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The 3 (or 4) Steps to Goal Achievement!

You hear a great deal about goal setting.  Write them down.  Check.  Make them SMART.  Check.

I speak to clients all the time about their goals.  What are they?  Specific?, Measurable?, Attainable?, Relevant?, Time-bound?  Check check check check ….. check!

Despite all of the best goal setting techniques, some important goals are just not achieved.  In fact, the real purpose of setting goals is achieving them.  Put another way, what is the point of setting a goal if you’re not likely to actually reach the goal?

Over the years, I’ve developed a three step process for helping clients reach their goals.  Since the third step has an ‘a’ and a ‘b’, some have insisted that there are actually four steps.  Three steps or four, try them out if you find yourself regularly falling short of your goals.

  1. Set SMART Goals. Discussed in many places. Not SART, SMRT, or SMAT goals … SMART goals.
  2. Visualize success and tap into the feelings that you’ll have when you reach the goal.  How does it look?  Why will you be happy or excited to reach the goal?  Who else will care and why?  What gets better when you achieve the goal?  Be as clear as possible about the emotions you WILL experience.  Close your eyes and feel the emotions.
  3. (a)  What are the obstacles that may stand in the way of your goal?  People?  Places?  Negative thoughts?  Procrastination!!!?  Write them down.  Give each one a name (Fred, Penelope, Rufus) and imagine the personified obstacle is mocking you – “You’ll never reach that goal because I’m going to stop you!! ”  (b) Get fired up about the mocking by these obstacles and come up with strategies to overcome them.  You’ve been challenged!  Called out!   What are you going to do to prove them wrong?  Write down your strategies.

That’s it folks.  Those are my three, or four, steps to achieving goals.  Do you hear crying? I do.  Yes, yes, I do.  The obstacles that told me this morning that I had too many items on my plate to get this blog entry done are weeping bitterly.  I just love it when they cry.  🙂

July 15, 2010 By Ed DeCosta

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