Goal Setting

“This one step – choosing a goal and sticking to it – changes everything.” – Scott Reed

Isn’t the New Year fun?  Even though it is an arbitrary division of time, when we collectively decide that it means something – magic happens!  I’m feeling it!  Are you?

With the New Year I love to set goals for my year.  I set and review goals every week on Wednesdays also, but the New Year is a fun time to dream of new fun things, projects, experiences that I want in my life.  Then I start creating goals to make them happen.  As Brian Tracy says “Goals written down are dreams with deadlines.”

Here are the 5 steps I use to set goals:

1. Dream big!  This is what makes it exciting, right?  Stretch yourself and write it down.
2. Recognize that there will be barriers.  Difficulties provide challenge, interest, and, when the goal is achieved, satisfaction.  However, you want to set goals that don’t have barriers that are insurmountable.
3. Make a plan to achieve the goal.  Anything worth achieving takes time and you need to plan for it – schedule planning time in your calendar immediately.
4. Maintain balance in your life while goal setting.  If you ignore a major part of your life it will diminish the pleasure of your other achievements.  These are the 8 areas of life that I look at:
   1. Physical health
   2. Personal
   3. Relationships
   4. Business
   5. Material Stuff
   6. Money
   7. Social
   8. Bigger picture purpose

   5. Break it down.  During your planning sessions (see step 3) break your goal down into action steps, set due dates for those action steps, and put them in your calendar.  Oh..and then actually do them (really important step 😉 ).

After you have set your goals and you are ready to rock it – don’t forget to tell anyone and everyone!  You never know how easy getting those goals could become when you let people in on your plan.  I’d love to hear about the big goals that you have for 2012 in the comments below.

Love,

Briana Borten, Founder of The Dragontree and Co-founder of Imbue Pain Relief Patch