On to part 4 of my 4 part blog series. Need to backtrack a little? …refresh your memory with Part 3 here.
Four things we are going to discuss over the next four-week series:
- Practice the Fundamentals of Goal Success – 10 Goal Related “Fundamentals
- Planning Your Way to Goal Success
- Implementing Your Way to Goal Success
- Managing Your Way to Goal Success
Goal Setting Part IV – Managing the Process:
Last week we thought about how to Implement Your Way to Success. Now we are ready to look at the fourth thing to think about with goal setting and results.
IV. Managing Your Way to Goal Success – you must not only manage the process, you must also manage yourself.
Goals aren’t usually achieved over night so managing the journey is an important aspect of goal achievement. Here are 10 guidelines for keeping you on track:
Keep a Positive Attitude – this is your choice. A winning attitude provides the drive and confidence to step out of your comfort zone, make positive things happen, and deal with both the unexpected and the disappointments. Example – we are all an energy source…what type of impact do you want to have?
Know Your Limits – Only by stretching do we grow. Stretching too far for too long is unhealthy and unproductive. Maximum productivity does not mean working to the point of exhaustion. We need to find balance in life.
Utilize Mentors – surround yourself with people whose knowledge and judgment you trust. Schedule meetings with these advisors and leverage all available brainpower.
Inspect What You Expect – Achieving goals requires careful, periodic monitoring of both the actions taken and the measureable results of those actions. Inspecting expectations keeps you on track and helps ensure that time and effort is productive to get to the desired end result.
Learn to Manage Fear – Courageous people force themselves, in spite of fear, to move forward and stay on task.
Learn to Manage Failure and Setbacks – Everything you do will not always go as planned, so what. Rather, learn from those set backs and failures, and move on. Success is often times about building character. Character is measured by how high you bounce back after you fall and hit the ground.
Fight Procrastination – Are you a procrastinator? It is self-sabotage to choose the easier more fun tasks instead of working on higher-priority tasks. Procrastination is counterproductive to achievement, and things don’t disappear just because you are putting them off. They will still be on your plate and waiting for you. We all fell like procrastinating sometimes. To avoid this trap, try to tackle your important, goal-related things first. Time is a precious commodity…don’t squander it!
Managing the Process
Celebrate Your Accomplishments – Reaching a goal is a big deal so make a big deal out of those accomplishments. This will also help keep you and those around you productive and energized. Give recognition not only to yourself but also to those around you who have worked on the goal with you.
Choose to Have Fun – The road to success is often bumpy and challenging. By having fun and enjoying the journey actually strengthens the reason for the goal, and indicates that you are on task to meet your goal. Choose to make the goal setting process fun and energizing and it will be. It should be!
Start the Process All Over Again – One success does not equal ongoing success. Once one goal is achieved, celebrate and then choose your next milestone to work towards. Use the valuable knowledge you learn from each success to push your forward on to the next success. Remain fluid not static!
Remember – In order to achieve a high level of success:
- You need to learn how to work right;
- Have success in your present in order to maintain momentum in your future; and
- You should aspire to be someone else’s role model.
Sweat the Small Stuff
We’ve talked about having “big” or “great” goals but the reality is to achieve greatness we all need to start with focusing on the small stuff. In other words, to achieve big goals we need to manage the small tasks.
So we shouldn’t waste our time looking for that one gigantic thing to do that will make us successful, it doesn’t exist.
Plan your work, work your plan, and aim high to succeed!
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