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It seems though, that many people aren't quite sure how to set goals. One of the most common problems is that their goals tend to be too big. It is much easier to achieve smaller goals that fit with a larger objective, than to try and accomplish everything all at once. Here are some simple tips that you might find helpful: Formulate two to three goals that you want to work toward in the next six months. Use the S.M.A.R.T. technique to help you define these goals:
1) Specific - set clear, concrete goals. Some examples might be implementing an exercise plan, working toward a certification, or improving your relationship with your spouse.2) Measurable - identify markers that will indicate when you have reached your goals. If your goal is implementing an exercise plan, a marker is going to the gym three times per week. Or, if you want to have a better relationship with your spouse a marker might be checking in with him/her for at least 10 minutes per day.
3) Achievable - ensure that your goals are realistic. Ask yourself the question of whether your goal is actually achievable or not, and be honest! For example, setting the goal of losing 10 pounds in two weeks is not realistic (and definitely not healthy!).
4) Relevant - choose goals that are applicable to your personal or professional development. Make sure that these goals are something you are truly invested in, because you will be focusing a great deal of time and energy on them.
5) Time-Related - set a timeline that will guide your progress. Specifying a goal for two years down the road is not as powerful a motivator as one that you set for the next six months.Once you have set a couple of goals for yourself that you feel comfortable with, share those goals with a close family member or friend. Often voicing them out loud makes them much more tangible, and may increase your motivation for reaching them. Also, the person you entrust with these goals could become a cheerleader, and someone to celebrate your successes with.
The importance of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals:,
"The goal you set must be challenging. At the same time, it should be realistic and attainable, not impossible to reach. It should be challenging enough to make you stretch, but not so far that you break." Personal Goal Setting
Find Direction. Live Your Life Your Way. Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn this vision of the future into reality. The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course. More than this, properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, you'll find that your self-confidence builds fast.
Achieving More With Focus
Goal setting techniques are used by top-level athletes, successful business-people and achievers in all fields. They give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. They focus your acquisition of knowledge and help you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your lifeBy setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. You can see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. By setting goals, you will also raise your self-confidence, as you recognize your ability and competence in achieving the goals that you have set.
Our Philosophy
Starting to Set Personal Goals
Goals are set on a number of different levels: First you create your "big picture" of what you want to do with your life, and decide what large-scale goals you want to achieve. Second, you break these down into the smaller and smaller targets that you must hit so that you reach your lifetime goals. Finally, once you have your plan, you start working to achieve it. We start this process with your Lifetime Goals, and work down to the things you can do today to start moving towards them.Your Lifetime Goals
The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or by a time at least, say, 10 years in the future) as setting Lifetime Goals gives you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision making. To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in some of these categories (or in categories of your own, where these are important to you):
Starting to Achieve Your Lifetime Goals
Once you have set your lifetime goals, set a 25 year plan of smaller goals that you shouldbcomplete if you are to reach your lifetime plan. Then set a 5 year plan, 1 year plan, 6 month plan, and 1 month plan of progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your lifetime goals. Each of these should be based on the previous plan. Then create a daily to-do list of things that you should do today to work towards your lifetime goals. At an early stage these goals may be to read books and gather information on the achievement of your goals. This will help you to improve the quality and realism of your goal setting. Finally review your plans, and make sure that they fit the way in which you want to live your life.
Staying on Course
Once you have decided your first set of plans, keep the process going by reviewing andupdating your to-do list on a daily basis. Periodically review the longer term plans, and modify them to reflect your changing priorities and experience
Goal Setting Tips
The following broad guidelines will help you to set effective goals:
State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively – 'Execute this technique well' is a much better goal than 'Don't make this stupid mistake.'
Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly whe nyou have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.
Write goals down: This crystallizes them and gives them more force.
Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward.
Derive today's goals from larger ones.Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to set goals overwhich you have as much control as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control. In business, these could be bad business environments or unexpected effects of government policy. In sport, for example, these reasons could include poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them
Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (employers, parents, media, and society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to achieve a particular level of performance.
Achieving Goals -When you have achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress you have made towards other goals. If the goal was a significant one, reward yourself appropriately. All of this helps you build the self-confidence you deserve!
With the experience of having achieved this goal, review the rest of your goal plans: If you achieved the goal too easily, make your next goals harder. If the goal took a dispiriting length of time to achieve, make the next goals a little easier. If you learned something that would lead you to change other goals, do so. If you noticed a deficit in your skills despite achieving the goal, decide whether to set goals to fix this.Failure to meet goals does not matter much, as long as you learn from it. Feed lessons learned back into your goal setting program. Remember too that your goals will change as time goes on. Adjust them regularly to reflect growth in your knowledge and experience, and if goals do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go
Key Points
Goal setting is an important method of:
Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life.
Separating what is important from what is irrelevant, or a distraction.
Motivating yourself.
Building your self-confidence, based on successful achievement of goals.
If you don't already set goals, do so, starting now. As you make this technique part of your life, you'll find your career accelerating, and you'll wonder how you did without it!
Success in any area depends on designing an effective goal-setting strategy. By developing a clear picture of exactly what you hope to accomplish and determining what specific actions you need to accomplish it, you can more easily tell when you've succeeded in reaching your goal.
To do this, use the following steps to set SMART goals
step 1 Make your goals Specific. This is the "S" in "SMART goals." Know precisely what you hope to achieve. This is the only way you'll be able to tell whether you've actually succeeded in achieving it.
Step 2 Create goals that are Measurable. This is the "M" in "SMART goals." Devise a method for quantifying the degree to which you've met your original objectives. Do this in terms of money saved, pounds lost, time spent exercising, test grades earned, or any other numeric indicator that will show you how close you came to meeting your goal.
Step 3 Establish goals that are Attainable. This is the "A" in "SMART goals." Rather than setting lofty but unreachable objectives, stretch yourself, but at the same time be reasonable. Goals that are impossible to achieve can never bring you lasting satisfaction or success.Step 4 Attempt goals that are Realistic. This is the "R" in "SMART goals." This will help prevent unnecessary frustration as you attempt to reach the standard you've set for yourself.
Step 5 Set goals that are Timely. This is the "T" in "SMART goals." Goals that have no deadline might as well not be goals at all, because you'll have little incentive to achieve them. Setting a realistic time-frame for your accomplishments helps you maintain momentum and follow through with the completion of your tasks.
Step 6 Review your goals regularly, continually reevaluating them against the above steps to make sure that each important component is present. Once you've confirmed that each goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely, follow the final step listed below.
Step 7 Go for it! When you follow a "SMART" strategy like this one, you can hardly help but succeed!
College Life: How to set goals and achieve mor
We have all felt the frustration of wanting more in our lives -- perhaps it is a desire to change a habit or weakness, or maybe it involves a life long dream of traveling the world. Wishfulthinking or mere resolutions isn't as practical or useful as goal setting is in helping us move forward.
What are goals?
Quite simply put goals are targets or objectives that we want to achieve. They are different in their intensity than wishes or wants and as such are more tangible, more actionable, more measurable and more achievable. Having clearly defined and written goals will help us all to be more successful
Why have goals?
People with goals achieve more than those without goals. We can all think of examples of highly successful people such as a successful sports personality. Do you think that any of them have succeeded without a clear and specific goal of what they want to achieve? People with goals are more likely to achieve their goals than those without clear goals.
It seems obvious that if you know exactly what you want it is far easier to achieve it than if you are vague or ambiguous but the truth is even more pronounced than that. Think of all of the people that you know who would like to achieve something but their goals are not big or clear enough and thus they constantly end up failing?
If you have a clearly written and specific goal it is relatively easy to create a structured action plan to achieve it
How to set SMART goals
When setting goals it is important that they match certain criteria. Simply saying, "I want to be rich!" or, "I want a nice car!" is not enough. The Pneumonic SMART has been devised to aid the process of checking that a goal is as compelling as is possible.
SpecificMake sure the goals say what you want to achieve. The goals need to be as detailed as possible. "I want a brand new, red Porsche 911 with grey leather seats and a Clarion stereo!" not, "I want a flash car
Measurable. Goals need to be measurable so that you know when you have succeeded. Look to define specifically with what you will measure the goal i.e. quantity, quality, cost etc
Achievable Goals need to be challenging but they also need to be realistic. If you set goals that are unachievable you will always be de-motivated and unhappy.
Relevant / Realistic. The goal has to mean something to you. You need an emotional tie with the goal. Without this you will have difficulties finding the motivation to drive your efforts. You should also assess the resources you have available to you and make sure that the goal is realistic.
Timed All goals must be timed. You need a start date and an end date. If the goal is huge then you may well need milestones to break the tasks down and each of these must match the SMART criteria and therefore must be timed
Reviewing your goals
Review goals weekly. There is little point setting goals unless you review them regularly to see if you have made the necessary steps and to assess your progress. Weekly is a good time period for reviewing your goals. Daily is better. As with many disciplines the philosophy of "little and often" gains the best results. Reviewing your goals as often as daily will allow you to regularly monitor and steer your progress with a minimal amount of time.
New Year's resolutions don't work. If you need any proof that reviewing is essential then consider how soon in the New Year most people give up their resolutions! There are many reasons for this - lack of commitment to the goal and the goals not being SMART tested are two - but one of the primary ones is that people rarely or never review these resolutions to assess their progress. Reviewing is a very quick progress and should only take 5-10 minutes
Write It Down!
Written goals greatly increase your chances of success. Simply thinking about your goals is not enough, you must write them down. Doing so will greatly improve your chances of success.
How to Set and Achieve Goals
Life is a journey. Not just any journey, but the most fantastic journey in the universe. Life is a journey from where you are to where you want to be. You can choose your own destination. Not only that, you can choose how you are going to get there. Goal setting will help you end up where you want to be
When it comes to setting goals, start off with what's important to you in life. Take out a sheet of paper. Sit quietly, and on that sheet of paper, brainstorm what you want to accomplish between now and the end of your life
Second step-use another sheet of paper, and this time consider yourself and your personal goals for the next 12 month period. Some key areas in which you might set personal goals include: family, personal growth, financial, health, social, career, hobbies, spiritual, and recreation. Write down the things that you plan to accomplish or achieve or attain during this one-year period?
Now, as a third step, go back and compare the two goal lists you have made. Make sure that the items on your short-term list will, as you attain them, be helping you attain your long-term or lifetime goals. It is important that what you are doing short term is taking you in the right direction toward your lifetime goals. Please rewrite your short term goals now if you need to.
As a next step, looking at the goals that are on your list at this time, if there are any that you are not willing to pay the price for, go ahead and cross them out, leaving only those items you are willing to cause to happen in your life. This does not necessarily mean you have the money or the other resources for attaining the goal right now. However, when you do have it, would you spend it on or trade it for the goals you have on your list?
Now, on still another sheet of paper, create the job goals that are important to you during this upcoming 12-month period. Identify what outcomes you wish to attain or achieve during this one-year period in your specific area of responsibility and authority.
Some key areas in which you might consider writing job goals, if you did not already, include: quality, quantity, cost control, cost improvement, equipment, procedures, training, sales, financial, and personnel.
As a next step, look for the blending between your job or work goals and your personal goals. Anywhere you notice that you are attaining a goal on the job while at the same time you are attaining a personal goal, note this relationship: it is in these areas you will be most highly motivated.
For each of the three lists that you have just created, take an additional sheet of paper and list the activities that you must do to attain the most important goal that you have on each of your lists.
Now on another piece of paper titled "Things To-Do List" identify from the activities you just listed, the ones that you must do tomorrow to move you toward your most important goal.
Rewrite your goals in these categories at least every three months.The only thing in life that is constant is the fact that everything is changing. It makes sense that our goals will change as we change.
Recognize how focusing on what you do want, what you do intend to accomplish, also defines what you choose not to do in your life.
Daily rewrite your list of "Things To-Do" after first reviewing your desired goals.
Success is defined as "the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal." If you are doing the things that are moving you toward the attainment of your goal, then you are "successful" even if you are not there yet.,
Every step along the way to achieving a goal is just as important as the last step.
It is not the achieving of a goal that is so important; it is what you become in the process.
Set goals with your family also. Help children learn this process early in life.
Decide what you should be accomplishing and then stick to your knitting. Do not attempt to be or do all things for all people.
Dreams and wishes are not goals until they are written as specific end results on paper.
Written specific goals provide direction and focus to your activities. They become a road map to follow.
Being busy with activities does not pay, only results do. As in baseball you only get points for getting to the goal of home plate. Just making it to the bases does not count.
It has been said that the amount of information available to us is now doubling in less than 30 months. We must learn to focus on only what is truly important to our self and our job.
Be sure the goals and activities that you are working for are yours and that you really want and desire to achieve them. The commitment is vital to your success in achieving them.
When you have a goal that is exciting to you, the life energy flows through you. You are excited about accomplishing it because it is personally meaningful.
Create a time line or matrix chart on which you display your goals visually and the dates when you will have them accomplished.
Continually look for ways to integrate or blend personal and professional goals.
Setting a goal, that you believe is unattainable will result in frustration. To be challenging and motivating, goals must be perceived as realistic and attainable.
Those people with dreams are the ones most likely to experience them.
Set goals carefully for you will attain them. This also means if you set none, you will attain that.
Goals, when thoughtfully set, can provide strong motivational direction.
Clear cut, understandable and realistic objectives leading to the goal help to maintain the sense of realism and the hope of attainment of the goal.
Establish measurement criteria to monitor progressive movement toward your goal. Then you will experience progress.
Set goals that you will be proud to have achieved, then sense your having completed them.
Have a vision that you know is unquestionably right and you will be internally driven to achieve that vision.
A goal is "reasonable" when you can see the entire process needed to get to its attainment.
Good planning assists in sensing reasonableness of challenging goals. Use picture goals.
Develop an emotional tie to your goal.Say "I will do/be Therefore I will do/be
Bring positive changes into your life with the power of Goal Setting. Goal setting is a tremendously powerful tool to enhance your quality of life. Goal Setting is a powerful tool for: sport, health, learning, career and business and your life generally
Goal Setting is your path to tap into the power of goal setting for both business and personal goal setting. Gain access to step by step Goal Setting programs and easy to use workbooks and guide as well as a myriad of information that will support you with an increased quality of life
Do you wish to excel in sport, business or in your relationships? Goal Setting can provide you with the tools to support your quest for excellence. Do you want to find out if goal setting really is for you and about alternatives to goal setting? For many people embarking on a goal setting program can be a challenging event. Often the first hurdle is what goal to set.
Well here is an idea. Treat your first goal as a learning experience. Pick a modest goal, one you wish to achieve and are confident you will achieve. Then, follow the Nike advice and “just do it!”
To start your goal setting program!
Answer the following five questions:1. What is your goal?
2. When will you achieve this goal by?
3. How will your life be better for achieving this goal?
4. What is your first step to achieving this goal?
5. How will you know when you have achieved this goal?
st Have you answered these 5 goal setting questions?
At one level just working through the process of answering these questions will have your unconscious mind engaged in the goal setting process.
To support and confirm this process that is taking place go to step 4 - what is your first step to achieving this goal? Now get started on this first step - but first remember that I asked you to select a modest goal. When you select big goals they will bring big changes to your life. It is worthwhile to undertake an ecological check before you take on big goals and understand how the process of achieving your goal and then the actual achievement of your goal will impact on your life.
How to Set Goals You Will Actually Achieve
A major obstacle that prevents people from enjoyably achieving their goals is that they set their goals incorrectly to begin with. This problem occurs because people don’t understand the nature of time well enough. When people consider a particular goal, they often worry about the time commitment: If I start my own business now, it could take years to make it profitable. I’m so overweight it could take years for me to get in shape
If I break off this unfulfilling relationship, it could take years to get back on my feet again. Such thoughts are clearly demotivating, but more importantly they reveal a total misunderstanding of the nature of time.
We value our time, so we have a natural tendency to be expedient. And we also want to enjoy the present moment. Consequently, we’re disinclined to set goals that will take a very long time to achieve. Who wants to toil for years in order to reach a potentially better someday? Most of us simply don’t have the discipline to do that, even if there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Discipline is not the real issue, however. The issue is a misunderstanding of time
We tend to think of time as a resource that we spend, just like we spend money. To complete a one-hour task is to spend an hour on it. How are you spending your day? Where do you want to spend your next vacation? How will you spend the rest of the year? Time is money, a disposable resource.
This is a silly and inaccurate way to think about time, however. Time is not a resource. You cannot spend time. Time spends itself. You have no choice in the matter. No matter what you do, the time is going to pass anyway.
It doesn’t matter if you do one thing or another for the next five years. Those five years will pass no matter what you do. In reality you are never in the past or future.
You exist only in the present moment. Even when you remember the past or envision the future, you’re still thinking those thoughts in the present. All you really have is right now. And that’s all you ever will have. You can’t control the passage of time, but you can control your present moment focus. That’s all. No past. No future. Just right now
So if the only thing that exists is the present moment, then what sense does it make to talk about long-term goals? How do you actually achieve anything? First, understand that you can only achieve anything in the present moment, and you can only enjoy those achievements in the present moment. You can’t achieve anything or enjoy anything in the past or future because you’re never there. That’s obvious, isn’t it? But too often people act incongruently with this fact. It’s very difficult to achieve a goal that’s based on an inaccurate model of reality such a goal will surely be an uphill struggle.
The purpose of goal-setting isn’t to control the future. That would be senseless because the future only exists in your imagination. The only value in goal-setting is that it improves the quality of your present moment reality. Setting goals can give you greater clarity and focus right now. Whenever you set a goal, always ask yourself, “How does setting this goal improve my present reality?” If a goal does not improve your present reality, then the goal is pointless, and you may as well dump it. But if the goal brings greater clarity, focus, and motivation to your life whenever you think about it, it’s a keeper.
Many people set goals and then assume the path to reach the goal will require suffering and sacrifice – a recipe for failure. A better idea is to set a goal and pay attention to the effect it has on your present reality. Set goals that yield a positive effect on your life whenever you think about them, long before the final outcome is actually achieved. Treat goal-setting as a way to enhance your present reality, not as a way to control the future.
Suppose you set a goal to start your own business. You imagine some future point where you’re enjoying being your own boss, doing what you love, and making a great income. Nothing wrong with that.
Then you think about how much work it will be, the risks you’ll face, and other discouraging thoughts. You’ve left the present and are dwelling in the future, which is only an illusion. Bring yourself back to the present and realize that none of those things have happened. You’re just making them up. How silly it is to make up things you don’t even want! And your imagination isn’t accurate anyway.
Now try this: Think about starting your own business and imagine how great it will be when everything is running smoothly. Now stay in the present and consider how this goal can improve the quality of your life right now. Not a year from now. Not five years from now. Not even tomorrow. Right now this very minute.
What does the goal of starting your own business do for you here and now? Does it give you hope? Does it inspire you? Does it promise solutions to some current problems? Allow those thoughts to churn through your consciousness for a while. Consider how the goal of starting your own business improves your life right now. And of course if you can see no improvement, then drop the goal and consider a different one.
Think about some goals you might have set if not for the imaginary obstacles you focused on. Do you want to lose a certain amount of weight? To enjoy a new relationship? To enjoy a more fulfilling career? Stop imagining doom and gloom on the path to get there, and simply focus on how each goal can improve your present reality. What does the thought of physical fitness do for you right now? What does the thought of finding your soul mate do for you? What does the thought of a fulfilling career do for you?
As you think about how your goals improve your present reality, eventually you’ll feel motivated to take action. At the same time, you’ll begin attracting resources into your life that will help you achieve your goals. There’s no need to force yourself — you’ll find yourself naturally drawn to take action as you keep bringing your focus back to the present. When you think about a goal in a way that motivates you right now, it’s only natural that you’ll begin taking action congruent with the goal.
When you set goals that increase the quality of your present reality, then what does it matter how long it takes to achieve the final outcome? Whether it takes one week or five years is irrelevant. The whole path is fun and enjoyable. More importantly, you feel happy and fulfilled this very moment.
This drives you to take enjoyable action, so you’re productive too. Whatever goal you set, you have the option of envisioning a path of sacrifice and suffering by focusing on the illusion of the future, or you can allow the goal to inject your present reality with new hope, enthusiasm, and motivation.
Even though it seems like you’re setting goals for the future, you’re really setting goals for the present. The better you understand this, the more easily and enjoyably you’ll achieve your goals. If you adopt this goal-setting mindset, you’ll find yourself setting different kinds of goals. The size and scope of the goal will cease to matter. The most important factor will be what effect the goal has on your present moment when you think about it.
When you really grasp this concept, you’ll begin to adopt a lifelong mission instead of just a collection of disjointed goals and preferences. It doesn’t even matter if your mission can be achieved in your lifetime. What matters is the effect it has on your present reality. So you can feel free to adopt a really enormous mission, even one which may be unachievable in your lifetime, as long as that mission inspires and motivates you.
If the mission is so big that it disempowers you, dump it. But if it really inspires you, go for it. I recommend you abandon the concept of SMART goals. SMART = specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, time-bound (there are many variations on this too). This model sounds intelligent, but it’s based on an inaccurate understanding of time. Instead of thinking of your goals as time-bound projects, consider each goal in light of its effect on your present reality.
I know this is a very different way of thinking about goals, so it’s only natural that you may have some resistance to it if you’re deeply ingrained in a time-bound model of goalsetting. So ask yourself this: How well is your current goal-setting model working for you? On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your performance at setting and achieving meaningful goals? I’d be surprised if you’re higher than a 5. Pushing yourself to get better isn’t the solution.
The whole paradigm is broken to begin with. It’s like trying to push a cart with square wheels. You don’t need to push harder — you need a cart with round wheels. The square-wheeled cart looks really slick, and from a certain perspective, it seems like it should work OK. But reality itself is the ultimate judge. Everything you need to know about goals and goal setting is here!
If you're one of the 95% of people on this planet who still hasn’t achieved your goals or life ambition for what ever reason, then look no further – this resource is for you! It is well known that people who have goals succeed, and people who succeed have goals. So, don’t just WAIT for life to happen and end up being disappointed with the result, MAKE it happen the way you want it to happen. There's no better time than now, to take control of your life!
But it’s more than just goal setting that will see you on your own journey to success – and this will show you exactly what it takes and how to earn the success you deserve... Before we go through the process of goal-setting, perhaps it is worth considering for a moment exactly why you would want to set a goal in the first place. The answer is simple and straightforward: goalsetting works. Super-successful and highly effective people regularly set goals - without exception!
The human mind and autonomic nervous system can be thought of as a goal-achieving mechanism. Modern psychologists agree that it possesses all the right characteristics. Just let that thought sink-in for a moment or two: you already have an inbuilt goal-achieving mechanism. All you need to learn is how to utilize it - and that is done through the process of goal-setting.
Before I started using goal-setting as an integral part of my own success strategy - and really began achieving significantly improved performance - I always thought I had goals. But the truth is that I didn't: unless you have your goals properly quantified, planned and written down, you don't really have goals at all. You may have aspirations or whims, but you don't have goals.
The 'achievable' and 'realistic' part of the process. We should not allow our big dreams to be constrained by this part of the process. When it comes to thinking about your personal mission, allow yourself to dream big & I am absolutely sure its right. The second really interesting thing is related to writing the goals down. Make sure you write your goals down & make sure you display them somewhere you can see them regularly and often - this will help you to keep, at the forefront of your mind, what you have decided is really important. Now, whenever you have to make a decision relating to what to do with your time in the future, you will be equipped with the necessary information to ensure you make a good decision. If you keep yourself goal-focused, you will automatically make good decisions.
But something else - that almost seems like magic (it's not magic of course) will begin to happen. You will apparently begin to attract people and circumstances to yourself. In actual fact, what will be happening is that you will be recognizing opportunity for what it is! Opportunity surrounds us, everyday of our lives but we often fail to recognize it simply because we have not focused our minds upon what is really important to us. However, if you follow this procedure properly, you will be amazed at the effects you can produce in your life. Ok, now let's consider the achievement part. You may read all manner of things about The Law of Attraction that seem to suggest that all you need to do is imagine your goal and put enough emotion into it; and, hey-presto, somehow the object of your desire will manifest itself. Personally, I don't believe that universe operates entirely in that way. To achieve your goal, you need to put in the appropriate amount of effort
If you can sit down and make a plan to achieve your goal, breaking it down into individual steps then you should certainly do it: create that plan and then you can get down to the serious business of achieving it by committing yourself to taking at least one step toward that goal every day.
If your goal is a really big goal, so much the better. But you may not actually be able to plan your way to it - you may simply not be able to work out the route. In that case, you need to make a commitment that you will stay in motion. Every day, you will take at least one step toward that goal - some days they will be big steps and some days they will be small steps, but everyday, you will take some step toward your goal.
Even though you are unable to plan the route in advance, the way will open up to you if you make that commitment and follow through with action. Nothing is more certain that you will achieve your goal if you will follow this simple little method. Notice, the steps you take may not be simple, but the method of achieving your goal is simple. Don't let the simplicity of the method interfere with your acceptance of what needs to be done. If you follow these principles, you will become a goal-achiever - and it is exactly the same procedure for setting a business goal and setting a personal goal. You will begin to set and achieve goads you did not think were possible for you to achieve. You will become unstoppable. So go to it: get your goals quantified, written down and planned; and then commit to taking the appropriate action, every day, until you have achieved them
How To Manage A Project:
Congratulations. You've just been appointed to manage a project. How do you get started? What steps do you do next? How do you maximize your chances for success? The project management steps below guide you through the process of managing any project, step by step.
Time Required: Varies Here's How
1. Define the Scope:
The first, and most important, step in any project is defining the scope of the project. What is it you are supposed to accomplish by managing this project? What is the project objective? Equally important is defining what is not included in the scope of your project. If you don't get enough definition from your boss, clarify the scope yourself and send it back upstairs for confirmation
2. Determine Available Resources:
What people, equipment, and money will you have available to you to achieve the project objectives? As a project manager, you usually will not have direct control of these resources, but will have to manage them through matrix management. Find out how easy or difficult that will be to do.
3. Check the Timeline:
When does the project have to be completed? As you develop your project plan you may have some flexibility in how you use time during the project, but deadlines usually are fixed. If you decide to use overtime hours to meet the schedule, you must weigh that against the limitations of your budget.
4. Assemble Your Project Team:
Get the people on your team together and start a dialog. They are the technical experts. That's why their functional supervisor assigned them to the project. Your job is to manage the team.
5. List the Big Steps:
What are the major pieces of the project? If you don't know, start by asking your team. It is a good idea to list the steps in chronological order but don't obsess about it; you can always change the order later.
6. List the Smaller Steps:
List the smaller steps in each of the larger steps. Again, it usually helps you remember all the steps if you list them in chronological order. How many levels deep you go of more and more detailed steps depends on the size and complexity of your project.7. Develop a Preliminary Plan:
Assemble all your steps into a plan. What happens first? What is the next step? Which steps can go on at the same time with different resources? Who is going to do each step? How long will it take?
8. Create Your Baseline Plan:
Get feedback on your preliminary plan from your team and from any other stakeholders. Adjust your timelines and work schedules to fit the project into the available time. Make any necessary adjustments to the preliminary plan to produce a baseline plan.
9. Request Project Adjustments:
There is almost never enough time, money or talent assigned to a project. Your job is to do more with the limited resources than people expect. However, there are often limits placed on a project that are simply unrealistic. You need to make your case and present it to your boss and request these unrealistic limits be changed. Ask for the changes at the beginning of the project. Don't wait until it's in trouble to ask for the changes you need.
10. Work Your Plan, But Don't Die For It:
Making the plan is important, but the plan can be changed. You have a plan for driving to work every morning. If one intersection is blocked by an accident, you change your plan and go a different way. Do the same with your project plans. Change them as needed, but always keep the scope and resources in mind.
11. Monitor Your Team's Progress:
You will make little progress at the beginning of the project, but start then to monitor what everyone is doing anyway. That will make it easier to catch issues before they become problems.
12. Document Everything:
Keep records. Every time you change from your baseline plan, write down what the change was and why it was necessary. Every time a new requirement is added to the project write down where the requirement came from and how the timeline or budget was adjusted because of it. You can't remember everything, so write them down so you'll be able to look them up at the end-of-project review and learn from them
13. Keep Everyone Informed:
Keep all the project stakeholders informed of progress all along. Let them know of your success as you complete each milestone, but also inform them of problems as soon as they come up. Also keep you team informed. If changes are being considered, tell the team about them as far ahead as you can. Make sure everyone on the team is aware of what everyone else is doing
A successful Project Manager must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success.
Most literature on project management speaks of the need to manage and balance three elements: people, time, and money. However, the fourth element is the most important and it is the first and last task for a successful project manager. First and foremost you have to manage the project scope.
The project scope is the definition of what the project is supposed to accomplish and the budget (of time and money) that has been created to achieve these objectives. It is absolutely imperative that any change to the scope of the project have a matching change in budget, either time or resources. If the project scope is to build a building to house three widgets with a budget of $100,000 the project manager is expected to do that. However, if the scope is changed to a building for four widgets, the project manager must obtain an appropriate change in budgeted resources. If the budget is not adjusted, the smart project manager will avoid the change in scope
Usually, scope changes occur in the form of "scope creep". Scope creep is the piling up of small changes that by themselves are manageable, but in aggregate are significant. For example, the project calls for a building to be 80,000 square feet in size. The client wants to add a ten foot long, 4 foot wide awning over one bay door. That's a pretty minor change. Later the client wants to extend the awing 8 feet to cover the adjacent bay. Another minor change. Then it's a change to block the upwind side to the covered area to keep out the wind. Later, it's a request to block the other end to make the addition more symmetrical. Eventually, the client asks for a ceiling under the awning, lights in the ceiling, electrical outlets, a water faucet for the workers, some sound-proofing, and a security camera. By now, the minor change has become a major addition. Make sure any requested change, no matter how small, is accompanied by approval for a change in budget or schedule or both.
You can not effectively manage the resources, time and money in a project unless you actively manage the project Scope. When you have the project scope clearly identified and associated to the timeline and budget, you can begin to manage the project resources. These include the people, equipment, and material needed to complete the project.
A successful Project Manager must effectively manage the resources assigned to the project. This includes the labor hours of the designers, the builders, the testers and the inspectors on the project team. It also includes managing any labor subcontracts. However, managing project resources frequently involves more than people management. The project manager must also manage the equipment used for the project and the material needed by the people and equipment assigned to the project.
People Project employees, vendor staff, subcontract labor
Equipment Cranes, trucks, backhoes, other heavy equipment or
Development, test, and staging servers, CD burners or Recording studio, tape decks, mixers, microphones and speakersMaterial Concrete, pipe, rebar, insulation or CD blanks, computers, jewel cases, instruction manuals
Managing the people resources means having the right people, with the right skills and the proper tools, in the right quantity at the right time. It also means ensuring that they know what needs to be done, when, and how. And it means motivating them to take ownership in the project too.
Managing direct employees normally means managing the senior person in each group of employees assigned to your project. Remember that these employees also have a line manager to whom they report and from whom the usually take technical direction. In a matrix management situation, like a project team, your job is to provide project direction to them. Managing labor subcontracts usually means managing the team lead for the subcontracted workers, who in turn manages the workers.
The equipment you have to manage as part of your project depends on the nature of the project. A project to construct a frozen food warehouse would need earth moving equipment, cranes, and cement trucks. For a project to release a new version of a computer game, the equipment would include computers, test equipment, and duplication and packaging machinery. The project management key for equipment is much like for people resources.
You have to make sure you have the right equipment in the right place at the right time and that it has the supplies it needs to operate properly. Most projects involve the purchase of material. For a frozen food warehouse, this would be freezers, the building HVAC machinery and the material handling equipment.
For a project to release a music CD by a hot new artist, it would include the CD blanks, art work for the jewel case, and press releases to be sent to deejays. The project management issue with supplies is to make sure the right supplies arrive at the right time. All your skill in managing resources won't help, however, unless you can stick to the project schedule. Time management is critical in successful project management.
Time management is a critically important skill for any successful project manager. I have observed that Project Managers who succeed in meeting their project schedule have a good chance of staying within their project budget. The most common cause of blown project budgets is lack of schedule management. Fortunately there is a lot of software on the market today to help you manage your project schedule or timeline.
Tasks Duration, resources, dependencies
Schedule Tasks, predecessors, successors
Critical Path Changeable, often multiple, float
Any project can be broken down into a number of tasks that have to be performed. To prepare the project schedule, the project manager has to figure out what the tasks are, how long they will take, what resources they require, and in what order they should be done. Each of these elements has a direct bearing on the schedule.
If you omit a task, the project won't be completed. If you underestimate the length of time or the amount of resources required for the task, you may miss your schedule. The schedule can also be blown if you make a mistake in the sequencing of the tasks.
Build the project schedule by listing, in order, all the tasks that need to be completed. Assign a duration to each task.Allocate the required resources. Determine predecessors (what tasks must be completed before) and successors (tasks that can't start until after) each task. It's pretty simple and straightforward. For instance, think of a project called "Getting Dressed In The Morning". The task "put on shirt" may have a longer duration if it is a buttoned dress shirt than if it's a pullover. It doesn't matter which order you complete the tasks "put on right shoe" and "put on left shoe", but it is important to complete the "put on pants" task before starting the "put on shoes" task.
The difficulty in managing a project schedule is that there are seldom enough resources and enough time to complete the tasks sequentially. Therefore, tasks have to be overlapped so several happen at the same time. Project management software greatly simplifies the task of creating and managing the project schedule by handling the iterations in the schedule logic for you.
When all tasks have been listed, resourced, and sequenced, you will see that some tasks have a little flexibility in their required start and finish date. This is called float. Other tasks have no flexibility, zero float. A line through all the tasks with zero float is called the critical path. All tasks on this path, and there can be multiple, parallel paths, must be completed on time if the project is to be completed on time. The Project Manager's key time management task is to manage the critical path.
Be aware, that items can be added to or removed from the critical path as circumstances change during the execution of the project. Installation of security cameras may not be on the critical path, but if the shipment is delayed, it may become part of the critical path. Conversely, pouring the concrete foundation may be on the critical path, but if the project manager obtains an addition crew and the pour is completed early it could come off the critical path (or reduce the length of the critical path).
Regardless of how well you manage the schedule and the resources, there is one more critical element - managing the budget.Often a Project Manager is evaluated on his or her ability to complete a project within budget. If you have effectively managed the project resources and project schedule, this should not be a problem. It is, however, a task that requires the project manager's careful attention. You can only manage effectively a limited number of cost items, so focus on the critical.
Costs Estimated, actual, variability
Contingencies Weather, suppliers, design allowance
Profit Cost, contingencies, remainder
Each project task will have a cost, whether it is the cost of the labor hours of a computer programmer or the purchase price of a cubic yard of concrete. In preparing the project budget, each of these costs is estimated and then totaled. Some of these estimates will be more accurate than others. A company knows what it will charge each of its projects for different classifications of labor. Commodities like concrete are priced in a very competitive market so prices are fairly predictable. Other estimates are less accurate.
For instance, the cost of a conveyor system with higher performance specifications that normal can be estimated to be more expensive, but it is hard to determine whether it will be 10% more or 15% more. For an expensive item, that can be a significant amount. When the estimated cost of an item is uncertain, the project budget often includes a design allowance. This is money that is set aside in the budget "just in case" the actual cost of the item is wildly different than the estimate.
Unusual weather or problems with suppliers are always a possibility on large projects. Companies usually include a contingency amount in the project budget to cover these kinds of things. So a project budget is composed of the estimated cost, plus the contingency and design allowance, plus any profit. The project manager's job is to keep the actual cost at or below the estimated cost, to use as little of the design allowance and contingency as possible, and to maximize the profit the company earns on the project
To maximize your chances of meeting your project budget, meet your project schedule. The most common cause of blown budgets is blown schedules. Meeting the project schedule won't guarantee you will meet the project budget, but it significantly increases your chances. And above all, manage the project scope. Don't allow the project scope to "creep" upward without getting budget and/or schedule adjustments to match.
Successful project management is an art and a science that takes practice. The ideas presented above can give you a basic understanding of project management, but consider it only a beginning. If your job or career path includes project management, and you want to improve your skills, talk to successful project managers, read, and practice. Project management can be a very rewarding career
Control freak
Being a control freak and a manager can be a terrible combination! Because you naturally want to control everything – and make sure it’s up to your “perfect” standards – you often end up micromanaging… doing too much work yourself and not delegating… or letting things slip because you insist on keeping certain tasks or responsibilities to yourself that you simply don’t have the time or abilities to handle. In fact, the most important thing is simply Knowledge. Knowing how to be a supervisor and manage people effectively
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
This is the Field of Management that Involves Using Workers’ Skills Effectively and Making their Jobs Rewarding. Many Large Businesses and Other Organisations have Department Responsible for Personnel Management. The Field is Called “Employee Relations or Human Resource Management”. In Organisations that have many Employees who belong to a Union, Personnel Management is often known as “Industrial Relations or Labor Relations”.
It’s Chief Function in such a Company is to represent a Firm in Contract Talks and Other Dealings with the Union. Specialists in Personnel Management have a Wide range of Responsibilities: -
They Interview, Test and Recommend applicants to Fill Job Openings.
These Managers develop Pay Scales, System of Evaluating Employee Performance, and Training Programmes to Teach Workers and Managers New Skills. They Administer Employee benefits, Such as Health Insurance, Life Insurance and Pensions.
They Offer Counseling to help Employee Solve Personal Work-related Problems.
In Many countries Personnel Managers also Supervise Affirmative-Action Plans, Including Special Recruiting and Training Programmes for Women and Minority Groups.
Human resource management
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