Apply Goal Setting Strategies to Achieve Your Objectives!

Goal setting is a critical skill that you need to learn to be the most productive that you can be. Setting goals, and more importantly achieving them, is more of a science than an art,but no one would argue it's a tool you should master.

Unfortunately there's really not one goal setting method that works for everyone. You kind of have to find what works for you, map it out, and most importantly stick with it! There are strategies that can be learned, but it's important to adapt them to your personality.

Common to most all goal setting strategies, however, is the need to write your objectives down on a piece of paper. When you take this step, be as specific as possible, and be sure to enter the date you will accomplish the feat. There's something magic about this simple step that increases your chances dramatically of achieving your targets, and usually in far less time had you not.

However you should avoid the most common mistakes. The first and most common mistake is writing the goal in the past tense. For instance, we write that we won't eat candy or ice cream until we lose 50 pounds. Writing in the negative sets the stage for negative thinking or negative self-talk. A better way to write the goal would be I will have candy or ice cream only one day per week so that I can be healthier and lose some weight. When I have either treat, I will choose the lower calorie candy or ice cream. As you can see, the goal is positive and managable.

There is much more to goal setting than I covered in this short essay, and I encourage you to review some of the additional resources we have available to help you craft your very own system for achieving all of your objectives in a timely manner.