Goal Personal Planning Setting Success: Avoid the Detours

Do you follow all the rules for goal setting success yet you still don’t get your goals? If this is you I suspect you have an alignment problem. When your goals aren’t aligned with your big picture plans you end up following a convoluted path.

Just for review here’s a quick reminder of the rules for personal goal planning and setting success. Your goals must be written, they must be in alignment with your ultimate end result, and they absolutely must be yours. When crafting them and putting them into writing you want to make sure they are very specific, measurable, achievable, realistically challenging, and time bound.

Is misalignment causing all the detours in your journey for personal goal planning setting success? For just a moment let’s pretend you’re just entering college. Would it be better to register for classes that interest you, or would it be better to register for classes based on their ability to fulfill the requirements for graduation if you want to graduate in the traditional four years? Hmmm, any idea what you want to get a degree in? Now as an adult you can see that if you were to register for classes based on their ability to hold your interest that it could be pretty difficult to earn a degree, any degree in four years yet when you don’t know the ultimate result you want to achieve that’s how you’re living your life. Set aside time to figure out exactly what you want from your life both personally and professionally.

Only after you know where you’re going can you figure out how to get there. When your driving somewhere in your car you need to have a destination in mind. The same is true for your life. After you identify a destination you can plan the shortest route and prepare for potential detours. The same is true for the goals you set for success. You need to know the ultimate desired result before you can set all the goals you’ll need to get there. While setting those goals you’ll need to plan ahead for any potential detours.

You may see some great scenery because of detours but it makes it much harder to achieve success. You’re probably passing up on great opportunities all the time, but you don’t even see them because you don’t know what you’re really looking for. When you take the time to identify the ultimate result you want and then back it up with the appropriate goals you need to get there you will get your goals more often, have fewer detours to contend with, and you’ll be ready when opportunity knocks.