Your Success Development – Keep The Goal Setting Steps Simple

Some people have a problem using the recognized goal setting steps if they are not sure what they want or they do not know how to put their goals in perspective. They know they want to improve some parts of their life and they are willing to work on changing them. But they have difficulty actually writing down their goals and then giving them some priority and time frame. Yet this can be an important part of your success development, but it does not have to be complicated.

Must You Have Goals?

Your success development will be a lot easier, and will generally happen faster, if you have goals. In fact, it is hard to avoid having them. If you say you want to be a success, you have a goal. Admittedly, it is a fairly vague one and could mean anything. Most professionals would tell you it is not a goal until you commit it to writing, give it a time frame and break it down into goal setting steps. But it is something you want and, presumably, willing to work towards. I think that is a goal.

Saying you want to be a success, immediately poses the question "What do you mean by success?" Do you want to make a lot of money, run a successful business, have a great relationship, speak several languages or something else? Once you answer that question, you set a more specific goal, and trigger the next logical question: "How are you going to do that?" This then forces you to look at the steps you will have to take to get what you want.

1. Decide What You Do Not Want

If you are not sure what you really want, make a list of all the things about your present
situation you do not like and would like to change – the things you do not want. You can project this into the future by deciding what you would not like in the years to come. Some of these 'non-goals' will be the same: there will be things in your present life you would like to change permanently. Start working on those changes now, beginning with the easiest. Do what you can, so you gradually eliminate these undesirable elements from your life.

2. Find Out What You Do Want

By identifying what you do not want you will start to recognize what you do want. For example, if a person does not want to be poor he can only change that by taking some action that will get him out of poverty. He can only do this by changing his situation so he can get some money, which probably means a job or better job. His goal then, is to make money. The goal, "not to be poor" has made many people rich. You can apply this thinking to all the elements of you life.

3. When Do You Want This to Happen?

If you are having trouble working out a time frame, ask yourself how long you want to tolerate living with what you do not want in your life – one year, two years? Your reaction will help determine your time frame. You can then break this down into shorter periods to get some idea where you want to be tomorrow, next week or next month. Over time it will become clearer how long you will need to achieve your objectives.

There are well-established goal setting steps that have helped thousands of people in their success development. However, they can be off-putting if you take them too formally. Do not let this stop you from following the process, as it does work. Rather than that, adapt them to suit yourself and to lead you to where you want to be.