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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED It is strictly prohibited for any part of this e-book to be distributed or promulgated in any form whatsoever, mechanical or digital, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational or retrieval mechanism without the explicit written, signed and dated authorization of the owner. DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES The information expressed within this book contains the opinions of the author at the date of publication. The author reserves the right to modify and update opinions based on new conditions. This report is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept any responsibilities for any liabilities resulting from the use of this information. While every attempt has been made to verify information provided the author cannot assume any responsibilities for errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. Text and images available over the internet and used in this e-book may be subject to intellectual rights and may not be copied from this book. Smartest Goals TM is a trademark of http://www.smart-goals-guide.com
2011 ©Copyright http://www.smart-goals-guide.com All Rights Reserved Worldwide
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
Contents Page No 1.0 Introduction.................................................................................................4 2.0 About the author..........................................................................................8 3.0 Goal setting history – 1960's to today........................................................11 4.0 Nine reasons why you must set goals .......................................................19 5.0 How to discover what it is you really, really want......................................23 6.0 The Smartest Goals Formula™...................................................................28 6.1 Step 1. Write your Specific goal affirmation..................................30 6.2 Step 2. Determine your Measures of success.................................41 6.3 Step 3. Ensure your goal is Attainable.............................................45 6.4 Step 4. Clarify the Reasons for your goal........................................50 6.5 Step 5. Set your Timing...................................................................53 6.6 Step 6. Conduct your Ecology check...............................................55 6.7 Step 7. Plan your Steps...................................................................59 6.8 Step 8. List your Tools & Resources................................................63 7.0 Putting it all together – Examples and Worksheet....................................67 7.1 Worksheet – Smartest Goals Formula ...........................................69 7.2 Goal Example: Weight loss.............................................................71 7.3 Goal Example: Buying dream home................................................73 8.0 Time to take action....................................................................................76 9.0 99%’s a bitch. 100%’s a breeze......................................….........................80 10.0 Find yourself a Goals Buddy.....................................................................83 11.0 How the Smartest Goals Formula™ fits with 'The Secret’.......................85 12.0 Review & Conclusion...............................................................................88 13.0 Appendix - Smartest Goals™ planners....................................................90 - Smartest Goals Formula Worksheet.....................................91
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
1.0 Introduction SMARTEST GOALS FORMULA™ Detailed Goal Setting
- How High Achievers Set Their Goals “Don't ask what the world needs – ask what makes you come alive and go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive”
Howard Thurman
What goal or goals do you have in mind?
A career goal?
A health and fitness goal?
A financial goal?
A personal development goal? ...
Whatever your goal is, and it could be one of thousands, you will want to get off to a flying start! BUT... and here's the sad reality... FEW PEOPLE DO. Let's be honest. How many of you have been able to spend hundreds, if not thousands, attending success workshops or programmes, to learn the goal setting techniques used by some of the highest achieving individuals in the world today?
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
Not many of you I suspect. And that's exactly why I wrote this book. You see, I think that's UNFAIR. If there was ever a time for you to really know how to set cutting edge goals it's now. And that is what you will learn to do here. So first, back to basics. When you know what you want to be, or have, or do, you basically have six options available to you. Option 1. Do what many people do - that is nothing. Just dream. Option 2. Vaguely know what you want, start to take action ... and then muddle through. Option 3. Set a simple 'smart goal' or use some other elementary goal setting framework to clarify your thinking and get yourself motivated to take action. Option 4. Learn Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and set an NLP 'well formed outcome’. (An nlp ‘well formed outcome’ comprises of a number of highly researched ‘goal criteria’). Option 5. Apply the Law of Attraction, known throughout the world as 'The Secret'.
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
Or Option 6. Apply 'the latest' goal setting technique you have been taught by any one of many success coaches. But here’s the new seventh option – and the reason I have written this book. Now you can also choose to: Option 7. Use the Smartest Goals Formula™ to set your goals. What is the Smartest Goals Formula? It’s a new, cutting edge, goal setting formula that pulls the best of Smart Goals, NLP research and the power of 'The Secret' all into one place. And despite being an obvious thing to do, combining the best of these three goal setting models together has not been done before. But what does this mean for you? This means you are about to learn a highly effective, step by step process, to ask yourself the best of all the goal setting questions taught today to high achievers worldwide. And it also means, you too will learn how to set your goals in detail from the outsetsomething most people fail to do as they have never been taught how. Now why is this important to you?
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
It’s very simple. It means from now on, when you use the Smartest Goals Formula™ to set your goals, you will be significantly increasing your chances of succeeding at any personal or professional goal you will ever have. And that's exciting. Isn't it?
Here are just some of the benefits you are about to gain as you learn how to use the Smartest Goals Formula™:
You will learn to always start your thinking by asking yourself what is it that you really want. You will have a proven framework of simple but powerful questions to help you think about your goal in detail. You will learn to ask yourself the questions that people who are already successful, your role models for success, ask themselves. You will focus your mind and concentration on what's most important. You will end up with crystal clear and detailed goals- goals that are totally thorough. And Having totally thorough goals means you will significantly increase your chances of achieving them. In summary, the Smartest Goals Formula ™ is a world class formula for detailed goal setting - anytime and anywhere. Enjoy. What you are about to learn will vastly improve how you set your goals and, from the very first application, will help you change the quality of both your personal and professional life!
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
2.0 About The Author
“The Smartest Goals Formula™ is a world class process for thinking in detail about any of your personal and professional goals”. Gwenn Clayton
My passion... My name is Gwenn Clayton and I specialise in helping people set and achieve goals in all areas of life.
I started back in 1990. Since then I've helped hundreds of people, from some of the biggest companies in the world, to friends and people in my local community, to get crystal clear about what it is they want to achieve... before they ever take a single step.
I have been privileged to work with senior and middle managers in companies such as Unilever, Diversey, ICI, Kimberley Clark, DTZ, Asda and IBM... to name a few. I've also attended workshops all over the world, read widely on this topic, watched and 8
Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
listened to countless recordings… and basically learned and absorbed everything I could get my hands on.
Goal setting know-how and understanding what underlies personal leadership and high performance in life is my speciality. In fact it's more than that - it's my passion!!
So I'm delighted that I am able to help YOU achieve what you want too - I know you must have something important in mind by the very fact you have bought my book!
I’m going to teach you how to really think in detail about your goals, before you take a single step. To do this you’ll be learning the Smartest Goals Formula™. When you’ve learnt to do this, you’ll be increasing your chances of achieving whatever it is that you want personally or professionally right now.
Too many people fail to think through their goals in detail and suffer the consequences. Don’t let that be you.
So that you can get the best out of the Smartest Goals setting process I recommend that you read this book sequentially, chapter by chapter.
Have a paper and pen to hand too.
Once you have set your goal using the Smartest Goals Formula I hope you'll visit my Smart Goals Guide Facebook page and let me know what your goal is!
You’ll find it here:- http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Smart-Goals-Guide-Helping-YouAchieve-Your-Goals/162525657119912
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
That way you'll not be on your own. You'll be joining a network of people all of whom also have clear goals that they want to achieve.
And when you are a part of a network of people similar to yourself, you will find ample opportunity to ask questions, contribute your thoughts and get a lot of help along the way.
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Goethe
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3.0 Goal Setting History - 1960’s To Today.
“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk” J. C. Penney
It is tempting to dive straight into learning the Smartest Goals Formula™. (If you really want to, go ahead of course...) But first, I would like you to understand the history of goal setting and how the Smartest Goals Formula™ has emerged as a result of that history. Today, goal setting is considered fundamental to motivating people to achieve success in all areas of life. It may come as a surprise though to learn that, although goal setting must always have been around in one form or another, it was only as recently as the 1960's that an American called Dr. Edwin Locke began to formally look at goal setting and its relationship to motivation. His first paper on the subject was published in 1968. A number of years later another American, Dr. Gary Latham, also began to look at the impact of goal setting on effectiveness in the workplace. His findings supported those of Dr. Locke. Such were the indisputable links between goal setting and achievement, Dr. Locke and Dr. Latham subsequently published a number of well respected papers together. But it wasn't until 1981 that the now famous S.M.A.R.T. goal setting acronym first appeared. In the November 1981 issue of 'Management Review', an article was published called "There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management goals and objectives." The author was George T. Doran. S.M.A.R.T. was a simple acronym. It stated that an effective goal must be:
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
• • • • •
Specific Measurable Assignable Realistic and Time Bound
(It is not important for you to know this in any more detail right now). Smart goals soon became popular. Word spread quickly and today they are used worldwide as the simplest way to teach effective goal setting. But many goal experts were dissatisfied with the simplicity of the original smart goals acronym. Soon 'smart' became what I call 'smart à la carte’. Throughout the world, experts started to disagree with what each letter stood for. They began to pick and choose alternative meanings that they liked and threw out meanings they disliked. The table below illustrates the many variations that arose. As a result of this process S.M.A.R.T. became the acronym of choice and a longer version, the acronym S.M.A.R.T.E.R. was introduced. The net result was that many useful questions to help you think about your goals were debated, discussed and introduced. The downside however was that the actual quality of the goal you set was totally dependent on which ‘expert’ you chose to follow!
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
1981 Original S.m.a.r.t Goal
S
Specific
Goal Setting Techniques Compared 1981 – 1981 Ongoing To Today To Today Research Most Popular Smart à la ‘Well S.m.a.r.t. Carte Formed Goal ( Pick and Outcomes’ Choose) (From NLP)
Specific
Specific
Yes
Significant Stretching Simple
M
A
Measurable
Measurable
Assignable
T
Realistic
Time Based
The Smartest Goals Formula: (Combining the best of S.m.a.r.t., NLP outcomes and ‘The Secret’) Yes Yes
Measurable
Yes
Yes
Manageable Motivational Meaningful
Yes Yes
Yes Yes
Attainable Action Oriented Agreed Achievable
Yes Yes
Yes Yes
Yes
Yes
Realistic
Yes
Yes
Relevant Rewarding Resourced
Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes
Timing
Yes
Yes
Assignable Attainable
R
2011
Realistic
Timed
Trackable Time Bound
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Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
E
Evaluated Exciting Ethical Ecological
R
Yes Yes
Yes
Relevant
Yes
Results Oriented Rewarded Re-evaluated
Yes
Meanwhile in California, while all this was going on, two American academics, Richard Bandler and John Grinder were slowly developing an entirely new field of knowledge known as NLP. I f you haven't heard of NLP then let me tell you that NLP has been one of the most exciting developments in psychology ever! Not only that, such has been its impact, it would be impossible to develop any effective goal setting technique without it. NLP can be considered to be a branch of applied psychology and is referred to as 'a user’s manual for the brain'. In a nutshell, it consists of thousands of insights into what makes up 'excellence in human behaviour' and is taught in such a way that the steps behind the excellent behaviour can be easily copied and learned by anyone. “NLP is a modelling technology whose specific subject matter is the set of differences that make the difference between the performance of geniuses and that of average performers in the same field of activity”.
Why is it called neuro linguistic programming or NLP? NLP gets its name because its research draws upon three areas: 'Neuro', which stands for 'Neurology' and the five ways we process information – our sight, our hearing, our feelings, what we smell, what we touch and what we taste. 'Linguistic' which refers to how we use language – the words, the symbols and the metaphors we use to code, to organise and to give meanings to how we think about the world – that is, our own internal representations of reality. 14
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'Programming' which stands for the 'programmes' or 'codes' in our brain - which drive our individual behaviours (what we do) and those we do habitually (our habits). Bandler and Grinder started NLP back in the 1970's. Their study of the patterns that underlie 'human excellence' drew upon many different disciplines. These included systems thinking, psychotherapy, cybernetics and general semantics. In the last twenty years NLP has become a truly global discipline – a catalogue of 'models of excellence' which can be, and have been, applied throughout the world to every discipline imaginable. What specific insight does NLP bring to goal setting? One of the most important ideas in NLP is the concept of the ‘well formed outcome'. A 'well formed outcome' has a lot in common with goals. It too is a result that you desire to achieve. But the difference between a 'goal' and an NLP 'well formed outcome’ is huge. The key difference is that goals are often so vague they are unachievable. You say 'I want to be rich', ‘I want to be happy', 'I want to be healthy'... but how will you ever know you are? On the other hand 'well formed outcomes' are goals that are so well formed they greatly increase your chances of success. Saying 'I want to be rich or happy or healthy…' is just not acceptable. From the outset you have to specify your goal exactly. In other words you have to be clear about how you will know you have reached your goal… and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
A 'well formed outcome’ is constructed from certain criteria or 'goal conditions' which are based on years of NLP research into the goal setting thinking patterns of high achievers. In order to include all of these essential criteria as you think about your own goal you will need to ask yourself a certain set of questions. When you ask yourself all of these questions your chances of achieving the goal vastly increase from the outset – before you ever take a single step towards your goal.
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Are Smartest Goals Formula goals™ ‘well formed'?
A 'well formed outcome' comprises of seven ‘goal conditions'. All of these conditions must be met in order for the goal to be considered 'well formed', or in others words 'excellent'. These conditions are all included in the Smartest Goals Formula™ framework – how could they not be? For years people have been setting 'smart goals', 'smarter goals' (smart à la carte) and 'well formed outcomes'. The Smartest Goals Formula™ pulls the best of all these goal setting processes into one place. As you go through each step of the Smartest Goals Formula™ you will find the process includes all of the seven NLP goal conditions for 'well formed outcomes' and goal setting excellence. You don't need to know what each of them mean right now. All you need to know is that they are all included in the Smartest Goals Formula™. For a goal to be 'well formed' in NLP terms it must:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. out 7.
Be stated in the positive Be stated as specifically as possible with sensory based evidence Be stated in your desired context Be within your control Determine what resources will be required Ensure the outcome is 'ecological' – advantages and disadvantages are spelled Define the first step
The Smartest Goals Formula™ comprises of all of these ...and more! Goals in the context of personal development The link between goal setting and achievement in all areas in life is well understood today. In the fields of sport and work, goal setting is now part and parcel of normal life. 16
Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
Over the last twenty years in particular there has been an explosion in popular psychology and self help books, tapes and CDs. Goal setting expertise is a central theme for all personal development. Some of the first outstanding experts in this field were Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Clement Stone, Napoleon Hill and Bob Proctor. Today's extraordinary achievers and teachers include people such as Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Steven Covey, Jack Canfield, Esther and Gerry Hicks, John Gray, John Demartini, Jack Black... to name but a few. But perhaps the newest and most acclaimed insight into goal setting and how to achieve what you want in life recently came from Rhonda Byrne in her worldwide best seller “The Secret”. 'The Secret' sets out three simple steps: • • •
Step 1 : Ask for what you want Step 2 : Believe you will get it Step 3: Be open to Receive it
'The Secret' was number one on the New York Times best seller list and went on to sell millions of copies in multiple languages worldwide. It will come as no surprise to you to hear that the Smartest Goals Formula™ embraces all of these steps too. Summary of the Smartest Goals Formula™ What exactly is the Smartest Goals Formula™? I can sum it up very simply: The Smartest Goals Formula ™ = 'Smart Goals' + NLP’s 'Well Formed Outcomes’ + 'The Secret' And that's it in a nutshell. It is, I believe, the most thorough goal setting framework around today.
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It's not entirely new. It's not entirely original. How could it be? It is though, based on the findings of years of research into the setting of effective and powerful goals. It is simply a clever blend of these three great techniques for goal setting put together in a straightforward and memorable way. And most importantly, unlike many goal setting techniques, it really enables you to set your goals in detail so that you too can be excellent in this area.
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4.0 Nine Reasons Why You Must Set Goals “An average person with average talent, ambition and education, can outstrip the most brilliant genius in our society, if that person has clear, focused goals.” Brian Tracy
What do famous sports people like Michael Jordan, Usain Bolt and John McEnroe have in common? Or famous business people like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Richard Branson of Virgin airlines? What do Hollywood actors like Tom Cruise, Merle Streep and Sylvester Stallone have in common? Or famous entertainers like Michael Jackson, Bono of U2 and Oprah. It'll come as no surprise to know they all have two things in common. They all had a clear vision of what they wanted for their future (their goals) and the willingness to do whatever it took to get there. Read any book on the psychology of success, talk to any successful person, read any biography... in all instances the importance of having a goal is mentioned in one form or another. You also, have already achieved success in many areas of your life. You have made friends, developed skills, graduated from school or perhaps college, found work, married, had kids.... having goals is part and parcel of how you have created success too. You just may not have thought about it in that way. The question is what else do you want to achieve in life right now? And how are you going to go about doing it.
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9 reasons why you must have goals Before you learn the Smartest Goals Formula™ I want to share with you why setting goals is so important. Here are the nine main reasons.
1. To lay the foundation stone of your success Knowing what it is you want – having a goal – is the very first step to all success in life. No longer do you wake up each day and let your day fill up with nothing but trivia, general busyness and distractions. Your priorities become clear. Over time your success is built step by step and having a clear goal from the outset is the foundation. 2. To allow you to live the life you want Most people live their lives with many ‘shoulds’ and 'wishes'. When you set a clear goal, you move away from those ‘shoulds’ and 'wishes' to making your dreams come true. 3. To provide you with targets and a roadmap for your future Having a clear vision of what you want gives you a clear target to work towards and keeps you focussed on your future not your past. You will work best when you have targets to focus on and you will manage your time best when your priorities are clear. Large goals need to be broken down into smaller more achievable sub goals. Collectively this constant focus on targets and goals will provide you with a roadmap to reach your ultimate goals. 4. To drive your motivation When you have a goal that you really want to make happen it becomes the driving force behind what you think, say and do. Having a goal drives your motivation. It is your source of inspiration. It is your power supply to success.
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5. It's part of human nature Your very nature is to be goal focussed. Every day you set and achieve goals. You decide what you are going to eat, where you are going to go, what you are going to do, who you are going to talk to, how you are going to do that etc. You are by nature a goal setter. Maxwell Maltz in his book “Psychocybernetics” summarises this nicely when he writes; “Emotionally we are designed like a bicycle. If we are not moving towards something we lose our equilibrium and balance and fall over”. 6. To create the opportunity for you to grow and stretch Someone once said 'In life we are either growing or we are dying'. When you have a goal and you do what is required to achieve it: You are broadening your sense of who you are as a person and what is possible for your life You are developing your values You are building new beliefs about yourself and realising how much more is possible You are develop new skills and capabilities You are learning how to do new things You are going to places you have never been before You are building new friendships and relationships You are feeling good... On the other hand when you have few significant goals and are stagnating, life doesn't quite feel so good.
7. To create the foundation of your inner success. When you are really clear about what it is that you want, then you are able to engage your subconscious mind to help you get there. Affirming and visualising what it is that you want creates inner success and the more you can do that the more likely you are to reach outer success.
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Andre Agassi tells the story of how he had spent years imagining in his own mind that he had won the tennis championship at Wimbledon... years before he actually won it.
Graeme Mc Dowell the winner of the 2010 US open golf championship and Emma O' Donoghue nominee for the 2010 Booker prize for literature admitted that they too had previously imagined those wins over and over again in their minds.
8. To expand the realms of possibility Whenever you set a goal and then do whatever it takes to achieve your goal you are broadening and developing who you are as a person. In turn: Your confidence grows... Your motivation increases... Your tenacity builds... As this happens you begin to realise just how capable you are and just how much more is possible. 9. To make a difference 'No man is an Island'. Whenever you set yourself a positive goal, not only will it change your life in some way but it can also positively affect the lives of those around you:
your family, your friends your colleagues your community perhaps even the world too.
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5.0 How To Discover What It Is You Really, Really Want. “I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.” Mark Twain
Perhaps you already know what it is that you want to achieve. If so, that’s great. As I guide you through each step of the Smartest Goals Formula™ take the goal you have in mind and work with that. By the end of the process you will have created a really powerful and crystal clear goal for yourself. If, on the other hand, you do not know what it is that you want, I recommend that you pause for as long as necessary at this chapter. Why? Because, below you will find some excellent questions that are designed to help you uncover exactly what it is that you truly want in both your personal and professional life. To work effectively through these questions I suggest that you get yourself a pen and paper and write down your answers. There are a number of different types of questions below. Review them all and answer only those that inspire you the most. They are all aimed at helping you define what it is that you want but are simply different routes to getting there. Once you have completed the questions that resonate closest with you, select one of your 'wants' and we will use the Smartest Goals Formula™ in the next chapter to make that 'want' crystal clear. Even if you already know the goal you want to work on right now, make sure you take the time to answer the questions below at some point too. There are four reasons why. By the time you have completed these questions, you will: •
Have expanded your thinking about what it is that is possible for your life
•
Have designed and created your future – something we rarely take time to do 23
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•
Find yourself extremely excited and motivated to live life at a higher level
•
Be so motivated you will just want to work on your goals and get going!!!
Of course answering these questions will be a lot easier if you already have a strong sense of what your overall vision and mission for life is! But that is not the subject of this ebook. The nine key life areas for goal setting: Before you answer the questions, consider the following list. This is the list of the nine key areas that make up your life:
• • • • • • • • •
Health & Fitness Career Relationships Social life Personal development Financial Quality of life – leisure, travel, fun, material Spiritual Contribution
The ideal is to live a life that is in balance – a life where you know what it is that you want in each of these areas. Steven Covey tells a wonderful story in his classic book 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers' and I would like to share it with you here. I attended a seminar once where the instructor was lecturing on time. At one point he said “Okay, it's time for a quiz”. He reached under the table and pulled out a wide mouth gallon jar. He set it on the table next to a platter with some fist sized rocks on it. “How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar he asked?” After we made our guess he said “Okay, let’s find out.” He set one rock in the jar… then another… then another. I don't remember how many he got in, but he got the jar full. Then he asked “Is that jar full?” 24
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Everybody looked at the rocks and said “Yes”. Then he said “Ahhh”. He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar and the gravel went into all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Then he grinned and said once more “Is this jar full?” By this time we were onto him. “Probably not” we said. “Good” he replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went in all the little spaces, left by the rocks and the gravel. Once more he looked at us and said “Is this jar full?” “No.” we all roared. He said “Good!” and he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in. He got something like a quart of water into that jar. Then he said “Well, what's the point?” Somebody said “Well, there are gaps and if you really work at it you can always fit more into your life?” “No” he said “that's not the point. The point is this. If you hadn't put the big rocks in first would you ever have got any of them in?” So, what are your big rocks? Do you know? If so, do you know them all? The following questions are designed to give you a helping hand, if you need it. Remember, most people spend more time cooking, cleaning or planning their holidays than they ever give to planning the life of their dreams.
Ten powerful questions to help reveal your desires:
Write down your answers to the questions below that inspire you the most. 1. What is it that you want to: •
be?
•
have? 25
Smartest Goals Formula – How High Achievers Set Their Goals www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com
•
do?
(Write a list as long as you can. You will find a 101 goals worksheet that you can print off from the above link to my website. I suggest that you print it off so that every time you think of something that you would like to be, have or do you can add it to your list. In this way, you will have your many dreams all on one piece of paper. Feel free to go well beyond one hundred and one ideas of course!)
2. If you could wave a magic wand over your life right now and have whatever it is that you want what would be there?
3. If, from the moment you wake up tomorrow morning, your life is just perfect, how will you know?
4. What is it that you truly love?
5. What do you want so much that it brings a big smile to your face just thinking about it? What makes you go 'Wow'? *
6. What would your ideal life look like if it included the things you love?
7. What would your ideal life look like if there were no limitations?
8. What would you love to do if you had all the money in the world?
9. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
10. If you could just achieve one big goal what would it be?
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As a result of answering these questions you should now have many new ideas and sources of excitement for your life. You will have a much clearer idea of what it is you want. Congratulations. Now it is time to get down to the detail and to learn how to use the Smartest Goal Formula™ to define your goals very clearly. In the next chapter you will learn the first step.
(*This question was taken from Michael Neils’ book 'You Can Have What You Want').
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6.0: Why the Smartest Goals Formula™ is at the forefront of goal setting
There are hundreds of different workshops, books, CDs and videos on the subject of setting goals.
Without doubt though the S.M.A.R.T. goals process, introduced by George T. Doran in 1981, is the most popular process of all.
S.M.A.R.T. goals are fantastic in enabling people to phrase goals effectively. But their simplicity is their downside. S.M.A.R.T. still leaves much unsaid.
What do today’s experts suggest are the core factors behind effective goal setting?
When you review the research on what you should consider in order to think about your goal in a truly robust way, twelve keys emerge.
These are the top twelve keys to effective goal setting.
Knowing:
1.What it is you want, and asking for it. 2.That your goal is phrased positively. 3.The measures of your goal. 28
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4.That it's possible to achieve your goal. 5.When you want to achieve your goal by. 6.The steps you will take to achieve your goal. 7.That your goal is stretching and challenging 8.That your goal is motivating. 9. Just why you want your goal. 10. What you will need to achieve your goal. 11.Who and what can help you. 12. The possible downsides to achieving your goal.
When you have considered all of the above, then you will truly have thought through your goal in detail. The challenge is how do you remember to review all of the above. Is there an easy way to do it? Yes. Use the Smartest Goals Formula™. Why? Because the Smartest Goals Formula™ pulls all of these twelve top keys together into one place.
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6.1:
Step 1 – Write Your SPECIFIC Goal Affirmation
“Without goals, and plans to reach them you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” Fitzhugh Dodson
The first step to goal excellence using the smartest Goal Formula ™ is to write a sentence or two that summarises your goal in specific terms.
This is the first S. in the S.m.a.r.t.e.s.t. acronym.
Your goal needs to be SPECIFIC.
Think of it as the few words you will say to a friend or colleague at the coffee machine or the water cooler in order that they very quickly understand what it is you want to achieve.
You should be able to do this relatively easily as in reality you are always explaining to people what it is that you want. However your aim here is to summarise your goal in as precise and specific a way as possible.
This is how to form a really effective goal summary or affirmation:
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1. Always begin the summary of your goal with the words 'I AM'
Saying 'I am' is the first step to creating thoughts which eventually will become things.
The words 'I am ' are tremendously powerful and will be eventually taken by your subconscious mind to be true.
2. Always write your goal in the PRESENT TENSE.
State your goal as if it is happening right now.
When you phrase it in the future tense, as many people mistakenly do, you distance yourself from the goal. Saying 'I will work' is a lot less powerful than saying 'I am working'.
3. Always state your goal in POSITIVE TERMS
You must state your goal in terms of what you want, not what you don't want.
When you state what it is that you want this is what you focus on, and, providing that you take the necessary action, this is what you will bring into your life.
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By contrast when your goal is stated in terms of what it is that you do not want, you only bring more of that into your life too. Why? Because that is where your mind is focussed.
For example, if someone says “Don't think about the state of the economy”, the only way you can not think about it is of course to think about it! You have to focus on it first, so that you can then, not focus on it.
For this reason it is essential that your goal affirmation is always phrased in positive terms.
This is a simple but vital shift in phraseology but it makes all the difference in the world between achieving your goals and failing to achieve your goals.
Here are some examples of the type of negative goal affirmations you must avoid:
“I am no longer overweight...”
“I am no longer a smoker...”
“I don't get nervous giving presentations...”
“I don't work for company x any longer...”
Instead, you might say;
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“I am weighing x kilos and fit into size X clothing”
“I am feeling really healthy. I eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and I go to the gym three times a week.”
“I am feeling confidant when I give presentations to my work colleagues and customers”
“I am working in 'X'- the top advertising agency in Manhattan.”
4. Make your goal affirmation as SPECIFIC as possible.
The majority of people have vague goals and as a result never achieve them. Instead your goal must be specific, that is - clear, tangible and measurable.
The way to make your goal affirmation specific is to define it in sensory specific language.
This means defining what you want in terms of what you will see, hear and feel. In this way your goal will become much more detailed and clear.
Include specifics such as who, what, where...
Where possible include numeric indicators such as amounts . For e.g. how much money, how many kilos...etc 33
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Here are some examples of vague goal affirmations:
I want to be rich I want to be slim I want to live in a big house. Here are some examples of specific goal affirmations:
“I am earning $100,000 a year as CEO of my new toy business” “I am weighing X kilos and fitting into size X clothes...” “I am living in my brand new, 3 bedroomed apartment in Greenwich Village in New York.” Clearly the more specific the detail, the better your goal statement.
When your goal is a big goal...
Sometimes your goal may be large and difficult to define. If that is the case, I suggest you ask yourself “What is stopping me achieving this goal”. This will reveal a number of sub goals to you which in turn will help you make your goals much more specific.
For e.g. You say 'I want to lose weight.' ( that's a vague, unclear, negatively stated goal. ) 34
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Now ask yourself “What stops me?”
You may answer:
I don't do any exercise... I don't know how to cook healthy food... I don't have anyone to encourage me... Now all you need to do is ask yourself “What do I want instead?”
When you answer this question in relation to each of the above obstacles you can then easily create positive relevant goals. For example:
Rather than “I don't do any exercise...” your goal might now be: “I am walking four days a week for thirty minutes.”
Rather than “I don't know how to cook healthy food...” your goal might now be: “I am cooking one healthy meal everyday from my new list of twenty healthy recipes”.
Rather than “I don't have anyone to encourage me...” now your goal 35
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might be: “I visit weight watchers once a week and I enjoy the company of my positive and supportive new friends.”
You could put this altogether and say:
“I walk four days a week for 30 minutes, cook one healthy meal a day and belong to Weight watchers”.
Remember in life nothing ever happens in general. Everything happens specifically. The same is true about goals.
5. Think about the CONTEXT for your goal.
It's important that you think about 'where' and 'when' and 'with whom' you want your goal. Sometimes it is necessary to establish boundaries.
For example, you may have a goal to 'feel strong and assertive'. But your goal may not be to 'feel strong and assertive while you are at home , or with your friends.
You may want to feel that feeling only when you are at work with your boss. If that is the case then write that down as part of your goal sentence or ‘affirmation’ as it is often called.
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6. Your goal must be highly MOTIVATING to you
Once you have summarised your goal ask yourself on a scale of one to ten how would you score how much you want this goal. The higher the score, the more likely you are to do whatever it takes to achieve it.
If your goal scores below 7 you may want to revise it completely. Ask yourself ‘ how could I summarise this goal in a way that I would score it a nine or ten’. Ten of course always being preferable.
7. Your goal affirmation should have a DEADLINE.
It is always helpful to include the date by which you will have achieved your goal in your goal affirmation. We will talk about this in more detail later.
“I am walking four days a week for thirty minutes by Dec 31st
“I am living in my brand new, 3 bedroomed apartment in Greenwich Village in New York by Dec 31st 2015.”
(Adding a date is also the first 'T' in the Smartest Goals Formula™ . As so many of you already know this, I am mentioning this in step one).
8. Add a phrase to the end of your goal affirmation that connects you to the wider world and removes the focus away from your ego! 37
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To do this life coach Michael Neill suggests you add one of the following phrases to your goal:
“...as a part of my wonderful life.”
“...and enjoy the process.”
“...for myself and others.”
“...for the highest good of all concerned.”
“...as a natural consequence of living my highest values.”
So for e.g.:
“I am earning $100,000 a year by Dec 31st 2012 as a part of my wonderful life.”
“I am weighing X kilos and fitting into size X clothes by April 2011 and enjoying the process.”
“I am running an evening class on meditation once a week by Sept 2011 for myself and others.”
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This guideline is optional. Many people however report that it makes all the difference in the world to them
When you bear these eight guidelines in mind you will easily create a terrific summary of your goal and will be ready for step two of the Smartest goal formula™
Example - Wendy's 'weight loss' goal.
Wendy is forty two years of age. She wants to lose weight but has found it difficult. I am going to show you how she created an effective goal plan for herself using the Smartest Goals Formula™
She's been telling herself that she wants to lose weight for quite some time. It's not difficult to understand if that's what she's been saying why it hasn't happened for her.
Now though, things are different. She has created a Smart goal summary for herself. It's this.
“I am weighing 140lbs. I am wearing size 12 clothes. I am feeling healthy and I think I look fantastic.”
We will follow Wendy as she works through all the steps of the Smartest Goals Formula.
Assignment: 39
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Now select one of YOUR goals. In order to create a goal affirmation for your goal, write down a sentence or two that summarises it in specific terms. Make sure you include the following criteria : starts with 'I ', is in the present tense, is positive, specific, in context and motivating Think of ‘the who’... ‘the how’... ’the what’... ’the where’... ‘the with whom’...and ‘the when’.) Review all of the goal statement criteria above to help you.
Eg I am (the who) happily playing 15 minutes (the how) on the piano (the what) at home (the where) four times a week by February 30th(the when).
Excellent! Once you have done this you have now completed the first step of the Smartest Goals Formula™ Your goals is now: Specific
Tip It's quite ok to just do your best here. Move on to step 2 of the formula. It will considerable refine your thinking. You can then come back and add to or revise your goal affirmation. I often start with the next step, the ‘M’ of Smartest Goals and then do the ‘S’ as the second and not the first step. This is always fine too.
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6.2:
Step 2 - Determine your MEASURES of Success
“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” Abraham Lincoln
The second step in the Smartest Goal Formula™ is to define the measures for your goal. Your goal must be MEASURABLE. Measures are the sensory based pieces of evidence that will allow you (and others) to know when your goal has been reached. They are what you will see, hear and feel when your goal is achieved. To define your measures you must ask yourself ‘How will I know when I have achieved this goal? ' Then write a list of • • •
What you will see... What you will hear... How you will feel...
As you do this you will be sketching in the details of your goal. Your goal will be becoming less and less abstract and your chances of success increasing step by step. To illustrate let's return to Wendy’s ‘weight loss' example. Here is her goal affirmation: “I am weighing 140lbs. I am wearing size 12 clothes. I am feeling healthy and I think I look fantastic.” But what could be the measures?
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Here are some possibilities: What I will see: •
I weigh X lbs when I stand on the scales.
•
I fit into size X clothes.
•
I fit into those favourite designer jeans I bought 3 years ago and hardly wore!
•
I walk X times a week.
•
I am a member of the local gym.
•
My cholesterol level is X.
•
My BMI index score is X.
•
My kitchen fridge and cupboards are full of healthy foods only.
•
I am eating healthy foods at every meal.
What I will hear: •
My inner voice saying 'I look great!'
• My partner, family and friends saying 'Well done, you've lost weight haven't you!' What I will feel: •
Healthy
•
Energised and positive about life
•
Confident
•
Proud of myself
There are of course many possible measures. Whichever you select they are all vital markers on the pathway to successfully completing your goal. There are three key reasons why clarifying the measures for your goal is absolutely fundamental to your success. These are:
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1. If you don't define what it is you want, you just won't get it. 2. You have to have a way to know that you are on track so that you can measure your progress. 3. Clarity creates focus. Focus creates motivation. And motivation creates results! Most people don't have a way of knowing when they will have reached their goals because their goals are too vague. As a result they don't experience the tremendous satisfaction that comes from achieving goals. They may work all their lives to be 'successful' or 'rich' or 'happy' but without knowing what it is they will see, hear or feel they may never actually get to feel that way. What can't be measured can't be managed. And what can't be managed can't be achieved. Tips: •
Take whatever time you need to identify the measures for your goal success.
▪ Research the measures others have already used to help them achieve similar goals •
Don't make all your measures too far off into the future. Include some shorter term measures too so that you get to experience the tremendous satisfaction of achieving them along the way.
Assignment: Taking the goal you attempted to summarize in the last chapter it is now time to decide on the measures for success for your own goal. To do this, write down your answers to the following questions: •
What will you see?
•
How will you feel?
•
What will you hear?
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Done?
Great – now you have completed the first two steps of the Smartest Goal Formula™.
Your goal is: •
Specific and
•
Measurable
You may now want to go back to step one, your specific goal sentence and add to it or refine it as necessary. Make sure your goal sentence now states exactly what you want and that it is really motivating for you.
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6.3:
Step 3 - Ensure your Goal is ACHIEVABLE “Go put your creed into your deed.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
The third step in the Smartest Goals Formula™ is to make sure your goal is actually ACHIEVABLE. If anything this is a kind of reality check. Ensuring your goal is achievable involves asking yourself questions about three things: I call it the BCC check! 1.Your degree of Control in achieving the goal 2.Your Beliefs about the goal 3.The level of Challenge the goal represents Let's take this one by one: Question 1. What is your degree of control in achieving your goal? Once you have summarised your goal and determined your measures of success, you must ask yourself the question: Is this goal within my control? If your answer to this question is 'yes', then you can proceed to the next question. If your answer is 'no', then you must return right back to step 1 of the Smartest Goals Formula™ and reword or revise your goal affirmation. What exactly is meant by this? Well, a condition of effective goal setting is that the goal must be within your control. In other words YOU must be able to achieve it. The problem is that people often set themselves up for failure by setting goals that rely on other people to get them.
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Goals such as “My partner is... My boss is... My kids will... My neighbour will... etc.
If you set a goal in these terms, the only way you’re likely to succeed is through a change in the behaviour of these other people. These 'other' people will need to do certain things, or indeed not do certain things, in order for you to reach your goal. That is a big asking... it is unlikely... and it will leave you in a vulnerable position. By contrast, when you set a goal that you are in control of using the word “I”, you put yourself in a position of power and radically increase your chances of success. Here are some examples of what I mean: The goal is outside of your control when you say: “My son's bedroom is tidy.” The goal is within your control when you say: “I will take 5 minutes every day to help tidy my son's bedroom.” The goal is outside of your control when you say: “My boss treats me with respect.” The goal is within your control when you say: “I am feeling confidant and tell myself 'keep your head held high' whenever I am working directly with my boss” When you ask yourself what is it that 'I' can do or experience’, you are putting yourself in control of your goal. Steve and Connirae Andreas, two of the world's top NLP experts, summarise this by saying that it is vital that “the goal is stated in a way that means you can get it yourself no matter what other people do”. And it is vital. So ensuring the goal is within your control is a fundamental part of the Smartest Goals Formula™. Next you should consider:
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Question 2: What are your beliefs about your goal? NLP research shows successful people share four common beliefs when they set goals. • They truly 'want' to achieve the goal. • They believe the goal is 'possible' – i.e. it’s a realistic goal. • They believe the goal is 'possible' and that they ‘personally are capable’ of achieving it. (Again it is realistic). • They believe they 'deserve' to achieve the goal. Wanting your goal is fundamental to success. If you have goals that you have not achieved, it could be that you never really wanted them in the first place. Believing that your goal is possible is also fundamental to the success of your goal. If you have goals that have fallen by the wayside it could be that you experienced 'hopelessness' – that state where you just did not believe the goal itself was possible. In addition to believing your goal is possible, you must believe that you personally have what it takes to do it. Some of your past goals may have already failed as a result of feelings of 'helplessness'. You also have to believe that you deserve to succeed with your goal. Some of your goals may never have materialised because you felt 'unworthy', you didn't believe that you truly deserved them. ( I know, this may sound strange to you). So, take time to ask yourself: • Do you want your goal? • Do you believe your goal is possible? • Do you believe you have what it takes to achieve your goal? • Do you believe you deserve your goal? I If at this stage you can answer 'yes' to all of these questions, you can stop and congratulate yourself. This is a cause for celebration. You have radically reduced the likelihood of failure and your thinking is now well ahead of the vast majority of people who are setting goals. If you answer 'no' to each of these questions you need to return to step 1 of the Smartest Goals Formula™ and revise your goal affirmation entirely. In the same way 47
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that having the above beliefs will empower you to success, lacking the above beliefs will impede and undermine you. Question 3: What is the level of challenge the goal represents? When it comes to the level of challenge your goal represents, the critical questions to ask yourself are: •
Is this goal so easy it will be difficult for me to motivate myself to do it?
•
Is this goal so big I will struggle to achieve it?
•
Does this goal both stretch and inspire me?
If the goal is too small or too big, OR if your goal does not challenge you a little and inspire you a lot, you may want to return to step 1 of setting your smartest goal and rethink and revise your goal affirmation. You can easily assess the level of challenge your goal represents by placing it into one of the following four categories: 1.
Not challenging and not important
2.
Not challenging but important
3.
Challenging but not important
4.
Challenging and important
When you are challenged and inspired by your goal, and consider it to be important too, you will be all the more motivated to achieve it. Returning to Wendy's 'weight loss' goal, here is what she concluded: •
Yes, this is within my control.
•
Yes, I want it, I believe it is possible, and I think I deserve it.
•
Yes, it is a stretching and challenging goal for me.
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Tips: Checking whether your goal is achievable or not is a simple process. Explaining the process though may have made it sound a lot more complex than it is! Just answer the three questions below and you will have achieved this step perfectly!
Assignment: Taking the goal you have summarized and measured, it is now time to check if your goal is achievable. To do this, write your answers to the following three questions: •
Is this goal within your CONTROL or influence to achieve?
• Beliefs - Do you truly want this goal? Do you believe it’s possible – realistic? Do you think you deserve it? •
Is it stretching and motivating for you?
Make sure you answer ‘yes’ to all these questions. Great – now you have completed the first three steps of the Smartest Goals Formula™.
Your goal is now: •
Specific
•
Measurable and
•
Achievable
In the most popular version of Smart goals the ‘a’ stands for ‘attainable’ and the ‘r’ stands for ‘realistic’. In the Smartest Goals Formula™ the question of whether your goal is realistic or not is present when you ask yourself one of the fundamental questions behind all success – ‘Do you believe this is possible’. If you don’t believe your goal is possible then it is not realistic to you.
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6.4:
Step 4 - Clarify the REASONS for Your Goal “Great minds have purposes. Others have dreams.” Washington Irving
The fourth step of the Smartest Goals Formula™ is where you define the reasons why you want your goal. Your goal needs to be REASONED. It's a simple process. To clarify your reasons, you should ask yourself two key questions: •
Why do I want this goal? (What will this goal do for me?)
•
What will my achieving this goal do for others?
It is relatively straightforward writing down why you want your goal, but most people never take the time to do this. Here are the reasons why Wendy wants to lose weight. As you will see they are powerful and motivating drivers for her. To: •
Regain my self esteem and believe in myself again
•
Enjoy knowing I'm at my ideal weight
•
Feel and look a lot healthier
•
Have a great sense of accomplishment
•
Be able to fit into some of my favourite clothes again
•
Be able to enjoy clothes shopping again
•
Look good to my partner and family
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•
Be able to play football with my children
So why should you stop and define the reasons behind your goal? There are four main answers to this question. 1) So that you can unearth what it is that is truly motivating you. Most people dive straight into action without ever fully clarifying why they are doing what they are doing. You must identify what you stand to gain from your goal. The more reasons you have and the better those reasons are the more likely you are to achieve them. 2) So that you can accelerate your energy, commitment and motivation to achieve your goal. Your 'whys’ are the unconscious and conscious driving forces behind your goal. The more conscious you are of them, the greater will be your energy and motivation to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal. Think of your reasons as your energy supply! 3) So that you can get clear on the benefits that other people stand to gain as a result of you achieving your goal. Others may benefit from your goal too. The more aware you are of what it is you are adding to the lives of others, the more motivated you will be to do so.
4) So that you can increase your ability to communicate your goal clearly to others. Goals are rarely achieved in isolation. In most instances you will need to engage the help of other people. The more clearly you are able to communicate what your goal is, and more importantly, what benefits achieving this goal will bring to others, the easier it will be to get people on board to support and help you.
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Tips: In order to understand why others may benefit, you may find it useful to first define who these important others are. Your partner, your family, your friends, your neighbours, your work colleagues, your community, the world? The benefits to each may well be different. In business terms these others are often described as 'stakeholders'. It is common practise for high achieving executives to spend many hours, if not weeks, thinking about what the benefits of achieving a business goal might be to each of its stakeholders. They do this as part of the business planning process, before they take action – and so should you! Make ‘knowing why’ part of your goal planning process too.
Assignment: Taking YOUR own goal, now write down the reasons why you want to achieve it. To do this, write your answer to the following question: What are your key reasons for achieving this goal? (Think of this in two waysWhat will be the benefits to you? And what will be the benefits to others?)
Done that? Great – you have just completed the first four steps of the Smartest Goals Formula™. Your goal is now:
•
Specific
•
Measurable
•
Achievable and
•
Reasoned
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6.5:
Step 5 - Set Your TIMING “Goals are dreams with deadlines.” Diana Scharf Hunt
The fifth step of the Smartest Goals Formula™ is where you decide on the timing, or completion date, for your goal. Your goal must be TIMED. All you need to do is to ask yourself what is the day, month and year by which you would like to have achieved your goal. For example: by December 31st 2012 Once you have done this, return to step 1 of the Smartest Goals Formula™ where you created your goal affirmation and add the date to the end of that sentence. Returning to Wendy's 'weight loss' example here is her goal affirmation. “I am weighing 140lbs, I am wearing size 12 clothes and I am going walking three times a week by Dec. 31st 2011. “ Here's why you must do this: 1) So that you have a deadline. You must have a cut off point – a date by which you will know that you either have or haven't achieved your goal. 2) So that you get started! When you don't have a date to work towards, you can easily avoid getting started and not follow through at all. 3) So that you can increase your motivation. There is nothing like having a deadline to motivate you to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal and to keep up the necessary momentum throughout the entire process. 4) So that you can set your unconscious mind in motion. When you have given yourself a clear target to work towards, your unconscious mind goes to work to help you spot the very resources and opportunities you need to achieve your goal on time. 5) So that you can celebrate! Your completion date is also your celebration date. You 53
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will have put lots of work into achieving your goal so you deserve to go on out and celebrate your success in whatever small or big way you want. Tips: The sooner you set the date the better. A deadline which is six months away is not as motivating as a deadline which is only three months away. Share your target date with others. This will doubly increase your motivation to do whatever it takes to honour that date. Don't be afraid to move your deadline if necessary. As you get working on your goal, you will have even more information available to you about what it is that is required to reach it. If the goal is more complicated than you realised you may need to extend the deadline. Likewise, if simpler, you can bring it forward...
Assignment: It is now time to make sure your goal is timed. To do this, write your answer to the following questions: By when do you want to have achieved your goal? By what day, what month, what year? Done that? Great! Now you have completed five steps of the Smartest Goals Formula™ Your goal is now:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Reasoned and
Timed
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6.6:
Step 6 - Conduct Your ECOLOGY Check
“Wisdom comes from experience, but experience alone is not enough. Experience anticipated and experience revisited is the true source of wisdom.” John Grinder
You will have heard of many people who have achieved great success in some area of their lives. But you may also have heard about the great price they paid to do so. Achieving goals can often come at a high price. It can leave in its wake: • • • •
Broken relationships Deteriorating health Not being around when your kids are growing up Postponing the enjoyment of life...
None of which were ever imagined when the goal was set in the first place. So Step 6 of the SmartEst Goals Formula™ is an ecology check. This is where you assess what, if any, negative effects might arise as a result of you working on or achieving your goal. This is to make sure your final goal is ECOLOGICAL. Remember, when you set a goal and start to take action on it there’s always a ripple effect. This is because you are part of a wider system and as YOU change, the people who are part of this wider system, are often affected in some way. In Step 4 you clarified your reasons, the advantages of achieving your goal. In doing so you were conducting a positive ecology check. Now in Step 6 you must carry out a negative ecology check by asking yourself the opposite: Are there any downsides (or disadvantages) to achieving my goal, either to myself or to the others in the wider system of which I am part?
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One way of doing this is to write a list identifying the 'others' in your system. When you have this list write against each name any disadvantages that you can think of.
E.g.
'Others'
Potential downsides of achieving this goal
Partner Kids Wider family Friends Local Community Country Wider world
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To illustrate, let's return to Wendy's 'weight loss' goal example: What are the possible downsides of setting and achieving my goal? (Think of this in two ways – the downsides to you and the downsides to others.)
This is what Wendy wrote: •
My food bill will rise as I buy healthier food
•
Possible family objections at absence of ‘junk’ food in cupboards
•
Will need to spend extra time preparing healthy food in the kitchen
•
Additional expenses of gym membership and new training shoes
•
Cost of new smaller clothes
•
My family will see less of me when I'm at the gym or out walking
•
I'll be spending less of my 'free' time with my partner
And because these issues were identified and anticipated, Wendy was able to address them one by one. Here are the reasons why you should always conduct this kind of ecology check on your goal.
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• You will be training yourself to step outside of yourself and look at the world from the perspective of other people – this is a vital life skill, not just for goal setting but for all situations in life. • You will be identifying the possible downsides to achieving your goal; most people just let them unfold over time. In identifying any possible downsides: You can then prepare for them Ask yourself what you need to do differently to avoid them You may find all you need to do is include some people in advance You may decide your goal is not at all viable and hence avoid wasting all your time, effort and money on it Whatever your analysis throws up, when you conduct an ecology check on your goals before you take any action, you can anticipate and avoid issues that could have emerged once you got started.
Tips: • In addition to asking yourself what are the possible downsides to working on or achieving your goal, you may like to meet with and directly discuss this with the people who you think might be the most affected.
Assignment: It is now time to carry out an ecology check on YOUR own goal. To do this, write your answer to the following question: What are the possible downsides of setting and achieving my goal? (Think of this in two ways – the downsides to you and the downsides to others.)
Done that? Great - now you have completed the first six steps of the Smartest Goals Formula™.
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Your goal is now: •
Specific
•
Measurable
•
Achievable
•
Reasoned
•
Timed and
•
Ecological
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6.7
Step 7 - Plan Your STEPS “It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise” Goethe
Step seven in the SmarteSt Goals Formula™ is where you write down the steps you are going to take to turn your goal into your reality. These steps will form your action plan. Up to now you have been the dreamer and thinker. Now it is time to become a planner. There are many different words used to describe this stage of goal setting. A list of steps, an action plan, a development plan, objectives, sub goals... Personally I like to think of 'a step' as 'a sub goal '. This is for two reasons: Firstly, because as you are breaking down your 'big' goal into smaller and smaller steps you are creating mini or sub goals. And secondly, because some of the steps that you will list will themselves be 'big'. As such the best way to deal with them is to take them one by one and use the Smartest Goals Formula™ to also think them through in detail. (Businesses are particularly adept at doing this. In businesses, teams of people receive the 'big' goals and are responsible for breaking them down into smaller more manageable sub goals so that they can make it happen.) Let's go back to Wendy's 'weight loss' example. Her specific goal affirmation is: • I am weighing 140lbs. I am wearing size 12 clothes. I am walking three times a week by December 31st 2011. Now she creates the series of steps to achieve her goal. This is what she writes:
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•
Commit to partner and two friends that I will achieve the above goal
•
Plan how much I want to lose each week
•
Join Weight Watchers
•
Throw all unhealthy food out of kitchen
•
Restock kitchen with healthy foods
•
Remove sugar from my diet
•
Take healthy lunches to work – prepare the night before
•
Say 'no' to coffee, tea, chocolate etc.
•
Drink 8 glasses of water a day
•
Say 'yes' to smoothies, fruit, nuts, salads etc.
•
Sign up with best local gym
•
Find a walking buddy
•
Buy a diary to record food, exercise and feelings daily
In creating her list suddenly things become a lot clearer. A clear set of steps, her action plan, is formed. Here are the eight key reasons why writing down a list of action steps and developing a plan of action are vital to your goal setting success. 1) First it will force you to get really focussed and clear about what it is you are going to do. 2) It will also test your resolve and commitment to your goal. Once you begin to see what it will take you may back down, on the other hand you may feel more determined than ever. 3) It will draw the best out of you - challenging you to think both logically and creatively. 4) It will narrow down your options; there are so many ways that you could reach your goal. 5) You will have a blueprint for action before you even take a single step. 60
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6) You will find it easier to communicate your plans to both yourself and all others involved or affected. 7) You will have a firm foundation you can build and develop over time. 8) At some point in the future you will be able to look back on your initial plan and see just how much progress you have made.
Tips: When you are thinking about the steps you need to take, you may find it helpful to ask yourself the following questions: •
What new skills, if any, do I need?
•
What do I need to do?
•
Where do I need to go?
•
Who do I need to talk to?
•
What else do I need to believe?
There is no such thing as the perfect plan. Just start by listing the action steps or sub goals that you know you need to take. As you make progress towards your goals, new information and ideas and people will come your way to help you. As they do, your plans will change and you will adapt to them as necessary. Welcome that stage. It's so exciting! It's called progress...
Assignment: It is now time to make sure your own goal is stepped. To do this, write your answer to the following simple question: •
What are the steps you will take to achieve your goal?
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Done that? Great - now you have completed the seven steps of the Smartest Goals Formula™.
Your goal is now: •
Specific
•
Measurable
•
Achievable
•
Reasoned
•
Timed
•
Ecological and
•
Stepped.
Now for the last part of the formula......
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6.8
Step 8 - List Your TOOLS & RESOURCES
“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” Tony Robbins
The eighth and final step of the SmartesT Goal Formula™ is to consider what the tools and resources are that you will need to achieve your goal. You could just go ahead and list these but, if you want to be really thorough, I recommend you read on and learn to ask yourself the following questions. There are basically two types of resources: • •
Physical resources Inner resources
Physical resources include tangible things such as money, equipment, people, etc... Inner resources include intangible things such as knowledge, skills, beliefs, courage, confidence, etc... You must consider each of the above resources one by one and ask yourself: •
What resources do I already have that will help me achieve this goal?
Then: •
What resources do I need to help me achieve this goal?
When you have answered each of these questions you will have identified resources that you won't even have thought about – resources that you can call upon to fast track the achievement of your goal from the outset. Let’s return to Wendy's 'weight loss' goal example in order to illustrate.
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Here's what she wrote:
Physical resources: The physical resources I already have to achieve this goal are: •
My partner and friends
•
Excellent healthy food shops nearby
•
My local gym
•
Local walking trails and my dog
•
My favourite 'too small for me designer jeans'
•
My healthy recipe books, my juicing book and my local bookshop
•
My computer and the internet
•
Proven diets etc.
The physical resources I need to achieve this goal are: •
A juicer
•
New walking shoes
•
A fridge and kitchen cupboard stocked with healthy food
Inner Resources: The inner resources I already have to help me achieve this goal are: •
I am motivated
•
I am excited
•
I am determined
The inner resources that I need to help me achieve this goal are: •
Good time management 64
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•
The ability to say 'no'
•
110% commitment…
Get the idea? Here's why tools and resources are part of the Smartest Goals Formula™:
You will need them! So the earlier you can identify exactly what you need the better!
Identifying what you need makes it easier to just go and get it.
Identifying what you need upfront will save you considerable time in the long run.
You may realise that you are already far better equipped to reach your goal than you may have thought
Your confidence to achieve your goal is higher Tips: • Take time to do this. Don't skimp. You will think of all sorts of excellent resources that you can immediately use - resources that you would not otherwise have considered.
Assignment: It is now time to make sure your goal is Tooled and Resourced. To do this, write your answers to the following four questions: (Physical) •
What external tools & resources do you already have to help you achieve this
goal? •
What external tools & resources do you need to help you achieve this goal?
And:
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(Internal) •
What inner resources do you already have to help you achieve this goal?
•
What inner resources do you need to help you achieve this goal?
Done that? Great - now you have completed all eight steps of the Smartest Goals Formula™.
Your goal is now:
•
Specific
•
Measurable
•
Achievable
•
Reasoned
•
Timed
•
Ecological
•
Stepped
•
Tooled and Resourced!
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7.0: Pulling It All Together – Worksheet and Examples “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Barack Obama By now you: •
Understand the importance of setting goals
• Know why the Smartest Goals Formula™ is such a powerful framework for goal setting •
Have learned how to take each step in the formula and
•
Have applied each step to one goal of your own
That's great progress. On the following three pages you will see the Smartest Goals Formula™ in its entirety. First you will: See the Smartest Goals Formula™ worksheet in one glance – complete with all eight steps and all the appropriate questions you will need to ask yourself. Then you can read: Wendy’s completed 'Weight Loss' worksheet And to help you grasp the formula even better I have included An additional complete example - ' Buying The House Of My Dreams' Both of these examples will enable you to see just how easy it is to work through the Smartest Goals Formula™ and just how powerful the formula is at pulling together the questions that lie behind goal setting excellence.
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Tips: Print out the Smartest Goals Formula™ worksheet and carry it around with you. It will prompt you to think very clearly about all your goals – big and small. When you are thinking about an important goal take the time, as many of my clients do, to write or type your answers to each question directly onto the worksheet. In this way you will end up with a succinct way of summarising your goal (just like the 'weight loss' and ‘house buying' examples). This clarity will come in to be very useful in your journey towards success...
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7.1 Smartest Goals Formula - WORKSHEET
S
Specific Summary Of Your Goal (A sentence or two that summarizes your goal. ( NB: 'I ', present tense, positive, specific and motivating). eg I am (the who) joyfully practising (the how) the piano (the what) at home (the where) for 30 minutes th three times a week by February 30 2011 (the when). I am.....
M
Measurable (Your measurable evidence - how you will know you have achieved your goal). What will you see? How will you feel? What will you hear? (When you have completed this step you may want to return to step one to improve your goal summary and make it even more specific).
A
Achievable Is this goal within your control or influence to achieve? Yes/No (If ‘No’ - return to step 1 and revise your goal). Do you truly want this goal? Yes/No Believe it’s possible?
Yes/No
Think you deserve it? Yes/No Is it stretching and motivating for you? Yes/No (If you answer ‘No’ to these questions you need to return to the beginning and revise your goal).
R
Reasoned (The ‘why’s’ behind your goal). What are your main reasons for achieving this goal? (Benefits to you. Benefits to others.)
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T
Timed By when do you want to have achieved this goal – the day, the month, the year?
E
Ecological What, if any, are the possible downsides of setting and achieving this goal? (To you. To others.)
S
Stepped What are the action steps you will take to achieve this goal?
T
Tooled and Resourced (External – e.g. people, places, things, money...) What external tools & resources do you already have to help you achieve this goal? What external tools & resources do you need to help you achieve this goal?
(Internal – e.g. skills and personal characteristics...) What inner resources do you already have to help you achieve this goal? What inner resources do you need to help you achieve this goal?
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7.2 Example – Wendy’s Weight Loss Goal
Smartest Goals Formula™
Example – Wendy’s Weight Loss Goal
Date: 20th July
Name: Wendy
Specific Summary
Measurable
I am weighing 140lbs, I am wearing size 12 clothes and I am going walking three times a week by Dec 2011. See: I weigh 140lbs when I stand on the scales I fit into size 12 clothes I fit into those favourite designer jeans I bought 3 years ago and hardly wore! I walk three times a week I have joined the local gym My cholesterol level is ... My BMI index score is ... My kitchen fridge and cupboards will be full of healthy foods only I am eating healthy foods at every meal Feel: I feel healthy I feel energised and positive about life I feel confident I feel proud of myself Hear: My inner voice saying 'I look great!' My partner, family and friends saying 'Well done, you've lost weight haven't you!'
Achievable
Yes, this is within my control. Yes, I want it, believe it is possible, think I deserve it. Yes, It is a stretching and challenging goal for me.
Reasoned
To: Regain my self esteem and believe in myself again Enjoy knowing I'm at my ideal weight Feel and look a lot healthier 71
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Have a great sense of accomplishment Be able to fit into some of my favourite clothes again Be able to enjoy clothes shopping again Look good to my partner and family Be able to play football with my children
Timed
By December 1st 2011
Ecological
Possible downsides: Food bill will rise as I buy healthier food Family objections at absence of ‘junk’ food in cupboards Spending extra time preparing healthy food in the kitchen Cost of gym membership and new training shoes Cost of new smaller clothes... My family will see less of me when I'm at the gym or out walking
Stepped
Commit to partner and two friends that I will achieve the above goal Plan how much I want to lose each week Join Weight Watchers Throw all unhealthy food out of kitchen Restock kitchen with healthy foods Not eat any sugar Take healthy lunches to work – prepare the night before Say 'no' to coffee, tea, sugar etc. Say 'yes' to water, smoothies, fruit, nuts, salads etc. Sign up with best local gym Find a walking buddy Buy diary to record food, exercise and feelings daily ETC...
Tooled &
External :
Resourced
I Have: My partner and friends! Excellent healthy food shops nearby Local gym Local walking trails and my dog My all time favourite 'far too small for me' designer jeans My healthy recipe books and my local bookshop The internet Proven diets Etc.
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I Need: Juicer New walking shoes Fridge and cupboard full of healthy food Diary to record my successes each day Inner : I Am: Motivated, Excited, Determined I Need to be: Organised, Strong, 100% Committed
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7.3 Example –Goal: Buy Dream Home
Smartest Goals Formula™ Example – Buying Your Dream Home
Date: December 31st 2012
Name: Diane
Specific Summary
I am walking around the beautiful four bed roomed detached home I own in the South of France by Dec 2012.
Measurable
See: South facing villa in southern France 4 double bedrooms Swimming pool Double garage Large south facing kitchen and living areas One acre garden with mature trees and shrubs Expansive views over the ocean Surrounded by family and friends Feel: I feel proud. I feel thrilled. I feel relaxed. Hear: My inner voice saying 'I'm so lucky!' My partner, family and friends saying 'Congratulations... you have such a beautiful home!' New neighbours saying 'Welcome!'
Achievable
Yes, this is within my control. Yes, I want it, believe it is possible, think I deserve it. Yes, it is a stretching and challenging goal for me.
Reasoned
To: Be able to live in the house of my dreams 74
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Feel happy and blessed every day Have the sun all day round Have enough space for all the family and all our possessions See my children play happily in the garden Be able to entertain from home Have a home office Etc... Timed
By December 1st 2011
Ecological
Possible downsides: May have to work extra hard to afford it Less time available for family and friends Higher mortgage than I want Additional costs of heating and looking after a large home and garden Extra furnishing costs More to look after, more to go wrong and needs to be fixed Etc...
Stepped
Sit down with my partner and discuss house of 'our' dreams Determine exactly what we want Research houses available in that area and prices Drive around chosen area Contact estate agents and put name down on 'buyers' list Pretend I'm ready to buy until I am Set goal to earn $200,000 a year Etc…
Tooled & Resourced
External : I Have: My partner Estate agents websites The car Money in my account Etc... I Need: To set up my own business To earn $200,000 a year Inner : I Am: Clear, Motivated, Excited, Believing I Need to be: Innovative, Financially Successful, 100% Committed 75
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8.0 Time to Take Action “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” Goethe
Congratulations! You have come a very long way and now you know how to use the Smartest Goals Formula™ to help you achieve any goal you have in mind. I know you don't know it yet but, you are in for a big surprise... You see, after all that thinking, it’s now not what you think that counts. It's what you do with what you think that counts. This is so important I am going to repeat it: It's not what you think that counts. It's what you do with what you think that counts. You see there is little value in taking the time to set your goal if you don't follow it through with action. In simple terms if you don't now do something you are not going to get anything! At a personal development seminar many years ago, alongside about fifty other people, I had to figure out, on my own, the answer to a puzzle involving a dozen or so matchsticks. Each participant sat on the floor of a very large hotel room with 12 matchsticks in front of them, all laid out in exactly the same way. We began. There was complete silence in the room. 76
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I will never forget the lesson. The puzzle was not easy to figure out. I stared at my set of matchsticks for ages. I thought about it... but I just couldn't get the answer. It took well over an hour for everyone in the room to solve the puzzle. Most people were also staring at it, thinking about it… After about 30 minutes some of those who had successfully completed the puzzle started to stand around and watch me. I was mortified. But what happened next was amazing. In an effort to show I was doing something I lifted up one of the matchsticks and placed it where I thought it should go. And I got a clap. Feedback. Feedback from the people around me, my universe! Encouraged I lifted up another matchstick. But there was silence. Another. A clap. Another. Silence. Every time I did the right thing people clapped. Finally I got it. I solved the puzzle and joined all those other 'achievers' surrounding me. What was the lesson? “The universe rewards action not thought”. One of life’s simple truths.
Taking action brings many benefits. Here are the main ones: 1) By taking action things start to happen. In the same way as throwing a stone casts ripples on water your actions always have effects. 2) By taking action you send a loud message to both yourself and to others that you are serious about your goal. 3) You begin to attract the people and the resources that you need to make your 77
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goals happen. People and things start showing up... 4) You begin to get more and more ideas about how to reach your goal. 5) The finer details of your goal and how to reach it become clearer and clearer. 6) Experience becomes your teacher. You grow and develop. Your wisdom and confidence grows too... 7) You make mistakes and you are all the wiser for them. 8) Eventually, you may achieve success!
Tips: Many people believe that they will be happy when they achieve their goal. They have an ‘if...then...’ approach to happiness. They think happiness depends on achieving success in life. But true happiness lies in the entire process of making progress towards your goal. Just taking the necessary steps, enjoying them and learning along the way. Famous UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was known to say, ‘It's not the winning that counts, it is knowing that you did the best you could when you played the game’. When babies are learning to walk it takes time. They struggle, fall down amd pick themselves back up again... At no point do their parents ever say ' Give up. You've done enough. You'll never do it.' They just keep on going until they make it. It takes time, it takes effort but adults can learn a lot from babies learning how to walk. Constantly taking step after step until you succeed, is exactly what you have to do too. None of us start perfectly, but we can all learn from the setbacks we have along the way.
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Don't hang around. In the same way that there is never a perfect plan there is never the perfect time to take action. You may have a pile of excuses why you should wait but don't. Put your excuses aside and just start doing something.
If you haven't already got an effective system to manage how you will achieve your goals you can use the free printable planners directly from my website.
All winners are highly action oriented people. You must be too.
The conclusion? Just get going!!! Here are a couple of ideas to get you started: 1. De clutter your environment to make space for the new activity you are about to begin. 2. Mentally rehearse your goals (using affirmations, vision boards, mind movies, and visualisations) 3. Start to develop the skills you need... 4. Do what has to be done... 5. Find the resources that you need... 6. Contact people who can help you... 7. Go wherever you need to go... Whatever it is that you decide to do first; the important thing is that you do something! The reality is that the process of achievement comprises of a series of many, many small steps – most hidden from view when your goal is finally reached.
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9.0: 99% Is a Bitch – 100% Is a Breeze There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results. Ken Blanchard
I credit Insight Seminars as my first step into the world of personal development – and what an extraordinary and powerful experience it was. One phrase in particular has stuck with me for the last twenty years. It's this: 99% is a bitch and 100% is a breeze. And don't I know it from plenty of personal experience. Jack Canfield*, one of America's leading success coaches points out if 99% effort was an acceptable standard in business here are some of the results you'd have in the U.S.:
•
16,000 pieces of post would go missing every hour.
•
20,000 drug prescriptions would be incorrectly filled in each year.
•
500 incorrect surgical operations would be performed each week.
•
22,000 cheques would be deducted from the wrong account each hour.
Achieving your goal 100%, will require 100% commitment and effort. There are tens of thousands of inspiring true stories from ordinary people all around the world which illustrate this principle well. Stories of people who became Olympic athletes, movie stars and entrepreneurs... and stories you will know of real achievement in your local community.
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These people have reached success through 100% commitment to their goals. •
Would all those Olympic medal winners have got their medals if they were simply 99% committed?
•
Would Apple, Microsoft, Wal-Mart... all the businesses in the world be around if the teams behind them were only 99% committed?
•
Would the greatest entertainers of our time, movie stars, singers, dancers, comedians be around if they were only 99% committed?
Clearly not. True success always requires 100% commitment. You may like to ask yourself what would happen if you applied the principle of 100% commitment to your goal. Maybe you would lose the weight you keep thinking about. Maybe you would find or, better still, create a job for yourself if that is what you want. Maybe you would write that book... Whatever your goal, whether to be your ideal weight, to travel the world, to find a job, to start your own business, to learn Spanish, to learn to play the guitar... just make a decision to be 100% committed to your goal and commit to doing whatever it takes. Use the free printable planners to break your goals down into smaller bite sized steps with deadlines and just go do it! Commit to taking one baby step on your goal or goals every day. (But of course feel free to do much more). You may decide to: •
Walk every day for 30 minutes
•
Save $100 dollars every month
•
Send out 5 CV's a week to potential employers
•
Make one sales call every day
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•
Read one new book a month...
Whatever it is, once you have planned out what you will do, just do it. Remember in achieving anything, a huge goal, or a baby step, 100% commitment feels great. 99% success never feels the same...
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10.0 Find Yourself a 'Goals Buddy'
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
As you start to take action on your goal, I would highly recommend you find yourself one person who will be your 'goals buddy' on your pathway to success.
Here's how it works:
You will:
Ask your ''goals buddy' to be there for you once a week (face to face/via a phone call/via a Skype call) Tell them the action steps you are planning to take in the week ahead Share with them the successes of the previous week Share with them the setbacks of the previous week and what you learned Your 'goals buddy' will:
Keep you focussed on one big goal or several goals – whatever you have agreed Keep you focussed on achieving your sub goals and completing your weekly plan 100% Keep you motivated and energised Believe in you 83
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The end result is highly satisfying. If you both play your parts effectively you will be:
Keeping the promises you make to yourself and your goals buddy every week Building your self confidence week by week Building your self trust Building solid relationships with all whose help you need to achieve your goal Achieving your goals step by step!!!
I cannot recommend this process more highly.
Many people fail to achieve their goals, not because they don't have what it takes but because they have no one but themselves to keep them on track.
Finding someone to be your 'goals buddy’ is an incredibly powerful resource to have when you are pursuing your goals. In business people are held to account all the time. That's one of the ways things get done.
It's not necessary. But if your goal is a big goal it will really help sustain you throughout your journey.
Who could be your goals buddy?
Go ask them NOW!
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11.0 How the Smartest Goals Formula™ fits with 'The Secret'
“As you learn 'The Secret' you will come to know how you can have, be or do anything you want” Introduction to ‘THE SECRET’
Rhonda Byrne's book 'The Secret' has become a best seller across the globe. It has been so successful it has spawned many additional books and products to go alongside it. The core message of the book is this: The secret to success is the 'Law of Attraction'. The idea is that fundamentally we attract everything that we want to be, have or do directly to us. In order to do this we must take ourselves through a simple three step process: 1.
We must ASK for what we want.
2.
We must then BELIEVE we already have it.
3.
We must be open, willing and prepared to RECEIVE it.
Byrne cites many examples of how this happens including the achievement of her own goal of making her book a worldwide bestseller. The question is how does this fit into established research on goal setting excellence? And how can people who have been taught to set SMART goals, NLP well formed outcomes or other goal setting technologies integrate these with ‘The Secret’? To my mind the answer lies in applying the Smartest Goals Formula™ to your thinking. In the table that follows you will see just how and where each of the core elements of ‘The Secret’ are featured within the Smartest Goals Formula™. Simply applying the Smartest Goals Formula™ to your goals will in itself help you apply the centuries old wisdom of ‘The Secret’. 85
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S
Smartest Goals Formula™
‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne
Specific
Ask – Decide what you want and ask the universe for it. Write it down. Focus on what it is you want, not what you don’t want. Begin with ‘I am so happy and grateful now that I am...’
M
Measurable
See (Visualise) it. Hear it, but most importantly, Feel it. Emit the positive powerful emotions of what it feels like to already have achieved your goal.
A
Achievable
Everything is energy. The universe emerges from thought. All things are possible. Expect your thoughts to become things. You are an energy magnet. You electrically magnetise everything you are thinking of to you and energise yourself to anything you want. Your thoughts attract and will manifest your goal. Know your goal is achievable and believe you have already achieved it.
R
Reasoned
T
Timed
E
Ecological
Make sure the goal is what you want, not what you don’t want.
S
Stepped
Be open to receive your goal. To receive – feel the way you will feel once you have achieved your goal. Do that now. Take inspired action, that is: Act as if, think as if, speak as if you have already achieved your goal.
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Visualise having your goal as an absolute fact. Create a Vision Board or a Mind Movie Be grateful for what you already have, morning, noon and night. Be grateful for what you want, in advance, morning, noon and night. Take practical action/ steps towards your goal. Always think positively. Avoid focussing on the negative. Behave positively, smile, laugh, trust, love... Surround yourself with positive people. Pay attention to intuitive messages and synchronicities, telling you that you are on the right track. At the end of each day, review it. Change events, moments and thoughts that were not what you wanted into what it is that you would have preferred.
T
Tooled & Resourced
You, your thoughts, feelings and behaviours Your vision board and mind movie Secret shifters – easy ways to change moods. E.g. put on great music. Your gratitude journal. Copyright 2011 www.smart-goals-guide.com
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12.0 Review and Conclusion “Life isn't about finding yourself. Life's about creating yourself”. George Bernard Shaw
Congratulations! You have come a long way. By now: You have a written list of what you would like to achieve in life. You understand that : The Smartest Goals Formula™ = The Best of Smart Goals + NLP ‘Well Formed Outcomes’ + ‘The Secret’ You know how to set your Smartest Goal ie: S. M. A. R. T. E. S. T.
Write a specific goal affirmation Ensure your goal is measurable Determine if your goal is achievable Clarify the reasons behind your goal Set the timing for your goal Ensure your goal is ecological Plan your steps Determine what tools and resources you will need You understand your next step is to implement your action plan and do whatever it takes. You have annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly goal planner worksheets that you can print off so that you can easily schedule what you do and when you do it. You have a simple but proven goal setting formula for success that you can repeat time and time again for years to come. 88
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As you continue on your journey to success you will find many more useful pieces of information, articles and resources at my website www.Smart-Goals-Guide.com You may even like to sign up to the Smart Goals Guide newsletter too. This way you will keep abreast of all the latest news and ideas on what it takes to create success. Whatever your next step, I wish to finish by saying thank you so much for giving me the privilege of teaching you the Smartest Goals Formula™. I truly believe the Smartest Goals Formula™ combines all the key goal criteria you will need to set your goals in detail – as high performers are taught to do. My dream, is that one day the formula will be taught throughout the world. And, as a result, smartest thinking will have made a positive difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and in turn the lives of many others too. So thank you. Today you have helped me take one step closer to making my own dream come true. And I, in turn, wish you every success in making your dreams come true too. As a way of thanking you I’d like to leave you with a truly wonderful gift – these truly inspiring words by Marianne Williamson.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It's our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of the universe. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of the universe that is within us. It's not just in some of us. It is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. And as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 89
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13.0 Appendix
In order that you can plan your goals effectively for the following year I have created a number of free printable planners for you. These are directly downloadable from my website. When you use these planners you will be able to determine your goals for the next year. Then you can break them down into quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily goals. You can access them all by clicking on the following link : Click here to access your Free Printable Planners Also on the next page you will find the Smartest Goals Worksheet. Print it off, always carry one with you and use it any time you need to think in detail about something important. That way you too will be thinking as high achievers do.
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Smartest Goals Formula ™ - WORKSHEET
Name:
S
Date:
Specific Summary Of Your Goal (A sentence or two that summarizes your goal. ( NB: 'I ', present tense, positive, specific and motivating). eg I am (the who) joyfully practising (the how) the piano (the what) at home (the where) for 30 minutes th three times a week by February 30 2012 (the when). I am.....
M
Measurable (Your measurable evidence - how you will know you have achieved your goal). What will you see?
How will you feel?
What will you hear? (When you have completed this step you may want to return to step one to improve your goal summary and make it even more specific).
A
Achievable Is this goal within your control or influence to achieve? Yes/No (If ‘No’ - return to step 1 and revise your goal). Do you truly want this goal? Yes/No Do you believe this goal is possible?
Yes/No
Do you think you deserve it? Yes/No
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Is this goal stretching and motivating for you? Yes/No (If you answer ‘No’ to these questions you need to return to the beginning and revise your goal).
R
Reasoned (The ‘why’s’ behind your goal). What are your main reasons for achieving this goal? (What are the benefits to you? What are the benefits to others?)
T
Timed By when do you want to have achieved this goal – the day, the month, the year?
E
Ecological What, if any, are the possible downsides of setting and achieving this goal? (To you. To others.)
S
Stepped What are the action steps you will take to achieve this goal?
T
Tooled and Resourced (External – e.g. people, places, things, money...) What external tools & resources do you already have to help you achieve this goal?
What external tools & resources do you need to help you achieve this goal?
(Internal – e.g. skills and personal characteristics...)
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What inner resources do you already have to help you achieve this goal?
What inner resources do you need to help you achieve this goal?
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