I feel like I am writing this post a few days late, I jumped on the computer while sitting on my balcony at Couran Cove Island Resort (one of my favourite Australian holiday destinations) to find hundreds of posts like this one circulating the web.
So I though twice about it, with so many “New Years Resolution” and “Goal Setting” style posts out there, is it worth me writing my own post? I set about reading as many of the posts as possible and found as I read more and more, I became more passionate about writing this post. So many people were talking about goal setting, but very few of them using a proven, goal setting guide.
One of the things that I have learnt over my years of goal setting is that without a proven formula or guide my goals just don’t get achieved. Think about how many times you have set a goal and not achieved it? Think about how many times you have dismissed your own goals after setting them?
I know that in my family that New Years Resolutions were often laughed at and were more of a traditional joke then something to guide your year. With that said though, in my family’s defense, most of our New Years Resolutions were set on the spot with no prior thought. I believe for a New Years Resolution to be really powerful, to get results, to be your guiding light you must follow this Step by Step Guide to Goal Setting:
1. Make Space – The first step might seem simple, but it is so often not followed. How often have you set goals on the run? How often have you run out of time when setting goals? Making space could be the most important part of the goal setting process. When I talk about making space I mean, set aside some time (not just an hour or so, a good half day would work well), find a quiet, personal space (somewhere you won’t be interrupted and won’t have distractions), grab a notepad and pen (no computers allowed, way too many distractions there) and most importantly clear your mind (you can’t make life changing decisions while wondering what to make for dinner).
2. List 5 Key Areas Of Change – The most liked and universally used number is 5, we know that in offline marketing the number 5 results in the most sales. By choosing just 5 key areas we are providing targeted, focused, results-driven goal setting while using strong number marketing to make our subconscious more susceptible to our conscious programming. In most New Years Resolution posts I have read, it is here that they list down some examples of areas of your life you might like to change. I personally believe that is counter-productive. It is YOUR life, YOU need to take the time to analyse it to work out what YOU want to change in YOUR life.
3. Write Your Goals – You have been doing this for years in your mind without realising it. Simply write down under each area of change what your goal is, what you want to achieve. How you write them and what you say at this point is not important, we’ll come to that in a moment. If you have multiple goals under each key area, that is fine.
4. Copywriting Your Goals – This is the process of taking what you have written and converting it into a powerful goal using a proven copywriting formula. When writing sales letters, marketing pieces or even business cards there is a proven formula which will get you predictable results. The same can occur when writing your goals, use a proven formula for writing your goals and you can expect a more predictable result.
Here is the formula that I Use: On <insert date> I will be <insert action that shows I have achieved my goal> celebrating my successful achievement of <insert goal>. For example: On the 23rd December 2008 I will be standing on the front beach at Sonaisali Island Resort in Fiji celebrating my successful achievement of 1000 new customers on the Internet Marketing Coaching database in 7 business days.
5. Market Your Goals – This is the part where you make as much noise as possible about the goals that you have set. Tell everyone that you know, everyone that will listen about your goals. This way those people can help you achieve those goals, as well as keep you accountable to your success.
Now I am not a personal development guru, this is just my personal formula for goal setting that has worked for me. Some of this is taken from courses that I have attended, books I have read, people I have talked to and some of it is just my personal belief.
I wish you luck with your own goal setting and hope that 2009 is the year that you achieve all that you have hoped for.
