We all have goals but most people fail to achieve the goals they set themselves and never get what they want. This article is not just about goal setting anyone can do that but how to achieve your goals.

Letâ??s look at goal setting and how to achieve the goals you set by using some simple steps.

Set Your Goals

We all have different goals we want to achieve. They maybe be personal or they maybe business it doesnâ??t matter write them down.

Put them in order of priority and now its time to look at how to achieve them.

This trait is needed!

The trait you need to achieve your goals and anything flows from it is:

The desire to achieve.

If you donâ??t have a burning desire you wonâ??t get anywhere itâ??s your motivation. In life you will hear of may people who started at a huge disadvantage and achieved their goals â?? They did it and you can to

Realism and dreaming

Many people when they goal set are really dreaming. They want something that is totally out of their reach and have no chance of achieving it.

When you set goals they must be realistic. They can be ambitious but remember every journey starts â??with one small stepâ?

If itâ??s an ambitious goal then you need to reach it in steps. So you have several sub goals (steps) that lead you to your final goal.

This will give you a sense of achievement when each sub goal is met and make the journey less daunting.

You will be focused, motivated to hit each sub goal and if you have the desire and motivation you will reach your ultimate goal

Time

Is precious and when it passes you canâ??t get it back, so you need to make the most of it and use it wisely.

Have you ever looked at someone and wondered how they get so much done? Well if you have they will be well aware of time management.

Time & Your goal

You need to work out how much time each goal you have takes and allocate time and effort regularly.

A key to time management is to delegate tasks away that you can and concentrate on whatâ??s important to you.

There Is more to goal setting

This article is really a basic introduction to goal setting and our other articles in this series cover more specific ways to get to your goalsm but the basics of goal setting and more importantly, achieving your goals are based upon the following:

Desire – To achieve a goal.

Realism â?? In terms of what you want to achieve.

Steps â?? Getting there in simple specific steps with strict time management.

You can do it!

The fact is anyone can set and reach goals if they use the above format.

So set your goals donâ??t be a dreamer and set off on a road that will bring you what you want in life today.

People often wonder what goal setting is and why should one do it? Goal setting is a vital process that helps the planner to know where he is going in his personal and professional life. Knowing exactly what one wants to achieve in life helps a person to move in right direction and ultimately succeed in his mission. Additionally, if a person is aware of his goals, he comes to know where exactly he needs to concentrate all effort. And more than anything else, the goals that are set accurately are incredibly motivating because they help to build self-confidence.
The biggest difference between a person who actively plans his goals and one who lets everything hang in thin air is excellence and mediocrity. The main reason for this is that when a person sets goals for accomplishing any task, there is a passion and a belief that drives that person to perfect his job, so that he can accomplish his goal successfully.
There have been numerous books, journals and articles that advocate the virtue of goal setting, but the main question that comes to mind is How do you set and accomplish goals? Fortunately there are some goal setting formulas and strategies that can be used to increase the chances of success towards goal setting and accomplishment.
This article will help you to first figure out a blueprint for success in goal setting. The blueprint consists of seven steps that will help you in chalking out your very own goals for any activity.
Step 1: It involves developing an intense desire to achieve the goals. Now the question is How to intensify desire? The best course of action to intensify desire would be to sit down and jot down on a notepad all the benefits and advantages that one could reap by achieving the goals. And if the list of benefits goes beyond 50, achieving the goal becomes the primary mission in the life of the goal setter.
Step 2: Write down all the goals, so that it becomes tangible because once the goals are written, the exercise becomes substantial and it etches itself into the subconscious of the planner.
Step 3: The next step is to identify-
A) The obstacles that stand in the way of your goal setting and accomplishment and overcoming them.
B) The help that is needed to procure knowledge, people and organization. For better identification, rewrite these points also clearly.
Step 4: Set a deadline for your goals. Every goal should have a deadline because an activity loses its value if it is accomplished after the target deadline. Therefore, always analyze your current position as against the goal finishing time that you set and measure how long it is going to take to finish the goals. Set the latest target deadline date accordingly.
Step 5: It involves combining step 3 and 4 and planning all the goals accordingly. Start by listing all the activities and then prioritize them. You can of course rewrite the list to perfect it.
Step 6: Once the goals are all set, make a mental picture of the goal already accomplished and turn it over in your mind again and again.

Many a time we get fed up of setting goals in life. Putting your goals down on paper does get tiresome at times. Having a clear idea of your goals in mind is what leads people to success, but few are those who successfully manage to do this. To make things easier for the rest of us, designers have created goal-setting software to help people assign their goals in life in a methodical fashion.
1. Goal Pro – Goal Pro is one of the most efficient and popular of goal setting software, It allows you to manage your goal setting outline and also helps you break down long term goals into smaller time segments, for easy manageability.
2. Single Step V1.132 – Another great software is the single step version 1.132. This software helps you manage your goals based on your particular personality. The software actually asks you questions about yourself, and uses your answers to manage your goal setting outlines and time frame. Once it helps you to assign your goals, it goes further by asking you questions of what kind of issues motivates you to reach those goals, and thus takes complete charge of managing your goals.
3. Achieve Goal Organizer – Achieve goal organizer is yet another shareware that helps your goal setting plans by assisting you to assign and manage your work flow. It helps you plan your life out totally, personally and professionally. It breaks your tasks down to the day. The day and week segmenting this program offers allows you to quickly look back on what you have achieved over the last few days or weeks, and gives you a glimpse of what you need to do in the near and far future, at the click of a button literally.
The program shoots brainstorming questions at you, to better manage your work flow. It identifies what you dream of achieving long term, and then breaks it down into smaller segments, motivating you to work on one segment at a time. It takes into account your strengths and weaknesses as well as the issues that could be a threat to your motivation, and suggests changes where required. No doubt, the program can only do this best if you give it the correct information about yourself to work with.
4. Goalmaker – Goalmaker is another similar program that allows you to set goals methodically and then work towards improvement in very area of your life. It keeps track of your progress with the information you feed in, and manages your workflow.
We have mentioned only a few of the dozens of goal setting shareware available for download over the net. Getting one of these programs installed on you desktop will no doubt help you manage your goal setting better. However, finally you will need to make the initiative towards sticking to those goals.

Copyright (c) 2008 Gavin Ingham

One of the issues that comes up frequently when running sales training seminars is the thorny issues of goals and goal setting. In my experience, few people seem to set any goals at all and even fewer stick to them! Ever since reading Anthony Robbins in my early twenties I have been a keen goal setter… and it has worked well for me. As a salesperson they helped to keep me on track, motivated and focused. As a manager they empowered me to take action to get results. As a motivational speaker in the sales training arena they have helped to give me the edge that I need to get the results that I want.

It’s common knowledge that most successful people set goals. Most successful people know what their goals are. Most successful people are aware of the power of goals and goal setting. I have written about how important setting goals is before so today I thought we would do something different…

I have interviewed my good friend Andy Smith of Coaching Leaders about the power of goals and goal setting across your whole life not just your sales and business goals. Andy is well qualified to answer these questions: he is an NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) trainer, EI (Emotional Intelligence) expert and executive coach who is a specialist in goal setting that really works. Andy is the author of the Dorling Kindersley book Achieve Your Goals: Strategies to Transform Your Life and has been featured in many publications talking about goal setting and other personal development subjects.

1. How will people benefit when they set goals?

Apart from being much more likely to achieve the goal itself, going for goals has an effect on our happiness levels. We are biologically hard-wired to feel happier if we have some sense of control and choice over our lives, which is what setting goals and taking action gives us. We change from feeling like victims of life’s circumstances, or at best passive consumers, into someone who knows they can make a difference. We are also learning along the way – even the mistakes we make, though they aren’t enjoyable at the time, will bring us valuable wisdom if we choose to learn from them.

2. Can you give us some specific examples of goals that people you know have set and achieved and how they have benefited?

Just some examples from my clients and students: some people have used these methods to hit and maintain their target weight and fitness levels for the first time for years, some have made their transition to a new career easier, or finally got around to living in a new country after dreaming about it for years. People have also used goal-setting to cope better with the curveballs life throws at us from time to time – divorces, redundancy, getting out of debt.

In my own life, I’d say the two biggest things so far becoming a published author (by Dorling Kindersley, a ‘proper’ publisher) and rather more significantly meeting my life partner Jules. I actually did set a goal of being happily married by the end of 2000, despite there being no remotely suitable candidates around at the time – and I’m happy to report that we did just squeak it in on December 29th of that year!

3. Given that, why is it do you think that most people don’t set goals?

I think there are two things going on here. One is that in today’s busy society, they never get round to it. There is always something “urgent” clamouring for our attention, with more tasks waiting in line when that one is dealt with. If people do try to think about their goals, they may be too tired from all the busywork to do them justice. So it requires a conscious effort to step off the hamster wheel and take some time to think about what’s important to you and where you want to get to. The best advice I’ve ever been given was “plan the time to plan” – set aside some protected time so that you can think about the future. This is equally important whether you’re working for yourself or in employment.

4. Is the old story that written goals are better than non-written goals true?

There’s a famous story about the “Yale Study” in which researchers asked Yale’s graduating class of 1953 how many of them had specific goals for their future in writing. Twenty years later, the 3% who had written goals had more personal wealth than the other 97% combined!

It’s a compelling story, it’s quoted by Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy and Zig Ziglar, plus legions of other motivational speakers and it sounds as if it ought to be true – but, alas, it never happened. You’ll never see an academic reference for it, Yale have no record of it, and when ‘Fast Company’ magazine investigated the origin of the story, Robbins’ people directed them to Brian Tracy, Tracy said he heard it from Zig Ziglar, and Ziglar’s people suggested the source might be Robbins!

It’s still a good idea to write your goals down though – it’s the best way to get clear about them and keep them in the forefront of your attention.

For the rest of this interview check out part 2 or visit my website now.

For someone new to goal setting, it can be difficult to grasp why setting goals has been a point stressed by many personal development life coaches. However, there is a valid reason. As you read this article, you will come to understand why is goal setting important.
* What Is Goal Setting
Goal setting in its simplest form is having an outcome and working towards achieving it, through planned action. Why goal setting is so important is down to the fact that most people don’t set goals. So, if you do consciously set goals, and works to achieve them, then you are someone unique. Most people never consciously goal set.
* About Goal Setting
Goal setting is done by so few people or at least the personal development life coaches would like you to believe! The truth is that all people goal set. That is not the problem.
In life we go to school, grow up, and get a job. Most of the time, we do things because others have influenced us to some degree, and we are doing what others want us to do. Now there is nothing wrong with that, order is better than chaos. But, if life is not how you planned it to be, then you want to create a bit of chaos to turn life into the world you always wanted.
People are like ships without rudders, and goal setting is getting that rudder. Though all people goal set, there is a distinction between what the many do, and what we are talking about here. Setting goals consciously is what is important. A person trying to wake up on time and going to work in a timely fashion is not the type of goal setting we want. Why is that?
* Why Is Goal Setting Important?
You have a life, and you are not a machine. You may love what you do or you may not. Why is goal setting important? It is important because if you find yourself daydreaming often, if you wish for a better life, a better career, etc. Then the only way is by actually making goal setting an important part of your life.
When you goal set, you will find that you will be moving forward in life. There maybe chaos for a while, the world has to change, you have to change. When you do, you will find a world that is more of what you want. No longer are people in slavery, however, we put ourselves as slaves. We become slaves to our job, and a dream we hold inside, that is begging for life, is relegated.
You are free! You are living in a world with infinite possibilities. You can be rich or poor, wealthy and happy. Whatever you like! However, to get anywhere close to that, requires the process of goal setting, and this is why goal setting is important.