Goal Setting is the skill that will determine our success in any thing we do or any relationship we have in our lives. These are the common areas which should be focused on in order to lead a balanced life:
1. Family and Personal Life
2. Business and Career
3. Investments and Money
4. Health and Fitness
5. Personal Growth
6. Spiritual Growth
7. Social and Community Activities
It is very important to build a picture of the ideal situation in each of the above categories.
Once you have established the ideal situation, it’s time to look at your present situation in
these areas. This is called Gap Analysis. The whole idea behind Goal Setting is in bridging the
gap. The idea behind this is to become very conscious of what is going on in your life.
Most people give no conscious thought as to what is happening to them in their lives.
Once we have identified the gap, it’s time for us to start bridging that gap. This is where the actual Goal Setting Phase comes in. We need to focus on making S.M.A.R.T. Goals.
S – means specific. We must be specific & precise.
M – means measurable. We must be able to measure it.
A – means achievable. Sometimes we need to break our goals down into steps. R – means realistic. This means you can’t set conflicting goals.
T-- means time bound. They must have a deadline. Now what happens if you
don’t achieve your goal by the deadline? You simply re-evaluate the goal and if
it’s still an important goal, set a new deadline.
Now in review to this point:
1. We must set S.M.A.R.T goals.
2. Our Goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time
bound. All the areas of our lives mentioned above must be taken care of while setting our life time goals. These should not be conflicting with each other , rather they sould be supporting each other.