We looked previously at how success can be defined as progess towards achieving your own meaningful goals. By that definition, everyone can be (and feel) successful. Going back to where we started looking at goals, this is the perfect antidote to the negative feelings that we can all be susceptible to if we find ourselves measuring our success by comparison with others.
Ok, so success is in our hands if, AND IT’S A BIG IF, we learn to regularly set our own goals. It sounds simple. In many ways it is extremely simple and yet so many aren’t doing it. There are two really important keys here:
- Learn a system for goal-setting and customise it to your own needs/style/situation/preference.
- Make using that system a habit.
We’ll look now at the steps for setting goals as laid out in the LMI Goal Planning System. Next time we’ll talk about how to make using it a habit.
Before we get into that though, a brief intelude. Could you take a few seconds just to imagine the impact it will have if you get seriously good at this? What if every month for the rest of your life you could identify the most important work and personal goals in your life and work effectively to achieve them?
Ok, back to the system in ten steps.
- Define or describe something that you’d like to be better in some way.
- Write a specific goal(s) that supports this intent.
- List the benefits gained and the potential losses avoided by achieving the goal.
- Write down possible obstacles and list potential solutions.
- Write detailed action steps and deadlines to achieve the goal.
- Integrate the action steps into your planning system.
- Determine a method of tracking your progress.
- Write affirmations to encourage you and keep you on track.
- Develop a visual representation that effectively reminds you of your goal.
- Celebrate the accomplishment of meaningful goals
It’s a simple and immensely powerful system where each step plays an important part in making the whole system work.
We talk more about this in the Foundations of Success workshop I run. If what we’ve been looking at around goals is an area you’d like to improve in, and the LMI Goal Planning tools would be helpful, you’d be really welcome to join one of these sessions.
Posted by nick howes 
The psychology of being intentional is incredibly interesting. When I set a goal, no-matter what it is and regardless of how small it may seem, it gives me a sense of purpose and direction. Again, this may be very small but we have to realise that great habits and big successes begin with small actions and are often the result of years of small accumulations. When I achieve that goal, I can’t help but feel a little bit more successful which in turn helps me feel more motivatied to take on another goal.
Nick Howes 