ALT-1 How to Set Goals and Execute them Effectively
Goal setting is a critical step to success. Most people will set personal goals, educational goals, career goals or financial goals. Others may set a combination of these goals. Setting goals helps lay a path to help establish a vision for the future. Setting up realistic expectations and having a plan to properly execute goals is necessary, regardless of whether they are short or long term goals. Here are some tips on how to set goals and execute them effectively.
Sensible goal setting
Perhaps one of the reasons that most people are not able to achieve their goals is because they fail to set them realistically. Career goals, weight loss goals and financial goals should be set in a manner that is sensible and realistic. Setting goals that have deadlines attached to them may seem to be counter-intuitive but this method is often valuable for a number of reasons.
Lockerecommends setting goals using the "SMART" method, specifically "Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound". The more specific the goal, the more likely that a person is to be able to attain that goal. For most people, if a goal is too broad, they will have difficulties attaining the goal.
For those who are striving to set sensible goals, assigning a deadline for attaining the goal may provide the motivation to achieve that goal. Some people might set a goal of earning $1,000,000 in their lifetime and this may provide good motivation for them. For most however, setting a goal of earning $2,100 a month might seem more realistic. For those who have a 40 year window to work, the end result (e.g., $1,000,000 in earnings) is attainable when setting the $2,100 a month goal (e.g., 1,000,000/40 (years)/12 (months)).
Effective goal execution
For many, it is simple to set goals but far more challenging to effective execute those goals. Some people may find that they can set an annual goal and not have any problem reaching that goal while others need far smaller windows of opportunity. The first step in learning how to effectively execute goals is understanding personal motivators. For those who need a boost to their motivation, setting daily or weekly goals may be more effective than setting monthly, quarterly or annual goals.
One a goal has been set, creating steps that help achieve that goal is the next step. Using the same example above, to earn $2,100 a month most people will need to generate revenue of approximately $80 per day. For those who prefer shorter term goals, setting a daily earnings goal is more likely to help them achieve their longer term goals.
Finally, the steps to achieving that daily goal can be reviewed and tested. For many, setting a daily goal can also help test how realistic the goal is. For example, if a person has a goal of earning $80 per day and they find that during the first week they are earning $20 a day, then clearly they need to either re-think their goal or reassess their strategy. Those who are earning $100 a day may need to set a more challenging goal.
Executing goals for many simply means committing themselves to doing what it takes to reach their end goal. For others, this means a steady upward climb and for others it may mean falling behind two steps for every step forward. Learning what drives personal ambition can be the real secret behind setting and execution of goals.
Goal setting and execution is different for everyone since not everyone has the same level of motivation or the same goals in mind. Learning how to set goals and execute them effectively will depend heavily on personal commitment to achievement.
