It is that time of year again when we reflect on what we had hoped to accomplish in the past year and what we plan to accomplish in the next. Most times we look back and realize that we did not quite measure up to our hopes and dreams. As a business advisor and executive coach I have found that people tend to make the same mistakes when setting goals for both their business and personal lives:

1. Goals do not support your life or business main purpose. Put another way, the goal is not aligned with what you are trying to accomplish. It has been said that the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you discover why! Make sure your goals support your reason for being.

2. Lack of continual action. Goals usually die from inactivity. Make sure you take one positive step towards your goals every day. Make it part of your to-do list and schedule time to make it happen.

3. Lack of commitment. Many times we set a goal because it just seems like it should be completed or someone else thinks we should do it. Think of all those fitness and weight loss goals that start strong and fail by the end of January. It seemed like a good idea but we really were not committed to it.

4. Goals that do not inspire. Goals should excite you. Plain vanilla goals usually never get off the ground. Set your goals high - goals that have a WOW factor.

5. Loss of focus. Goals tend to get lost in the mundane issues we face every day. Keep your goals visible. Write them down and post them where you can see them every day. Create a photo album of things that represent your goals. Make it your screen saver or the background on your computer screen. What you see clearly gets accomplished.

6. Goals are not positively focused. All goals should be written with a positive focus. We are drawn to things positive and repulsed from things negative. Refocus negatively written goals to highlight the positive when they are achieved.

7. Goals are not SMART. SMART goals are those that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. SMART goals tend to give you a laser focus and keep you on track.

While avoiding these 7 mistakes will not guarantee your success, they will greatly improve your results for the coming year.

Improve your goal setting techniques with a free copy of the SMART Goal worksheet by sending an email to: smart@thecoachacademy.com

Dr. Dennis Hocker is an internationally recognized expert in helping executive coaches and business advisors better serve their clients. He is co-founder of TheCoachAcademy.com which provides specialized training to coaches around the world

 

Set Goals Worthy of Yourself

I have learned a lot about setting goals over the past 17 years studying in the personal development industry. Some goals I have attained and others I have not. It was not until I was coached myself by my mentor that I truly understood that there is a way to set goals and a mindset that guarantees your success in achieving them.

 

First we have to understand that people set goals 3 ways:

1)    They set goals based on what they know they can achieve

2)    They set goals based on what they think they can achieve

3)    They set goals based on what they want and don’t know how they will achieve it

The first two ways are logical thinking, circumstance driven and combine the what with the how. In the third way, there is no how, there is only the what. In setting goals there is only one golden rule: you should never mix the what with the how.

Michelangelo, the painter said that “you should not be afraid to set goals so high that you may never achieve them, but of setting them so low that you always do.”

You see, there is no stretching, no reaching, no faith and no passion involved in the first two ways. It is the same reason why people who set a goal to lose 50 pounds make it, and people who set a goal to lose 5 pounds never do. It is because the goal was too easy, too reachable and too close to where you started. It goes against our logical thinking, but the greater the goal, the greater the chances of achieving it.

When you set a goal and you have no idea how you will achieve it, there is a certain amount of tension like when a rubber band is stretched to its maximum. When it snaps back, it snaps back so much faster than another rubber band that is barely stretched. This is creative tension and is necessary because creativity is where all the passion, love, and inspiration come together into visible manifestation. When the goal is so far from your starting point, and so high that you have to stretch to get it, you develop passion and faith. Your mind starts to work in ways it hasn’t had to before. Your excitement is an energy that magnetizes and aligns you with all the people, events and resources necessary to get what you want.

Set goals that are worthy of you. Your time here passes anyway whether you go for those big dreams or go for those 5 little pounds. You will find that if you do go for your dreams, those 5 pounds will melt off in the process.

My mentor always says: When you finally reach your goals, you will find it is not the goal itself that was as important as who you have become in the process of attaining it.

 

Who do you want to become?

 

Many people have come to realize that what we are focused upon often manifests itself in our lives. Thus, if we are apprehensive about or fearful of events in the future, we will often attract that very thing into our lives. Fortunately, it works the other direction as well. If we are strongly focused on what we want, and imagine it happening in our minds, frequently we will receive it, or a form of it, into our lives. Here are four powerful ways to optimize your ability to focus on what you want:

 

1. Take care of your physical body. The mind and body are intricately connected, and care of one will benefit the other. Make sure you are eating healthy foods, taking appropriate multivitamins and calcium, and exercising regularly. These measures will elevate your mood and clear your mind, allowing you to think about the things you desire.

2. Rid your mind of negative thinking. If you are harboring anger toward someone or something, allow yourself the full negative emotion and note how it affects your mood and physical body. Make a conscious decision to release this negative feeling inside yourself for your own benefit. Remind yourself that you are here and now, exactly where you are meant to be. Assure yourself that whatever decisions you made regarding the situation, they were the best decisions for you at the time.

3. Allow that the other person or event has its limitations, and if it is a person, that this individual did what he or she could with what they have to work with. Visualize releasing this person or event into the universe, back to the God who had purpose for it. Begin to seek out the benefits of the experience and look ahead toward what you may constructively do with your experience.

4. Begin daydreaming about the things you want. Is it a material item like a car? A romantic partner? A new job? Allow yourself to think big and experience in your sensory capacity what it will feel like, look like, smell like, and taste like to have that thing. Anytime a doubt or negative thought that you “can’t have that” comes into your mind, imagine a big red “X” through the thought or image, and verbally say “Cancel”. Repeat as often as necessary to plant the positive mindset.

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