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Golden rules for setting goals. An important step in goal setting

Almost every activity has rules. And if a person wants to get a good result from his actions, it is better that he follows these rules.

To knit a beautiful sweater, you need to follow the rules of knitting. And in order to kindle a fire without consequences for the forest and its inhabitants, one must follow the rules for making a fire.

There are rules in writing a plan too. And so if you want your plan to lead you to your goal, follow these rules. These are simple rules that are easy to follow if you know about them and apply them successfully in your life.
life:
1. Define clear, specific goals that you want to achieve. You must motivate yourself by knowing what you want and setting a specific goal within a specific time frame. In fact, it is very important to determine the date of achievement of the goal. By doing this, you, as it were, give yourself an installation to achieve the goal within a certain period of time.

2. Set bold goals. Man creates his own limits. Most of us are guilty of agreeing to make do with far fewer things instead of striving for the best. Celebrities like John D. Rockefeller, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates had wild dreams even as children. In their dreams, they did not set any boundaries. When a person clearly sees his goal and does not set boundaries for himself, with each new achievement his self-confidence grows, and his goals become grander and grander. This is why you need to set ambitious goals for yourself. When you set a goal, keep in mind: "A worthy goal should be a little intimidating and very exciting." Now review your current goals. To what extent do they comply with this rule? If your goals don't intimidate or excite you, try setting something more stimulating. “The mind sets boundaries. As long as the mind assumes that you can do something, you can do it - but only if you are really 100 percent sure about it. Arnold Schwarzenegger

3. Don't let defeat discourage you. Never give in to discouragement in case of failure, be persistent and do not get depressed. A person always has a chance to fix everything or even start all over again. Perhaps what you consider a defeat will soon turn out for you in the best way. Try to put the defeat in perspective. It's just a way to point us in the right direction or teach us a valuable lesson.


A lot of people just go with the flow. They work long and hard, but they realize that they have not achieved anything significant. But this alone is not enough, because the process itself loses its meaning if it does not lead to anything. It's always important to have a goal. Setting them up in itself is a key skill that helps you think of a better future and motivate yourself to make it a reality.

Know what you want, stop getting distracted and focus all your energy on achieving success. This article intends to help you with this.

Why set goals?

Great athletes, businessmen and inventors always set goals, and they do it right. Why does it work? Goal setting itself gives strength in the short and long term. It allows us to focus all our efforts and time on achieving something important for us.

When your goal is clear and understandable, you can track progress and feel proud of even small successes, which in turn leads to increased self-confidence and a sense of happiness.

Let's start setting goals

Goal setting has three steps:

  • First, you create a big picture of what you want to achieve in your life and what is most important to you. These are goals for a year, five and ten years.
  • Next, break down your global goals into small targets that can be achieved in the short term.
  • Make a plan and start implementing it.

Seems simple, right? However, most people only think that they set global goals, while in fact they do nothing to achieve them. All this is based on the thoughts “It would be necessary ...” and “Now if ...”.

Setting long-term goals

This is the most important part of the goal setting process and takes a lot of time. Think about what you want to achieve and make a decision.

Despite the fact that you set important goals, it is worth considering all aspects of life and developing them in parallel:

  • Career. What level have you already reached and what do you want to achieve ideally?
  • Finance. How much do you want to earn at each stage of career development? How does this fit in with career goals?
  • Education. What knowledge do you lack? What skills do you need to develop in order to achieve your goals?
  • Family. Do you want to be a father/mother? If so, do you want to be a good parent? How much time will you spend with your family?
  • Creation. What results do you want to achieve in the plan?
  • Way of thinking. Do you currently have a mindset that is holding you back? Are you behaving in a way that makes you sad and annoying?
  • physical health. Do you want to work hard on your body, or do you need proper nutrition and morning exercises?
  • Pleasures and joys of life. How do you intend to entertain yourself?
  • Service to the community. Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?

At this stage, do not rush to answer. It is better to retire, give yourself enough time and think. Then make a clear decision about which aspects of life you will develop and to what extent. Think about what kind of person you want to be in one, five, and ten years.

Setting short-term goals

When you have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve in life, break your global goals into smaller ones:

  • Plan for six months
  • Plan for three months
  • Monthly plan
  • Plan for the week
  • Plan for the day

Do not disdain any of these plans - the future is being shaped today. Think about what things you have to do, even if they do not lead you to a global goal. Put them on your schedule.

You may need to start by reading literature on self-development and personal growth. Make a list of such books and decide for what period you will read them.

How to stay on course?

Following your plan should become your habit:

  • Make a to-do list for the next day.
  • Look at the big picture regularly to remember why you do what you do.
  • Adjust your plan.
  • Train.

SMART Goals

A great way to set goals is technique. The goal should be:

  • Certain.
  • Measurable.
  • Achievable.
  • relevant.
  • Tied to time.

For example, instead of the abstract and passive “go to Antarctica someday,” write this goal as “By December 31, 2017, I will go to Antarctica. To do this, I need to fulfill a number of conditions such as ... ".

Don't forget that you have to set your priorities right. If you want to achieve outstanding success in ten years, you must work on it every day. It is difficult, but if you learn to motivate yourself and be disciplined, you can achieve even more.

We wish you good luck!

So, everyone knows that a successful person is a purposeful person who sets and achieves certain goals and objectives. He is always in the process of achieving the goal, and therefore in the process of self-development. A successful person cannot live aimlessly - an aimless existence is not at all what nature created man for. Man is obliged to live with a purpose, this is his difference from the instinctive thinking of animals. Therefore, goal setting is very important. The goal should be formed very clearly, the more clearly and specifically it is formed, the better. In general, specificity and clarity are very correct, necessary qualities of a successful person.

The goal should not be blurry. It should be very specific, for example: "I want to earn 100 thousand dollars a year", or "I want to improve relations in the family with my household within 3 months." Therefore, set realistic deadlines for achieving your goal.

To successfully achieve a goal, it is important, first of all, to believe in its implementation, to be sure that you will achieve it, to see the results of achieving your goal. Without this, the target will just hang in the air, and the process will not start.

Now let's talk about the so-called "12 stages of achieving the goal" that Brian Tracy mentioned in his book The Psychology of Achievement. So, every healthy goal must go through 12 stages, steps:

1st step. Wish. It is very important to really desire the fulfillment of your goal. Without this, the process of achieving the goal will not get off the ground. Therefore, form goals that you really want to achieve.

2nd step. Faith. Belief in the goal is evidence, without which the goal cannot exist. Believe in your goal, believe that you will achieve it, and then the process of achieving your goal will start at cosmic speed.

3rd step. Writing down goals. Like a time plan, goals need to be written down. When you write, the goal is firmly set in your subconscious and you will always be aware of what goal you are achieving. In addition, the goal written down on paper is already taking on material forms - when you see your goal on paper, read it, you speed up the process of its implementation.

4th step. Decide how you will benefit from reaching your goal. You can't set goals for yourself that don't do you any good. Such goals are groundless, have no serious grounds for existence. Keep this in mind when setting your goal. Also, imagine what kind of rewards you will get from reaching your goal?

5th step. Analysis of the current situation. When setting a new goal, ask yourself: what have I achieved so far? Make a plan for your achievements, write it down, attach it with some material objects. For example, if you graduated from university, you can attach a copied diploma to serve as a powerful reminder of what you have already achieved. Without a serious analysis of the current situation, it is impossible to move forward with confidence.

6th step. Setting a deadline. I think that, of course, the goal cannot live on its own in a time thread. Define the boundary, the deadline for achieving the goal, set, as I said, realistic deadlines. Obviously, you won't make a million dollars in 1 hour, or improve your relationships with co-workers in 1 day. So, once again, set realistic deadlines.

7th step. Definition of obstacles. Any goal is not complete without a natural process of overcoming obstacles. But it's better when you know about them in advance. As the saying goes, "forewarned is forearmed". Therefore, identify obstacles and write them down on paper. So you will better understand what you will have to face on the way to achieve your goal. You will be prepared, and therefore ready to go forward, overcoming obstacles.

8th step. Determine what knowledge is required to achieve the goal. As with the goals and obstacles themselves, write them down on paper. Make a list of the knowledge that will be useful to you. You may not have enough knowledge, but you will definitely know what and you can improve them to achieve your goal.

9th step. Identify a list of people and organizations that will help you achieve your goal. Sit down and seriously think about it, be sure to write down the list. During the achievement process, it is likely that you will need the help of people and organizations unplanned in the list - with the help of a list on paper, you can easily make changes and clearly identify your assistants in achieving the goal.

10th step. Gather all the details of the previous nine steps and make a detailed plan. Of course, write it down on paper. Think seriously about it. Take this step very seriously and responsibly. This may take some time, but a competent and detailed plan is almost a 100% guarantee of a successful result.

11th step. Creating a picture of the achieved goal. Visualize the achievement of the goal, play in your mind a picture of the goal already achieved. Try it, it's very interesting. I am sure you will enjoy watching such "movies" over and over again. Create such a picture, clear, clear - and then everything will work out.

12th, last step. Reinforcing your plan to reach your goal with determination. It is safe to say that this step is the most important and most responsible. Many make it through the first 11 steps but fail to complete this one, the main step. Don't be one of them, don't be afraid to reach your goal, don't think about the difficulties that you have to overcome, because if you have completed all the previous 11 points, which means you have made a detailed plan, then you are already prepared and will be able to overcome all the difficulties. If you are ready, then tell yourself that you have begun to fulfill the goal, that you are determined to complete this task. This will be the last step towards the fulfillment of the goal.

On this I would like to end the conversation about goals and its setting. I hope my tips and tricks help you.

In the modern world, people who set goals and achieve them are increasingly valued. There are many books, seminars on how to set goals: what goals are important to set on the path of life and what to do to achieve them. Dreamers are devalued. For some reason, it is believed that dreaming is for the weak. They seem to do nothing and just dream. Is it really so?

Let's talk about dreams and goals.

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What is the difference between a dream and a goal? To begin with, it is impossible to set any goal if you do not have a dream. A dream is directly related to a person's feelings, his imagination, true desires. Have you ever had dreams come true? Remember how you felt about it? It is a feeling of complete happiness, satisfaction and inspiration. A dream gives energy to a person to turn a dream into a goal, inspiration to start acting.

Arguments how a dream differs from a goal.

A dream touches the deepest feelings of a person. Whereas the goal is associated with certain actions of a person. The main function of a dream is to inspire a person and give him strength and energy to bring his strongest desires to life.

What is the difference between a goal and a dream? The word dream implies some kind of miracle or the help of other people. We always talk about "fulfillment" of a dream, which means that the dream comes true with the help of higher powers or other people. For example, someone gave something, took it somewhere, got lucky, etc.
When we talk about a goal, we always use the verbs "achieved", "achieved". That is, a person through his efforts, certain actions achieved the goal. This earns the respect and admiration of others. For the person himself, this brings not so much happiness as from the fulfillment of a dream, but satisfaction, an increase in self-esteem and self-confidence.

When they say that there is only one step from a dream to a goal, it is true. A dream inspires a person to set a goal. The goal is the moment when a person decides to fulfill his dream. Otherwise, a person will simply remain a dreamer and can wait for a miracle all his life. Once you decide to take responsibility for fulfilling your dream, it becomes a goal.

Another argument is how a dream differs from a goal. Often the dream is not quite intelligible, extensive, not concretized. For example, I dream of living in my house by the sea! Near what sea? What should this house be like? Who do you want to live with? Do you really need it? How will your life change if you move to the sea? No specifics!

To fulfill your dream, you need to turn it into a goal. It must be realistic, concrete and achievable. The goal must have a specific deadline. Once you have set a goal, set a time frame, you need to break it down into specific tasks. For example, to go to the city where you dream of living and see the houses, find out their cost. Calculate how long it takes you to collect, earn this money or sell something. And start taking action.

Statistically, a lot of people don't have goals. They don't know what they really want and just go with the flow. Due to constant stress, frustrations and negative thoughts, many do not even have a dream. People stopped believing in themselves and their abilities. Most of them are now.

How to help a person decide in his life and learn to set goals and achieve them? Imagine that you only have 2 years left to live. Represented? Now imagine that you only have six months left? What would you do, how would you spend the rest of your life? Thinking about it, I think you definitely have dreams.

Now imagine that you won a million dollars in the lottery. You will never again have to work and do what you hate. Then what will you do? Surely, everyone has an idea in their head what they would like to do for the soul. Make this activity your goal. Don't waste your life. Start right now!

Stages of goal setting

Do you need to set goals? Definitely yes. Goal setting is a person's path to success and satisfaction in their lives.

Setting goals takes place in several stages:

  1. You must understand why you set this goal? Why could you do without it before? What prospects does it open for you?
    2. The next step is to take a piece of paper and describe in detail how you see your life for the next 10 years? How do you see yourself?
    3. Now, based on what has been described, you know what your home, car, work, family, yourself should be like. How much and how you will earn, where and how to relax, etc.
    4. All these goals you should analyze how effective they are and whether you really want exactly what you described. The effectiveness of the goal is determined by the feeling of inspiration and enthusiasm. If any of the goals does not cause such feelings, then return to the second stage and write a new goal. After all, very often we do not want what we personally really want, but what our friends, acquaintances or our idols have.
    5. At this stage, you need to describe each of the goals in great detail or make a photo collage. For example, if you dream of a car, then you must clearly know what brand it will be, what color, etc. If you want to find a soul mate, then clearly describe her appearance, character traits, attitude towards you, etc.
    6. It is impossible to embrace the immensity. From all these desires, choose 20 main goals and prioritize them. Start by focusing on the first three goals on your list.
    7. You need to constantly think about these goals and imagine that they have already come true. Get used to the state, as if everything has already come true.

You will be very surprised when, 10 years later, you will have everything that you wrote about. It all starts with the right goal setting.

Goal setting rules

The process of setting goals has its own rules. After all, very often the goals are not achieved, because they were set incorrectly. Many people think that it is right to set big goals for themselves, but then they themselves give up, not understanding how to achieve them:

  1. The basic rule of goal setting is that the goal must be achievable. Otherwise, a person will experience severe stress, disappointment and abandonment of the intended goals. Any big goal should be broken down into specific small tasks that need to be completed in order to get closer to the goal.
  2. When fulfilling any goal, there must be a measurable result in quantitative or qualitative terms. You can rate yourself in points or percentages, this will help you to realize at what stage of achieving the goal you are.
  3. It is necessary to clearly realize how important the goal is for a person and in case of failure, whether it can be replaced with another goal.

What goals should you set on your life path?

Goal setting should start as early as possible. It seems to many that the whole life is still ahead, in time. They do not have time to look back, but old age has come. A lot of things can no longer be, and I don’t really want to. Life is monotonous, uninteresting, scarce. Many people live according to the principle “well-fed, clothed, have a roof over their heads, and thank God.”

Do you want to live your life like this? Unlikely!

No one will tell you which spruce to put. It all depends on your interests, character, personality.

But after all, every person came to this Earth to live, to rejoice, to be inspired, to be happy. Goals should be set in all areas of your life.

Think about where you would like to live? In what country, what house or tent in nature? Who would you like to spend your life with? What do you want to do? The best thing a person can do for himself in order to live in happiness and prosperity is to turn his hobby into a career. Do what inspires you and you will succeed.

Perhaps there are people who you really like, whom you admire. Now think about how you want to see yourself? What is missing in you to become your own ideal? Everything can be learned, everything can be improved.

Don't be afraid to dream! Dreams are inspiration for setting goals. If you know exactly what you want from life and how you want to see yourself, nothing can stop you. Visualize your dreams!

All these calls are nothing if you do not get together and write a detailed plan for your life. If you still have no idea what you want, then imagine that you have only six months left to live, then only a month. What will you do if you have one day left? This is the best way to shake things up and get going.

There is one pitfall in goal setting. The goal should not be so huge, having reached which, you will no longer desire anything and you will no longer be pleased with everything. Believe me, this happens very often. When a person achieves, as it seems to him, everything he dreamed of and simply ceases to enjoy life.

The goal should be difficult to achieve and be the next step towards setting more and more new goals. Then, and only then, will life have meaning and happiness.

Imagine that you need to overcome half of Russia, driving from the Ural Mountains to the shores of the Black Sea. You get into your car and hit the road. Summer, the breeze, making its way through the half-open windshield, blows over your face, filling the cabin with pleasant coolness and freshness of the spruce forest. The path is not close, which means that you do not need to rush too much and you can just enjoy the journey. You planned several overnight stops in the towns adjacent to the road and, passing by a roadside cafe, you suddenly remembered that you not only forgot the road map of Russia, but also did not bother to mark exactly where you want to stop.

An unpleasant situation: you know where you need to get, but you don’t know exactly how you will do it. Without a map, and a minimal knowledge of the geography and location of Russian cities, you will not be able to get to the Black Sea, but if you get there, then spend a lot of time on it. Any journey that has a destination requires a map and a plan to reach that destination. Of course, in the situation described above, the lack of a road map is not a problem, you can purchase a map at one of the roadside cafes or gas stations. But what if your goal is not to move around the country, but, say, to create a business or improve relationships? If you do not have a plan, you will be forced to stagnate.

By the way, effective goal setting requires more than knowing the exact place you want to reach. You need an accurate, most complete map, with a destination, all intermediate routes that you need to take and, of course, a plan of action. The following are seven steps for effective goal setting that will help you create the most complete map possible and plot an accurate route to your goal.

Seven Powerful Steps to Goal Setting:

1. Make sure the goal you're working towards is something you really want, not something that looks good or sounds good.

If your goal does not resonate with you, you run the risk of derailing somewhere halfway to achieving it, if not earlier, so try to listen to yourself and keep track of any externally imposed goals so that your journey meets your true needs and desires. In general, it is so easy to infect us with desires alien to us that every year it becomes more and more difficult to make out who we are and where we are going. Young people especially, due to their inexperience and their inherent impatience, tend to chase after something that may not really be their goal.

2. Your goal must not conflict with any of your other goals.

Any of your new goals should be a natural extension of the ones you already have. Can you, dreaming of living in a big house on the seashore with your family and children, simultaneously dream of a carefree life, endless trips to different countries and cities? On the one hand, a house to look after, a family and children who require attention, in general, a settled life, on the other hand, incessant travel, seeming freedom from obligations. The achievement of one goal, most likely, will lead to the infringement of another. Of course, you can travel with your family, but then you need to work out both goals, combining them into one, while calculating many subtleties and nuances, such as the wife’s pregnancy, the birth of a child, and the provision of education for older children.

3. Set goals in different areas of your life.

Your life is not only about money or relationships, there are other things in it that also require attention. So, giving preference to only one of the areas of your life, you thereby infringe on others, and as a result, the quality of your life decreases. Try to set and achieve goals in the following six areas of your life:

  • family and home
  • Finance and career
  • spiritual area
  • physical health
  • Social life
  • Education

The harmonious development of all areas of your life will lead to an improvement in its quality and an increase in the general state of happiness and contentment with life. Also, by setting goals in different areas of your life, you can avoid conflict between your goals.

4. Your goals should be positive, indicating the desired outcome.

We have talked about this on the pages of our site many times. Success lies in positive attitudes and goals, but, goals set in a negative way can interfere with the achievement of the desired result. Negative goals include the goals of "avoiding" undesirable circumstances and situations. Feel the difference: "I want to get rid of all my debts" and "I want to always have a lot of money." At first glance, there is no significant difference between these desires, but, in the first case, you try to avoid debts, and in the second, always be with money. The first goal can cause a lot of negative emotions that will undermine your performance.

5. Goal setting requires as much detail as possible.

The more detailed you describe your goal, the easier it will be for you to achieve it. You should include as many details as possible in your goal description. It’s not enough to have the goal of “Create your own business”, you need to clarify what kind of business you want. What services do you want to offer people? What goods will you produce? How big will your production be? How many workers will you need? How much money do you need to create it, and where are you going to get it? Your goal of starting a business should be a business plan in its final form. The same rigor in the observance of details should be followed for other purposes. Use visualization to get a better idea of ​​your goal.

6. Make sure your goal is big enough.

Don't settle for less than what you are truly capable of achieving, especially when it comes to your life goals and priorities. As the saying goes: “The higher the goal, the higher the achievement.” Even if you have “mediocre” abilities, set goals a little higher than you think you can achieve. In general, it has been observed in practice that the limits of your abilities can be expanded by simply increasing the bar that you are going to overcome. However, some caution should be exercised here, an overly high goal can cause a lot of negative emotions and undermine your self-confidence. By her very appearance, she can lead you into a state of powerlessness and inability to take on a difficult task.

7. Be sure to write down your goals.

Get into the habit of writing down all your goals, no matter how small or insignificant they may be. This is important, first of all, because each goal you achieve will go into the treasury of your achievements, and will motivate and inspire you whenever you return to your notes. Among other things, keeping a record of your goals will allow you to review them and remind you of their existence. Start a diary or journal to record your goals, and enter all your goals into it by following the steps in this article. In the future, as you grow in your experience in setting and achieving goals, you will be able to invent your own strategy that will significantly increase your personal effectiveness.

By following the steps listed above, you will simplify and shorten the path to the realization of your deepest desires. Well, in order not to complicate your path, try not to discuss your goals with your relatives or friends. Many of them, most likely, will try to dissuade you, citing many facts from their lives or the lives of their friends, showing the impossibility of achieving your goals. Remember, your life is different from the lives of other people, and if something did not work out for other people, this does not mean that you will not succeed too. Believe in yourself and your abilities, and good luck to you!