11. 6 LISTS FOR GOAL SETTING plus a worksheet
Albert Einstein is reported to have said that a definition of insanity
is to keep doing the same thing and yet expect different results.
To set goals is, by definition, to expect change. Change can be
exciting or frightening. Regardless, change can be transforming.
In Peter Daniels' words, you can "take hold of your life from this
day" by planning "a far better way." That is what
goal setting is all about. Here are several approaches to goal setting
ZIG ZIGLAR's LIST FOR GOAL SETTING
(in See You At The Top, pp. 191-197)
LISTS seven points for not only goal setting but also for "a goals
program."
Goals are not enough. You need an action program for making them
happen.
For each goal list the following:
1. Identify and state your goal
2. List benefits to be attained by reaching this goal
3. Identify major obstacles and mountains to climb to reach this
goal
4. List skills or knowledge required to reach this goal
5. Identify individuals, groups, companies and organizations to
work with to reach this goal.
6. Specify a plan of action to reach this goal.
7. State your completion date.
Note again the use of the most powerful tool each of us has: paper
and pen or pencil. Writing it down and constantly reviewing what
you have written is crucial to success. Obtain/do anything that
is missing and then follow the action program.
TONY ROBBINS, in his book Awaken the Giant Within
(a phrase used in the 1950's by Norman Vincent Peale
and by Napoleon Hill in the 1930's, and others since),
and subtitled
"How to take immediate control of your mental,
emotional, physical and financial destiny!",
He uses a nice line from the past: "Giant goals produce giant
motivation," and echoes what all goal authors state in one way or
another: "All GOAL SETTING must be immediately followed by
both the development of a plan, and massive and consistent action toward
its fulfillment" (p. 275).
His GOAL SETTING LIST is as follows:
• List categories of your personal and professional
life and rate activity in them 5 years ago, today, and what you would
like to see take place over the next five years. He urges us to
commit to CANNI! (Constant And Never-ending Improvement).
• Specify specifics for the next five years in
four areas: personal development, career/business/economic, toys/adventure,
and contribution.
ROBERT A. SCHULLER's LIST FOR GOAL SETTING,
in If Its Going to Be Its Up To Me (pp. 117-122)
considers goals to come under the topic commitment.
Without a commitment to ACT on the goals set,
the goals remain lifeless on a piece of paper, which is why he says:
"this could prove to be the most important chapter" in this
book.
Schuller wants us to go beyond "positive thinking" to
"possibility thinking." Here a summary of his 20 point
LIST for goal setting, of why Schuller's 20 years of research yields these
"20 reasons why a committed goal generates incredible energy":
1. Setting a goal = making a decision = ending indecisiveness
2. Making a commitment generates and releases enthusiasm
3. A commitment means you have accepted a challenge, releasing you
from apathy
4. Committing = excellence is targeted and marketed, stifling and
rejecting mediocrity
5. Goal setting asserts leadership; you've taken control
6. Possibility thinking takes command, as goal setting is an act
of putting faith in control of your future
7. Commitment to goals = you are free to become more than what you've
done, free to become more than you are.
8. Setting and committing to goals renews hope, allows optimism
to bloom
9. Committing connects you with spiritual passion and drive
10. Commitment to a goal affirms your personhood, as you
move beyond being intimidated by peers or manipulated by society
11. Commitment to a goal prevents failure, honors success
and, therefore, ensures it
12. Commitment to a goal establishes direction and ends the
ambiguity's loss of energy
13. Commitment enables energy to flow as you overpower (not
eliminate) your fears
14. Commitment to a goal fixes the focus of your life, ending
energy drain by other forces or factors, a now "emotional resources,
time resources money resources are now generated, managed, and controlled!"
15. Commitment to a goal enables opportunities to become
achievements
16. Commitment to a goal renews youth, for those with dream
aren't old, they are alive
17. Commitment connects relationships, expanding and empowering
them
18. Commitment broadens your power base, strengthening and
deepening it
19. Commitment = concretizing your priorities, as "Determination
is a volcano!"
20. Commitment crystallizes your vision when you commit to
a dream.
The theme on the Olympic torch is citius (faster), altius (higher), and
fortius (stronger)! So, its commitment time. Grab the torch.
Set goals and commit to them and watch others marvel at what you can do
with your life.
PETER J. DANIELS
Ground RULES FOR GOAL SETTERS:
the Goal Formula, in "How to Reach Your Life Goals," p. 149
1. Rule 1: Clearly define your goals, including major and subordinate
goals.
2. Rule 2: Set out your strategy (which creates energy, saves energy,
and gives direction).
3. Rule 3: Plan out the problems (of which the biggest one is attitude).
4. Rule 4: Build in Reserves (for your body, mind, and spirit; include
financial reserves).
5. Rule 5: Relate everything to a time frame (fit all goals to set
time frames).
6. Rule 6: Create a master plan (summarize, harmonize, protect progress
with checkpoints).
7. Rule 7: Actionize it now (move beyond theories and knowledge
to decisive action).
To maintain goals: pay attention to detail, read/affirm your goals
daily, expand goals as you go, alter "life style" as necessary
to achieve goals, be gracious to others, don't feel guilty about change.
Reaffirm the formula by sharing it with others.
PAUL G. STOLTZ
Stages for SETTING AND MEETING GOALS (pp. 285-6)
1. Stage One: Dream the Dream (imagine greater possibilities.
"AQ determines what future you allow yourself to even consider."
2. Stage Two: Making the Dream the Vision (recognizing the
possible realities and sacrifices and setting out to make the climb anyway).
3. Stage Three: Sustaining the Vision (the most difficult
part, but with high AQ, one is able to think past the challenges and take
action on the dreams, turning them into visions, and then sustaining the
climb until the vision is realized.
NAPOLEON HILL
list for GOAL SETTING/planning/action
In 1908, as a young man, Hill was asked by Andrew Carnegie (then America's
richest man) to listen to him speak of his philosophy of success and to
then devote twenty years to interviewing the most successful of men and
to write about "the philosophy of American achievement."
In 1928, he finished his eight volume The Laws of Success. He became
an advisor to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In 1937, he published his book Think and Grow Rich (which you could also
entitle "The Thoughts and Attitudes and Actions Which Determine Personal
and Professional Success", or "We Are What We Spend Our Time
Thinking and Doing and Watching and Listening To."
Here is Hills's famous recipe for success (p. 36), a LIST of six practical
action steps to turn your desires into reality, into the your financial
goal (how to turn desires [GOALS] into gold):
1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money
you desire.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money
you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin
at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
5. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you
intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what
you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan
through which you intend to accumulate it.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before
retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As you
read--see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money.
Recognizing the power of one's thinking
and of who one associated with,
Hill LISTS 13 steps to success [to meet GOALS],
with a whole chapter devoted to each one:
1. Desire: The Starting Point of all Achievement
2. Faith: Visualization of and Belief in Attainment of Desire
3. Autosuggestion: The Medium for Influencing the Subconscious
Mind
4. Specialized Knowledge: Personal Experiences or Observations
5. Imagination: The Workshop of the Mind
6. Organized Planning: The Crystallization of Desire into
Action
7. Decision: The Mastery of Procrastination
8. Persistence: The Sustained Effort Necessary to Induce Faith
9. Power of the Master Mind: The Driving Mind [Your Invited Advisors
and Mentors]
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation [harnessing the drive through
"sublimation]
11. The Subconscious Mind: The Connecting Link
12. The Brain: A Broadcasting and Receiving Station for Thought
13. The Sixth Sense: The Door to the Temple of Wisdom
In this manner, we can overcome what he calls the "6 Ghosts of Fear"
(p. 222: (1) poverty,
(2) criticism, (3) ill health, (4) loss of love
of someone, (5) old age, (6) death), which he
urges the reader to review in order to take inventory of what fears may
stand in his or her way. He also LISTS the 31 major causes of failure,
which the prudent person will review for insights into his or her own
situation (pp. 120-126). The 1988 version has an "Action Pack"
for achieving success by using it to implement these 13 steps in one's
life.
Another Napoleon Hill
LIST FOR GOAL SETTING
to acquire one's desires and ambitions in life,
in his book Succeed and Grow Rich Through Persuasion (p. 28):
Define
1. Define your goal
2. Set a positive goal
3. Plan the means by which to achieve the goal
4. set out a timetable for the achievement of the goal
Write it down
5. Write down, right now, a clear outline of every desire
for set period of time [1-5 years].
6. Write down the amount of income desired
7. Write down what you plan to give to earn this income
8. Set the amount you intend to acquire each week, each month, and
each year
9. Write down a description of the home you want; put a picture
of it where you can see it daily
10. Write down a description of the automobile you want and
keep a picture of it on your desk.
11. If you are no married, write a description of the mate
you desire and then write down the qualities you have or intend to acquire
to entitle you to the mate you describe
12. Make a list of how you intend to use each of the 24 hours
of each day, noting you have three time periods, each eight hours, one
for sleep, one for business, one for yourself
13. Write a description of your occupation, business, or
professional calling, select a successful person you know, and set a period
of time during which you will become as successful as that person.
Review and recite
14. Set aside one hour a day of your "free time"
to reciting that will inspire you to keep your mind positive. Choose
material related to your occupation or which in some way will help your
career.
15. Twice daily, before retiring and after rising, express
a prayer of gratitude for your current blessings and for the ones you
expect to attain.
16. Carry out the above with enthusiasm, going the extra
mile, making alliances with others to achieve your goal, and work with
and inspire others to work with what Andrew Carnegie called a "positive
mental attitude."
WORKSHEET#1 FOR GOAL SETTING (adapt this to any
or all of the above)
Top 3 PROFESSIONAL Goals Top 3 PERSONAL goals
For this month:
For this year:
For 3 years:
For 5 years:
WORKSHEET#2 FOR GOAL SETTING (adapt this to any or
all of the above)
The Hierarchy of "should be" states for Setting and Meeting
Goals,
MISSION To live professional and personal life in balance Life
GOALS
(derived from Mission)1.0 2.0 Etc.
OBJECTIVES
(Derived from Goals) 1.1 1.2 Etc. 2.1
2.2 Etc.
TASKS to meet 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.2.1 1.2.2
2.1.1 2.1.2 2.2.1 2.2.2
Objectives Etc. .Etc. Etc. Etc
ACTIONS TO TAKE
(To accomplish tasks to
meet objectives to meet
goals to fulfill mission)
PERFORMANCE
INDICATORS
(Measurements, evaluation,
accountability, accounta-
bility models) for any of
the above.
Adapted from "Hierarchy…Goals" from The Policy Planning
Management Process for Government Agencies, written for the U.S. Navy,
OP-01, Peter J. Jessen, February 1980.
WORKSHEET#3 FOR GOAL SETTING (adapt this to any or all
of the above)
Regardless of which worksheet(s) you use, these or others, never forget: the absolute basic minimum is to state your top 3 goals for the month/year/3 years/5 years
MISSION 1.0 Ask: 2.0 Ask 3.0 Ask: 4.0 Ask: 5.0 Ask: What exists What would What is How can What will happen today: we like our possible? it be done? If we do or don't? (Current future state (Determine (Recom- Will either make a situation) to be (as is potential and mend alter- difference? or change?) constraints) natives and (Evaluate the strategies) possibilities and consequences of the proposed options). In other words, "so what?"
GOALS OBJECTIVES FUNCTIONS ACTIVITIES AND TASKS MONITORING AND EVAUATING
Adapted from "Suggested Goal Setting Approach," from The Policy Planning Management Process for Government Agencies, written for the U.S. Navy, OP-01, Peter J. Jessen, February 1980.