Making goals happen

So you've identified what you want to achieve this year and why it's important to you. How are you going to make it all happen? Why not turn your ambitions and desires into achievable chunks of goals! If you would like to use this article to help plot your path to achieving what you want – use the print option above.

Turn Goals into Bite-Sized Chunks!

Goals can very in size and length. You can have end goals - let's say, to switch career - and set up journey goals along the way to keep you on track and make sure you stay focused and motivated. These may also be described as long, medium and short term goals.

Let's take an example. Sarah has just started working in Human Resources. She has identified that her career is her number 1 area in life she wants to focus on for the next five years. She has set up a strategy containing a number of short and medium term goals to help her achieve this long term ambition as follows:

• The long term/end goal
• To become a Human Resources Manager
• The medium term/journey goal
• To study for the relevant qualification. To Play an active part in network groups locally
• The short term/journey goal
• To research relevant qualifications. To find out about networking groups in the area so I can meet people who will be able to help me.

You need to replace short term goals every time you achieve them, so that you keep moving forward. Sarah will replace her short term goal 'to find out about relevant qualifications' with 'applying for course' after she has found the right course for her. She can then break her long term goals down into manageable bits which all contribute to her overall focus on her career ambitions. Every time she achieves a goal, she rewards herself.

Do a bit towards your goals every day to help keep you focused on what's important in your life

There are on-going things you need to do which relate to the areas you want to focus on in your life, but which you need to do to keep up to date with. To help with her long term plans, Sarah wants to keep up to date with changing legislation, trends in recruitment, and she does this every day by reading for 30 minutes at home a night. Because Sarah is focused and attends to her goal every day (by reading about HR issues and news) she is far more likely to achieve it. Importantly, she also reminds herself daily how her goals fit in with her career. This all gives her a feeling of tremendous control.

Make your goals matter to you

No doubt you've heard this before, but it's worth saying again that a goal should be:

• Positive and in the present tense



• Written down where you can see them as a constant reminder - if you stuff them in a drawer, that's where they'll stay!



• Personal: what's in it for you?



• Timed with a time scale



• Measured, so that you will know how and when you have achieved it



• Challenging so that you don't get bored. That said, it should also be realistic...

What are you waiting for? Get started!

Take one thing you've identified as wanting to achieve this year.

My long term or end goal is:

The short and medium term or journey goals, I'll need to work towards in order to achieve my end goal are:

Act as if you had achieved your goal already.
You'll achieve an important shift in your mind set!

One activity I will do on an on-going basis (i.e. daily) to help me constantly move closer to achieving this goal is:

How will I create enough time in my day to ensure that I can fit in the work I'll need to do to achieve these journey goals?

If you're really busy already, identify what's going to make way for the spade work you need to put in to achieve your goal - even if that means sleep time! For example, many would-be authors forgo sleep and write in the depths of the night because it's the only time they have.

Get specific!

Note down in your diary when you are going to work towards the goals you've pinpointed above, and then work out:

Who will I need to help me? (For example, will you need your boss to let you leave early to attend a course; or your partner to look after the kids?)

Will anything stop me from doing that activity? How can I make sure it doesn't stop me?

One small thing I will do in the next 24 hours to start making things happen is:

It will move me closer towards achieving my long term goal by:

The next stage after that will be to:

I will do this (state date and time and put it in your diary?)

Keep the short journey goals relevant to the end result you want and they will be easier to achieve. You'll move closer and closer to your end goal...