Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? Are you on track with them? One important reason why New Year’s resolutions don’t stick is people don’t plan how to reach their goals. Personal Coaching is one way to ensure you progress toward your goals and make them happen. One tool that I use to help my clients kick-start their year with a personal Best Year Yet! ™ Plan.
Here are some of the important points from this tool that I ask clients to keep in mind when wording their goal statements. Correct wording can make all the difference between whether or not a goal is actually achieved. In fact, writing down your goals is fundamental to achieving them. Group studies of successful goal-oriented people have shown that when goals are written, they are 80% more likely to be achieved, than when they are just thought about.
Keys to Writing Effective Goals Phrase it in the NOW Most of us fall into the trap of thinking that we're going to create what we want in the future. Whenever you're holding in mind "I'm going to do this later, or tomorrow, or next week, or next year," you project your goal into the future and the future never seems to come.
Phrase it in the POSITIVE Focus on the solution, not on the situation that you want to change. For instance, what if you would like to stop smoking? The goal would not be phrased "Stop smoking." The mind does not translate the words "not," "don't," "stop," or any of the other words of negation. The mind thinks in pictures. For instance, right now, try not to think of a white elephant. What are you thinking of??? A white elephant!
Use positive verbiage to your advantage and word your goals so that the mind can actually put pictures to it. Try, "I allow myself to be a non-smoker." That's something you can see—other people who aren't smoking. It makes a huge difference when goals are worded in this manner because it points you to a better and more exciting future.
It should feel REAL or realistic Suppose you want to increase your income from $1,000 a week to $10,000 a week. $1,000 to $10,000 might be too big a jump for you to accept in just one goal. So you might want to start with an increase to $2,500 a week. That's a stretch from where you are, but it seems like something the mind can accept as a possibility. The more you make your goals attainable—more likely you are to be able to release any feelings of doubt that you have within you to achieve the goal. Then when you reach $2,500 a week, modify the same goal to $4,000 a week, and so on.
Be PRECISE and Concise Use as few words as possible while remaining enthusiastic when you read your goal. You don't want to put everything and the “kitchen sink” in one goal. Make multiple goals if you have to.
Make sure you word it to facilitate letting go. If your relationship goal is "I allow Mary (or Joe) to love me," you may find yourself trying to get them to love you, and they may not even be the right person for you. "I allow myself to have a loving relationship," is more open and inclusive, and could be your present relationship or a new one.
Eliminate the word "want" from your goals. Would you rather want to have a lot of money, the perfect relationship or good health, or would you rather just have them? "Want" equates to the feeling of lack, so avoid putting the feeling of lack in the goal.
Phrase it so you're focusing on the END RESULT, not the how For instance, go back to having a net income of $2,500 a week. Don't write how you're going to get it. "I allow myself to make $2,500 a week by working 18 hours a day, 6 days a week," is unnecessary. Often, the actions you think you need to take in order to attain the goal have nothing to do with the goal. They are only limitations or artificial obstacles that you're putting in your way.
Allow for the unexpected. Someone could give you a large amount of money, or you could win a big contract. There are so many things that could happen to allow that goal to come into your reality. Remember, there’s a huge piece of the pie of what you don’t know that you ‘don’t know’!
You can start 2003 off “write” by sitting down and putting your goals to paper. Allow the mind to start using its creativity to start generating possibilities of how your goal can appear. A positively worded goal will attract positive results. Remove your limitations and remember to visualize because what you visualize will materialize.
Goal Getting - To learn more about this author, visit Dory Willer's Website.
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