Developing and Reaching Your Goals pt. 2

This post is part 2 of our series on developing and reaching your goals. In the prior post, we discussed how to structure your goal so that it is well-defined and measurable. In this post we will discuss the next part of the process, identifying the related steps, resources, and sequence of your goal.

There are likely a number of smaller steps, projects, or events that that will need to be completed before you reach your goal. Before you start linking those steps together, just list out, the information you'll need to gather, people you'll need to contact, or things to accomplish for your particular goal. For example, if you are planning a seminar on buying local, you may write down book a meeting room at the Hilton, contact Steve about using his projector, create an invite list, call Sarah and Paul to help setup, etc. The steps don't need to be in any particular order at this time. This initial storming process helps you start thinking about the process of meeting your goal, gives you the foundation for your time frame, and most importantly it helps you recognize which resource you have and those you need to obtain, which is the next step in the process.

Thinking about and listing your resources is an important step toward reaching your goals. You likely have more people, knowledge, or tools available to help you than you realize. Returning to our buying local seminar, maybe a friend of yours has already put on a similar event. It may help for you to share the steps you've identified with him or her to find out if you are missing any crucial items. This process will also reveal to you additional steps you need to take to obtain or use a resource. For example, you might recognize that you need specialized knowledge or information to complete one of  your steps. You then need to identify how you'll get that information resource as one of your steps.

Putting your steps and resources together is the next part of the goal development process. You'll need to sequence your steps and pair them with resources to create your plan of action. You can use a method for putting the steps in sequence that makes sense to you. However, there will likely be some items that are more easily completed than others or some that cannot be completed with our first finishing some other task. The point of sequencing is to create the basis for a timeline that you'll use to measure your progress, it adds structure to your list of steps and resources. Once you have the sequencing in place, assign a time frame for completing each step. You can monitor your progress by the number of steps  you complete and  how close to your timeline you keep yourself. It may be helpful to have a partner that can keep you accountable and on track to complete your sequence of steps.

As part of your identification of steps, resources, and sequence to reach your goals you may recognize the need for help, specialized knowledge, or a facilitator for this process. At Focus C3 we offer counseling to help you solve problems, coaching to help you progress, and consulting to help you create potential. We have expertise, resources, and skills to help you reach your goals and move forward. Contact us at info@focusc3.com or visit our website.

The third part of our series on developing and reaching your goals will help you see if your goal lines up with your values and priorities in life. Please feel free to comment on the posts so far.

Developing and Reaching Your Goals pt. 1

Have you had a project you'd like to start, personal desire gnawing at you, or just an annoying habit you'd like to kick? You may have been told to or gone as far as creating a goal to help you figure out ways to accomplish these things. This goal setting process may or may not have helped, and it probably didn't if you only went as far as writing down or remembering the goal. In this post we begin to describe our model for goal setting to help you reach your goal.

Sometimes goals suffer from being open-ended and ill defined. For example, "I want to lose weight" is open ended because it doesn't specify how much weight or when this weight loss goal will be reached and more importantly why. You may think, "I want to lose 30 pounds in 6 months" fixes these problems, but again you'd be leaving this goal too open-ended. It may seem that the why for your weight loss is self-evident. However, your personal reasons are likely deeper than the typical reasons for any goal. To define your reason for reaching a goal it helps to attach your goal to a definable event or achievement that lets you know if you've met the goal. This brings us to the So That (ST) statement portion of setting a goal.

The ST statement helps you connect your goal to underlying reason for starting a new project or kicking that habit. It also adds a measurable component to the goal. Returning to our weight loss example, "I want to lose 30 pounds in 6 months, so that, I can have more energy when playing with my children" connects your goal to a very personal reason, time with your children, and a measurable component, energy level. Your ST statement may relate back to a specific want or struggle. The stated goal, "I will stop biting my fingernails in 2 months, so that, I can get a manicure without feeling embarrassed" defines the why of ending that habit and an the emotional struggle with embarrassment over the habit itself. As an exercise try to redefine your goal in the terms described above and see if it you discover some of the deeper personal desires you have for reaching it.

In the second part of Developing and Reaching Your Goals we will discuss how to define and execute the steps you are beginning to see now that you've defined your goal. To get started on defining your steps, start thinking about what you value in life. In addition, start thinking about the resources you'll need to reach your goal. One of those resources may be professional help, and at Focus C3 we have a number of resources to tap into to help you move forward. To find our which service best meets your needs use our Best First Step Assessment.