3.2 Goal Setting

In planning, the main thing that we have to be aligned to is objective goals. So let’s look at goals. Goal setting. Goal setting is primarily used to help us reach a goal or for self development, self-improvement. And it is really very much aligned planning no goals. It’s hard to keep a plan on track. And it’s very much aligned to motivation. If individuals know what the goal is they are motivated to achieve that goal. More so than if there were no goals and everybody was doing their own thing. So goal setting is really important. Accountable leaders have written goals. Not goals that are just floating around in your head, but written goals. One of the all-time best-selling business books is Stephen Covey who has since passed. Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I think millions of copies, 25 different enditions over some 25 years. He said written goals. Starting with the end in mind. Short term goals are more effective than long term. If you have long term goals they should be divided up into smaller increments, more manageable increments. And these goals should be reviewed, revise and revitten, rewritten on a periodic basis, regular basis. You have to define regular, 60 days, 90 days. Stephen Covey in his bestselling book says should have a formal process to rewrite them every 90 days. Goal setting is a way to help hold you and a group accountable. And even better yet, the most successful way to attain a goal is to have a partner with you, a team with you. So goal setting, let’s look at one technique. This was published back in 1981 by, by George Dornan is the one that has, gets the most credit but Arthur Miller and James Cunningham also were involved in this publishing, publish this published article back in 1981. There are other people who also are given credit for developing S.M.A.R.T. goal, but my research says the very first one to really take this into a formal process was Dornan and his partner. But Ken Blanchard and and Peter Drucker were also attributed for the S.M.A.R.T. goal concept. So let’s look at S.M.A.R.T. goal. S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. So, how does this work? So, specific. I am need to lose weight. Specific goal. Lose weight. Is that enough? Not yet. I need to lose ten pounds. Better. In the next 60 days. Timely. So my clothes fit better and I don’t die. Relevant. Achievable. So achievable really we look at three different parts. Resources, what are the resources that you have at your disposal to help you get there? Gym, treadmill at your house a, a, a bike, aerobic bike at your house. Belong to a gym, belong to a running club. You have a group, you have group support. You’ve paid your, you’ve paid your membership. Resources. Constraints. So what are the hurdles? What are most things that you have to mitigate? I don’t like to exercise, so that’s a hurdle. Now I, I sometimes I, I get my schedule all you know, going too fast, too often. And I, I drive through you know, not fast food, that doesn’t help. I get home too late. I move other things into my schedule and, and and don’t have, allow myself time. So you’ve got to figure out how do I mitigate these constraints. And the third part of this achievable is how do I put actions in place that I am going to do. One, I establish my goal for 60 days. I, I schedule it in my Outlook calendar appointment so it comes up and it’s blocked off. I pay my gym membership for the next 90 days. I make sure that I watch, and I block out, and I don’t schedule over that time slot. I join a group of people to help me do that together. So whether it be corporate, whether it be personal, goal setting can be aided by this technique called S.M.A.R.T. goal setting. Specific, measurable, achievable, resources, constraints, and actions, relevant, and timely. So, this is the main thing in a plan, this goal. Do we have it established?