Blog

Becoming A Goal Medalist

Achieving Your Objectives:
Become a Goal Medalist

Reprinted from the Questia Newsletter: http://www.questianewsletter.com/newsletter/volume-6-issue-2/biz.htm?CRID=nullCRnull&OFFID=newsletter20100822n#bigidea

Lots of resources are available to help you learn about goal setting. But MindTools.com, an extraordinary site which focuses on “Essential skills for an excellent career,” offers a straightforward approach which works as well in career or business school situations as in the rest of your life.

In Personal Goal Setting, MindTools explains, “Goal setting techniques are used by… successful business-people and achievers in all fields. They give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. They focus your acquisition of knowledge, and help you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life.”

MindTools suggests taking these first steps in setting your goals:

  • State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively – ‘Execute this technique well’ is a much better goal than ‘Don’t make this stupid mistake.’
  • Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
  • Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by having too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.

And “When you have achieved a goal,” says MindTools, “take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so.” And then take the following steps to “review the rest of your goal plans:”

  • If you achieved the goal too easily, make your next goals harder.
  • If the goal took a dispiriting length of time to achieve, make the next goals a little easier.
  • If you learned something that would lead you to change other goals, do so.
  • If you noticed a deficit in your skills despite achieving the goal, decide whether to set goals to fix this.

Keep in mind, your mentor can support you in achieving your goals, facilitate your thinking and planning, help you to stay focused and distinguish the learning. Your mentor is also your best cheerleader and celebration partner.