We’ve all got goals. I’ve already listed three goals I want to achieve by the end of 2006.

But how can we actually achieve our goals?

With inspiration and insight from Jonathan George here are 9 steps for achieving your goals:

1. Write Your Goals Down. It’s always a good idea to put things down on paper. That way you can’t forget your goals or fake yourself out. Once it’s written, it’s written. Sure you could lose the piece of paper (or delete the file on your computer) but that’s pretty extreme. Writing things down helps put your goals in focus.

   Luckily, you can do that right now by participating in the Post-Thanksgiving Goal Writing Project! Write a blog post (or more) about your goals for the rest of the year and link it back here. You’ve got the rest of the week to do it!

2. Be Realistic But Don’t Be Chintzy. Jonathan makes a good point about being realistic with your goals. If you set your sights too high you’ll get disappointed quickly, and that’s no way to reach your goals. At the same don’t be chintzy with your goals either. If you set goals that are too small or too easily achievable you won’t get enough emotional benefits from them.
3. Visualize The End Result. Visualization is a powerful way of creating a positive view of your situation. Recently I’ve talked to a few people about visualization. They swear by it. The brain needs a mental picture of what you want to accomplish before it can be done.
4. Set Measurable Goals. It’s important to know what to use as a measuring stick for goal setting and achieving. Having something to compare your goals to gives you a clearer end point. You want measurable goals, not goals like, “I want to be rich in 6 months.” Make your goals as specific as possible, setup key indicators and measurement variables.
5. Create Milestones. Jonathan writes, “The ‘middle’ part of anything you’re seeing through to completion is always the hardest.” Some might argue that it’s the last 1% of something that’s the hardest, but Jonathan’s point is important. You need milestones along the way to achieving your ultimate goal, to avoid losing sight of the end goal and to celebrate the small successes along the way. It’s very hard to visualize the end of a long project without having milestones along the way.
6. Start Right Away. Destroy Excuses. You’re a busy person, you’ve got a ton on your plate. I know that. But achieving your goals won’t happen on its own. You need to start right away. You can do that by first destroying all excuses. There are no excuses (OK, sometimes there are, but you get my point…) If you’re too busy to achieve a goal, I would suggest figuring out why you’re so busy should be your first goal.
7. Manage Your Time Wisely. I love this quote from Jonathan, “Each and every one of us own 100% of our thoughts, time and results.” Very cool. Achieving your goals means leaving other things behind.
8. Share Your Goals. We all need help once in awhile. We should rely on others to support us. In fact, I’d bet that many people share your goals. I’m seeing that with the Post-Thanksgiving Goal Writing Project. If we all have similar goals, it should be easy for us to share.
9. Make Goal Setting a Habit. Achieving goals can be much easier once goal setting becomes a habit. Set goals, work through them, achieve them. Rinse and repeat. It’s not as easy as chewing gum, but once goal setting is a habit the process itself proves much easier to accomplish. You’ll find yourself more inspired, more ready to achieve and eager to get things done.

I want to thank Jonathan George for his thoughts on Setting goals and getting what you want. I was inspired.

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