How to Fully Utilize the Power of Goal Setting

What connection is there between your mission and the goals that you are pursuing today?  If there is none, you are probably under utilizing the power of goal setting.  Goal setting is a tool that is designed not just to get you whatever you want in life but, rather, to get you what you need to achieve your mission.

1.        Tie your goals to your mission
Your mission represents what you want to achieve in your lifetime.  Whatever goal you set in life should be in line with your mission.  Unless you do this, you may spend a lifetime chasing after goals that take you nowhere, although they might be exciting.

2.        Set goals that are progressive
Your goals should successively contribute to the attainment of your ultimate goal.  The journey towards your ultimate goal should be like an ascend up a staircase. Just as each step should be joined to the one before it and the one after it, your goals for this year should be joined to last year's goals and next year's goals.  That way you are assured of going somewhere with your life.

3.        Move from setting goals to setting strategic objectives
Goals keep your focus on what you want to do within a given timeframe.  Strategic objectives, however, shift your focus to the end to what you intend to achieve through your goal.  Focusing on the end is more energizing than focusing on the means.

Goal setting is a wonderful exercise. No doubt, every person who sets concrete goals and commits themselves to taking decisive action towards the attainment of these goals has a greater chance of realizing their dreams than the one who blurs out 'resolutions' under the ecstasy of the moment and does nothing to make them happen.   However, the greatest results do not come from the exercise of goal setting. It comes from aligning them to your mission, having them progressively lead them towards your mission and shifting your focus from what you have to do to the end in mind.

Be inspired.