G - O - A - L - S

I had the opportunity to attend an awesome informational session on Setting goals that Stick presented by Nick Wahl at Mat-su Regional Medical Center last Thursday. Nick was a great presenter, one who empowers his audience to participate rather than be talked to about the topic. To me this makes it easier for us, the listener to walk away with useful information.

At some point in our lives, we have all experienced the heartbreak of setting a goal and not reaching it. The letdown that often occurs can be very discouraging and disheartening. This is often times where one sets off or continues down the wrong paths in life. If we really think though, there is more often than not at least a small goal where we have been successful. It is from this that we need to capitalize and continue to set goal for ourselves.

A goal for the purpose with which I am speaking, as defined on www.dictionary.com are goal AC_FL_RunContent = 0; var interfaceflash = new LEXICOFlashObject ( "http://sp.ask.com/dictstatic/d/g/speaker.swf", "speaker", "17", "15", "", "6");interfaceflash.addParam("loop", "false");interfaceflash.addParam("quality", "high");interfaceflash.addParam("menu", "false");interfaceflash.addParam("salign", "t");interfaceflash.addParam("FlashVars", "soundUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsp.ask.com%2Fdictstatic%2Fdictionary%2Faudio%2Fluna%2FG02%2FG0221200.mp3&clkLogProxyUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fwhatzup.html&t=a&d=d&s=di&c=a&ti=1&ai=51359&l=dir&o=0&sv=00000000&ip=423ab2ea&u=audio"); interfaceflash.addParam('wmode','transparent');interfaceflash.write();

–noun

1. The result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

The biggest thing that I walked away from Nick's presentation was something that I have often heard, and that is that your goals must be SMART. The following is not directly from the presentation that was given, but it is the essence of the information - the best part to help you set and achieve goals from here on:

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely

Specific - A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:

*Who: Who is involved? *What: What do I want to accomplish? *Where: Identify a location. *When: Establish a time frame. *Which: Identify requirements and constraints. *Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, "Get in shape." But a specific goal would say, "Join a health club and workout 3 days a week."

Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable - When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals, you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

Timely - A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

T can also stand for Tangible - A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible, you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

As I said before this is something that I have heard a million times throughout my educational and career endeavors, but I found it was nice to hear it again and be able to remind myself ~ Oh yeah, that's how you do it! ~ I hope you all will find something useful here and your goals, especially those related to the the Trim 2 Win competition will become achievements in your life!