Start the New Year Right: Writing Down Your Goals

Absolutely - writing your goals down is a terrific first step, it forces you to relaly think it through, get clear on your objectives and commit to achieving those goals in a specific time period.

But that is not enough. There are lots of people I know that have written goals, but still haven't been able to realize what they are looking for and here is why I believe that is...

There are two additional factors needed to make goals happen...

1. A set of actions that must be completed to accomplish the goal. It's fine to say you want to reach a new destination, but at some point, you need to break that down into what it really takes to get there.

2. A day-by-day action plan based on the actions outlined in #1. This is especially important today when so much is challenges us for out attention. If you are like me, a Type-A, then you tend to bite off more than you can chew so having a focused daily action plan in line with the steps required to achieve your goals is, if not necessary, a very efficient way to keep you on track.

Interestingly - I just wrote a blog post on this just last week - "Making Goals Happen" taken from what has worked for me in the last few years and what I have picked up from hanging around with so many successful people.

That's one thing I did this year as well. I've always written things down, but this time I'm doing it in a more systematic approach and working towards those goals each day.

A great book in writing down goals that I'm nearly finished up reading is "Write It Down - Make It Happen". It will open up your eyes to what a little bit of writing can do for you!

There was a story that's been featured in several different self-improvement books about a goal-setting study conducted on recent Harvard Business School graduates. As the story goes, only 3% of the group said they kept a written list of the goals they wanted to accomplish. Twenty years after graduation, the group was re-evaluated. It turns out that the 3% that wrote down their goals was making ten times more than the other 97%.

Nice story, but it turned out to be an "urban myth".

However, there was a real goal-setting study conducted on 149 participants that varied widely in age, education, location, and vocation. They were divided up into 5 groups. Group 1 was asked to only think about the goals they wanted to accomplish in the next 4 weeks; Group 2 was asked to write down their goals; Group 3 was asked to formulate "action commitments"; Group 4 was asked to formulate action commitments and send them to a friend; and Group 5 was asked to formulate action commitments, send them to a friend and update that friend with weekly progress reports.

At the end of 4 weeks, the participants were asked to rate their progress and the degree to which they had accomplished the goals that they had set for themselves.

No surprise... Group 5 did significantly better than any other group. Group 4 did much better than Groups 1 and 3 (and only marginally better than Group 2). Group 2 achieved significantly more than Group 1.

So if you really want to accomplish more, write down your goals, write down the actions it will take to realize those goals, set deadlines, tell a close friend about what you expect to achieve, and keep that friend updated on your progress once a week.

If you'd like more information about the details of this study, check this out:
http://cdn.sidsavara.com/wp-content/...chsummary2.pdf

Yes, with goals, it's important to set deadlines for them too. I think it was Napoleon Hill who said - a goal is a dream with a deadline.

Good points, Jeff and Rob.
Goals definitely need to be followed by a simple and
certain plan of action that gives the goals a life that goes beyond what's on the paper it's written on!

Thanks for the responses!
Vince aka makingiants

I used to think that planning was the way to go, but I
now have a whole new outlook on life.

You should focus on doing what you really want to do in life.

Change doesn't need to be forceful to be
efficient. A simple shift in your mindset is more than enough...

This is something I'm going to start doing daily.
I did it for a month last year and it really helped me to stay focused.

Every morning when I wake up, first thing I write down all my long and short term goals.
Writing them out fresh each day really helps to keep them in my mind and in front of me.
It also helps me to make small adjustments as needed to keep on track instead of keeping the exact same goal from a month ago up and then feeling like I've failed if things change.

That is right. Writing down goals is a very wise move. Great post!

This is what i am going to do from right now. Thank you for your advice.