Set aside some time, in
a quiet place, to plan your future. Don’t try rushing the process and be sure to keep your first planning session
realistic. In other words, don’t try to perfect your life right away. It is enough to improve your life little by little.
Don’t overwhelm yourself with goals that only a super-human can accomplish.
Several times, I’ve
asked you to consider what you’d like your future to hold. I’m about to ask you to divide that future into its
different components, and to brainstorm some plans for achieving each component. Be sure to write your plans down. Something
about writing plans down, makes those plans seem more real and increases the likelihood that your workhorse will take action.
Don’t rush. Be sure to budget time to examine and gather your resources.
You will need a pencil, some notepaper,
a calendar and your personal commission. Once you have assembled these items, your navigator is ready to learn his most powerful
and life affirming tool—a weekly goal-setting session.
I know that many people resist
setting goals. They don’t like being tied down. They don’t have the time. They don’t see the point. But
do you remember the Harvard Business School survey? The only consistent thing separating the successful and independent 3%
of the graduates, from the less successful 97% of the graduates was their ability to set and achieve goals. So give goal-setting
a chance and learn to join that 3%.
Believe it or not, most people don’t
know how to set goals properly, and that’s the primary reason that their attempts at goal setting have failed them.
So let’s talk about how to set goals that actually work.
Step One: Read through
your personal commission in order to remind yourself of the destination, values and roles you have chosen for your future;
and be sure to update your commission if your destination, values or roles have changed.
Step Two: Using
your notepaper, brainstorm a few objectives for the areas and relationships in your life that you feel are important. These
areas should include: career, finances, health, family, friends, leisure, community, spirit, physical environment and personal
development. For each area of your life, write one or two things that you would like to see happen within the next few years.
In family, for example, you might
decide to spend more time together, or plan a family vacation. In career, you might decide to work towards a promotion, or
a whole new career. In community, you might decide to get involved with an organization you believe in, or simply become a
more informed voter. For spirit, you might decide to go on a retreat, or just take long walks.
Step
Three: Next to the objectives, begin to create some long-term plans by
making a list of everything you’ll need to accomplish in order to meet each objective. Consider what resources you’ll
need to gather. These resources might include time, money, connections or information.
Step Four: Along
side the long-term plans, begin to analyze your mid-term plans. Mid-term plans
essentially bridge the gap between where you are now, and where you plan to be in the future. Working backwards in time, analyze
what you will need to accomplish, and when you will need to have each item accomplished, in order to achieve your objectives.
Again, be sure to write these plans down.
Step Five: Still
working backwards, set short-term plans for this year. Get out your calendar, and
break the next twelve months into areas of accomplishment. Consider what information and resources you’ll need to gather.
Consider when you’ll need each resource. Decide what actions you will need to complete each month in order to make the
next month possible. And finally, budget enough time for each action into the appropriate month in your calendar. When you’re
done, you should have a general timeline of what you need to accomplish each month in order to reach your objectives.
By the way, congratulation! You’ve
just plotted a course to a worthwhile life.
Without a doubt, your plans and strategies
will change over the course of the year. They must change. You will be discovering
new opportunities, dealing with unexpected situations, and growing as a human being. So don’t feel as though your plans
must be written in stone. In fact, use a pencil. A weekly goals-setting session is merely a tool for planning, prioritizing
and focusing your life. And while your objectives will tend to remain constant, the strategies that you design to reach your
objectives will always change with the tide.
Step Six: Before
you embark on your new course, be sure to set MASTERed goals for each task that you want to accomplish this week.
What are MASTERed goals? MASTER goal
setting is my variation of a technique that I picked up while attending a time management seminar. This technique is deceptively
simple, yet profoundly effective. I urge you to try it as soon as possible. To create MASTERed goals, you must create goals
that are:
Measurable—set an amount and a deadline.
Accountable—make sure that you are personally responsible for the outcome.
Specific—make it a specific action.
Timely—give yourself enough time, but not too much time.
Exciting—make it positive; make it something you really want. Goals should never feel like punishments.
Realistic—don’t ask yourself for super-human strength.
Whenever you set goals that are not
MASTERed, you set yourself up for failure.
I’m always amazed at how often
people set goals like, “I want to lose weight,” “I want to get healthy,” “I need to find a job,”
“I need to be more responsible,” “I want to be a better parent,” “I want my boss to respect
me,” or “I want to get rich.”
Do they sound familiar?
These goals are immeasurable, unaccountable,
vague, rushed, unexciting and unrealistic. So is it any wonder that they don’t help people accomplish anything? If you
want goal setting to work for you, you need to learn the art of MASTER goal setting.
Let’s take the goal, “I’m
gonna throw out all of my junk,” as an example. That’s a typical goal for a lot of people. Well, throwing out
all of your junk is not something you can possibly accomplish. No matter how much
you try, junk will always reappear. Throwing out all of your junk is an objective,
not a goal. In order to accomplish that objective, you need to set a MASTERed goal. Something like, “I’m gonna
toss out ten things every day, until I finally get the clean drawers I want.” Throwing out ten items every day is easily
accomplished. It’s measurable, accountable, specific, timely, exciting and realistic. Moreover, performing this MASTER
goal daily should eventually help you to gain your objective, which was to clean out your junk.
How about another typical goal; losing
thirty pounds? Have you ever gone on a diet with the goal of loosing thirty pounds, done everything right and lost three pounds
the first week, only to find that the following week—even though you still did every thing right—you’ve
plateaued and lost nothing? If so, you know the frustration of doing everything right and still letting yourself down. Considering
your disappointment in yourself, is it any wonder that you drown your sorrows in ice cream?
I’m here to tell you that your
problem isn’t you. Your problem is how you define your goals. You have absolutely no control over how you metabolize
calories. Your body is going to metabolize whatever it metabolizes. The only thing that you can control is what you put into
your mouth and how you spend your time.
In other words, you can’t force
your body to lose pounds; however, you can learn to make healthier choices. That being the case, maybe learning to make healthier
choices is the goal you need to MASTER. So instead of imposing an overwhelming goal like “losing thirty pounds,”
your MASTERed goals might be to “drink a liter of water everyday, take a daily walk, and eat five ounces of fresh produce
daily.” I mean, let’s face it, if you drank a liter of water, took a walk and ate five helpings of fresh produce
everyday, you would be healthier. Moreover, your success would not depend upon your ability to metabolize calories.
The point that I’m trying to
make is that unless you create goals that you can actually accomplish every time,
you are only going to disappoint yourself eventually. MASTERed goals are always
possible. MASTERed goals allow you to progressively realize your objectives. For every objective that you have, you should
create a matching MASTERed goal.
The table linked to the
end of this webpage provides a list of common objectives along side their corresponding MASTERed goals. It should help demonstrate
what I mean. As you look at the table, please notice that MASTERed goals are achievable.
They may not achieve their objective each time, but at least you can keep the goal. At least you can keep the promise that you made to yourself.
If your strategy fails to work, then
you can always change your strategy. But unless you develop the habit of setting MASTERed goals, you will not ever achieve
your goals. So learn to keep your goals measurable, accountable, specific, timely, exciting and realistic; or don’t
set goals at all. Nothing destroys your self-esteem faster than breaking a promise to yourself, and that is exactly what you
do every time you fail to meet a goal.
Let
me end this section with a few gentle reminders.
Once you have created your MASTERed
goals and have started working towards your objectives, be sure to set up a weekly budgeting session to monitor your progress
and redefine your goals. Learn to develop goals that excite you and don’t feel like punishments. Be sure that all the
important areas of your life are balanced and stop trying to tackle every objective at once. Instead, focus your energy on
developing your top three goals until those goals have become a habit. You can always add other objectives when you feel less
overwhelmed.
Keep your calendar with you at all
times so that your workhorse can develop the habit of referring to your budget before making impulsive decisions.
Become your own cheerleader, and
always reward what you accomplish.
Make sure that you budget time for
play, joy, love and fun. After all, aren’t they the most important part of a life’s journey?
Finally, be flexible. Remember that
a timetable is just a tool, not a master.
The bottom line on vaccum?
Sand will always be filling up your
life, so get the essentials in early. Ultimately, how you spend your time is up to you. If you want time for a worthwhile
life, start budgeting time for what's worthwhile in life.
