Tweet

Create A Habit of Goal-Setting

Written by: Howard Shore

Article Overview: One of the most beneficial habits you can create in life is goal-setting. As an executive coach, one of my biggest priorities with clients is to get them to set and write down goals on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. By setting goals they dramatically increase success.

Create A Habit of Goal-Setting

One of the most beneficial habits you can create in life is goal-setting. As an executive coach, one of my biggest priorities with clients is to get them to set and write down goals on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. By setting goals they dramatically increase success.

We are all creatures of habit and actually operate over 85% of our daily lives through these habits. For example, we drive to and from work pretty much the same way every day. This is because our brains are trying to operate efficiently. Once we find the best route, it is logical to stick to it. It takes less time and energy to follow a familiar route than to try to learn a different way to accomplish the same task.

If you make a habit of goal-setting you can increase your success level by at least three times what it would be without that new habit. Goal-setting works for the simple reason that human beings are goal-seekers by nature. Starting from birth, we behaved or didn’t behave in certain ways for the purpose of getting a parent’s approval or attention. As we got older we did things to seek our friends’ approval, or worked hard to get good grades to get to the next level of school. It is very unlikely that someone would get a law degree, for example, if they did not believe that it was integral to achieving a desired goal.

Goal-setting has five important benefits:
1. Defines Winning – Sports give us a great example of the importance of being able to define winning. Watching the score while rooting for your team to win is an integral part of the allure and excitement of any sport. How many people would want to go and watch the Miami Heat for 82 games with no scoreboard? Even when a fan cannot watch the game, you will find them checking the newspaper or online to see which team won and how the players on their team did.
2. Keeps You Focused - The most common obstacle to success is that people naturally gravitate to the symptoms of poor focus; day-to-day “fire drills.” By having goals and visiting them daily, we are better able to prioritize.
3. Makes For Better Decisions – In simple terms, how can you make a decision without knowing what you want the outcome (e.g. goal) of that decision to be? By setting goals you are in a better position to know how much time to spend on the decision, what information you need, and which alternative is best.
4. Increases Self-Motivation – As mentioned above, we are goal-seekers by nature. Once a person has decided on a goal, self-motivation begins.
5. Develops Self-Confidence – Once a person has set and achieved a goal, it increases self-confidence. Higher self-confidence leads to more goal-setting, and as the next goal is achieved the pattern continues.

A great example of the benefits of goal-setting is a lawyer I worked with who wanted to increase his firm revenue without working any more hours. He actually wanted to work less. Prior to hiring me there was no firm goal for monthly billing. All that was known was that more was desired. The first step in our process was to establish some preliminary goals for monthly billing that, in this case, was 50% more than current levels. Within 150 days this attorney doubled his billings and was working no more hours than he was previously.

Once a goal is established, an organization or individual is in a position to have regular discussions that can focus around where actual results are compared to a goal. When on target, thoughts and discussion should focus on future trends or obstacles that can throw us off track. When not on track, it is important to identify causes and develop action plans to get back on track.

Related Articles
  Create New Success Habits!
  Guidelines To Success
  Create Habits That Will Serve You Well
  The Art of Transforming Subconscious Habits Behaviors The 3Step Super Shift Process
  How to Accomplish Your Goals As Soon As Possible By Using This Powerful Method

Article Tags: executive coach, habit, priorities, SelfConfidence, setting goals



Related Forum Posts
Rich Schefren on Business Systems Video - Bigjim, 1. Create a systemized business 2. build accountability into your team 3. document your processes
Re: Getting Press Coverage - Thanks for those extra tips again Evan. Also don't forget the 'purple cow' theory. Create something truly awesome and unique and people will pay attention, including journalists. I have some off the wall stuff planned for 2010.
Re: 4 Ways to Go From Employee to Entrepreneur - The situation that Wezi describes is more the norm than the exception. I have spoken to many "entrepreneurs-to-be" that have a desire to work for themselves but can't overcome the fear of making that critical leap. The truth of the matter is, if fear is preventing you from moving forward with your own business you need to overcome that fear first. To do this, try this exercise: 1. Write down as many detailed reasons why you are DISSATISFIED with remaining in your job until you retire. E.g., it won't let you achieve the lifestyle you desire; you are sick of commuting an hour each day; etc. 2. Write down in as much detail as possible your VISION of what your life will be like once you have your own business and you are fully engaged in it. Enjoy this step. 3. Create a list of the action steps you need to actually complete to get things rolling. What do you need to do first? Second? Third? Create a step by step plan. These three steps all work together to overcome any resistance you may feel towards making a major change in your career. If after these exercises, you are still too afraid, look at what you have written down. Chances are one of the three forces for change (dissatisfaction, vision, or first steps) are not yet strong enough to overcome your fear. Perhaps, once you really thought about it, things aren't really that bad in your current career, etc.... Hope this helps.
Ways To Improve Your Alexa Ranking 11-15 - 11. Create a webmaster tools section on your website. This is a magnet for webmasters who will often revisit your website to gain access to the tools. Aaron Wall’s webpage on SEOTools is a very good example. 12. Get Dugg or Stumbled. This usually brings massive numbers of visitors to your website and the sheer amount will have a positive impact on your Alexa Rank. Naturally, you’ll need to develop link worthy material. 13. Use PayperClick Campaigns. Buying advertisements on search engines such as Google or Exact Seek will help bring in Traffic. Doubly useful when your ad is highly relevant to webmasters. 14. Create an Alexa category on your blog and use it to include any articles or news about Alexa. This acts as an easily accessible resource for webmasters or casual search visitors while helping you rank in the search engines. 15. Optimize your popular posts. Got a popular post that consistently receives traffic from the search engines? Include a widget/graph at the bottom of the post, link to your Alexa post or use Alexa redirection on your internal URLs.
Q&A: What are your tips for creating a successful blog? - Q: What are your tips for creating and maintaining a successful blog? Hi Ayaan - here are 7 suggestions for you: 1) Focus on a niche - pick an area that you're an expert in and are interested in and stick to that niche. 2) Create pillar content - write a number of posts that are evergreen and interesting. If a new visitor checks out your blog it should be easy to quickly find your pillar content and get them interested in reading more. 3) Create a list - give an incentive to readers to subscribe to your blog by entering their email address. This way you can turn one time visitors into lifetime readers. 4) Have a regular posting schedule - bloggers often post like crazy when they first start a blog and then their schedule fades. Don't start with too many posts and create a schedule that you can't stick with. 5) Build linkbait posts - timely posts that use infographics, top 7/10/50 lists, newsworthy topics, etc can generate a lot of attention and links to your blog. 6) Tweet it out - whenever you post, tweet about it so your followers know to check out your new entry. 7) Engage other bloggers - comment on other blogs that are in your niche. If you focus on adding value then the bloggers will notice you and their readers will also click through to your site. Good luck!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

When Living the Dream isn't enough!

An Intelligent Contact Sheet

Sales Training – Top Salespeople Are Not Dunces

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.