also bigger and more in line with your personal values and beliefs?

Your Goals for 2008: Staying On Course

Now that the first quarter of 2008 has come to a close, it's time to look back at the objectives you set for yourselves at the end of 2007. To be more successful in achieving your goals, you have to look critically at where you succeeded, as well as where you may have fallen short in the first three months of the year - and why.

How can you insure that your personal and professional objectives for 2008 are not only more realistic than they were in 2007, but also bigger and more in line with your personal values and beliefs? More importantly, how can you improve your success rate when it comes to transforming your ambition to make significant professional changes into concrete results in 2008?

To support you as you assess your progress for the first quarter of this year and prepare you to realign yourself with your goals for 2008, here are ten important things you should consider:

1. Limit the overall number of goals you set! Having a long list of (minor or peripheral) goals does not mean you are more serious about manifesting change in your professional life. It simply puts more stress on you, and unnecessarily distracts energy from the things you really want (or need) to accomplish.

2. Be honest with yourself about why you want to achieve each specific goal. Make sure the issues you choose to focus on truly reflect your values and beliefs in your professional life, as well as the purpose you would like to fulfill.

3. Be aware of whether you are addressing the real issues with your goals, and no simply doctoring a symptom for something much larger that you are reluctant to confront directly.

4. Make sure all your goals are S.M.A.R.T. In other words, all your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Based.

5. Divide your goal(s) into tangible steps and concrete phases. This will give you significant short- and mid-term milestones - and plenty of opportunities for self-motivation all along the way.

6. Decide beforehand how YOU define success for each step/phase/overall goal. Remember that you are doing what you are doing for yourself, so do not measure your progress using someone else's measuring stick.

7. Based on the type of person you are, decide what tools and strategies will be most effective in helping you stay on course to achieve your goals.

8. Recruit personal or professional "cheerleaders" who will help encourage and motivate you along the way. Remember, too, that a cheerleader is not a "yes-man". A timely bit of constructive criticism - if heeded - will get you closer to your goals than any amount of affirmative head-nodding can.

9. Do not be afraid to "fall off the wagon" from time to time during the coming months - just don't forget to get back on it again!

10. Things will happen during the year that you can't foresee right now, so do not hesitate to adjust/revise your goals accordingly.

No matter what level of success you achieved during the first quarter of 2008, you've passed one important milestone. It's a great time to celebrate your accomplishments, as well as to fine-tune your planning for the next quarter.

"...Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing..."

~ Abraham Lincoln ~

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Article Tags: achieving your goals, ambition, concrete results, first quarter, first three months, important things, milestones, months of the year, personal values, professional changes, professional life, professional objectives, self motivation, stress, success rate, values and beliefs



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