After you’ve put together your Evolving Achievements Binder, you’ll still need to manage it. There are a few good reasons why you should regularly review, dust off, clean, and re-organize your evolving achievements binder (aside from the fact that it’s fun to do!).

When I was reviewing my binder just the other day, I came across my health and fitness section, and noticed that it had literally exploded in size. I had inserted so many different resources, and pictures of all the new weight lifting exercises that I had been doing at the gym. I actually ended up taking out the majority of that section, and I started a whole new resource binder for my health and fitness. Now, my binder is much more organized again. I can easily go through and read what my future goals are with respect to my health and wellness, without getting distracted. I also realized, that I’ve probably accumulated more than enough information to write a small e-book on this topic! Perhaps I’ll have to start another blog just on that topic alone.

When I was reviewing all my goals, it was interesting because I noticed myself saying out aloud, “Oh I’ve already done that”, and “I just started doing that!”. Unless I reviewed my goals, I wouldn’t have realized all that I had accomplished. Also, I had never made those goals my key priority, and had never consciously set aside time to work on those goals. I think that demonstrates the power of simply writing goals down. Somehow, the act of writing down our goals must communicate with our subconscious mind, and as a result we automatically begin taking action, and attracting those people and resources into our lives to make things happen.

I also realized the importance of translating all our goals into habits. Daily, twice a week, weekly or even biweekly habits. If you can’t make something a habit, then rarely would those goals ever turn into reality. The areas where I felt I was having the most progress, e.g., career and fitness goals, were the areas where I had done significant planning around how to turn some of my action steps into habits. For instance, I set the goal of spending two times per week writing in my book, and in doing so, I almost doubled the length of it.

Each time you read about your dreams, you’ll notice that you will read with a new sense of clarity, because your ideas have had more time to crystallize. Or, you might have had more time to think about developing actual plans to take further actions steps.

I’ve also discovered a few little ‘goals’ and ideas that aren’t even important to me at all. At first, when I jotted them down, they seemed like good ideas, but in retrospect I’ve learned that they are meaningless. So you’ll also benefit as you discover your authentic self, and more of your values. Likewise, I also read over a few goal categories that made me feel really scattered and overwhelmed. Clearly, those goals need further development. So, I’ve planned a time to go back and prioritize or rank all of those goals. Over time our big ideas evolve into something more serious. What we value will come into the forefront of our mind, and that which isn’t so important to us, will fade out a bit.

Finally, regularly reviewing your Evolving Achievements Binder will constantly remind you of what is most important, and it will help you stay on track. Just think about the people that don’t write their goals down at all. If you seriously review your goals each month, you are going to speed up the entire learning process around who you are, what you want to achieve, and how you’re going to do it. More importantly, you’re going to be unstoppable because you’ll constantly find yourself in action!

Cheers,
Allison

And now, here I am telling you that you should invest in yourself. I had an interesting, little epiphany the other day, when I was feeling frustrated about the lack of time that I had, and how I had used that as an excuse to continue writing my new book, Evolving Achievements.

Then, what popped into my head, was the 10% rule on investments. The golden rule is to always pay yourself first. Pay yourself first, pay yourself first….the message never grows old. And the rule works. Almost everyone is able to save some amount of their pay cheque, even if only a few bucks. So, I thought, could we not apply this rule to our personal goals, even if we are really busy women?

I don’t think we really have a choice. I once read in one of Bob Proctor’s books, that time is never the real barrier behind achieving our goals. The real issue is our failure to prioritize our time effectively.

So, how can we all use our time more effectively? A mentor recently reminded me that the most successful people became that way because they learned to break down their large goals into small tasks that could be done on a daily or weekly basis, in such a way that those tasks never interfered with the rest of their life.

I can remember several years ago, I was in Edmonton at one of Dan Poynter’s book publishing seminars. There was a lady in her early 40’s who was so determined to complete her book that she woke up at 4am every morning before work, and wrote until 5:30am. Then, she went to the gym to exercise before heading off to work. I remember asking her why she didn’t pursue her workouts in the evening (assuming 4am was too early), and she said that early in the morning was the only ‘quiet’ time where she could fully concentrate. How’s that for self-discipline, and more importantly, finding a habit

So, how will you find time in your schedule to work on the things that are most important to you? Will it be early in the morning? Do you have time between running errands, or while waiting to meet a friend or colleague? What could you do on your lunch break? One thing that has worked wonders for me, is simply making to-do lists all the time, and thinking or planning ahead about what I will do in my next block of time, whenever that might be. A lot of time gets wasted simply thinking about what to do next.

Another realization that I continually experience over and over again, is how it is a necessity to invest in yourself first. I can remember one weekend, having a major work assignment to prepare for, having two social obligations to attend, an entire house to clean, and a few appointments that I couldn’t miss. I was feeling a bit stressed out, and then I reminded myself about the importance of taking care of myself. So, each morning, I was up an hour earlier to workout, and then, I came home and gave myself time to write – something that gives me absolute joy, and fills up my ‘buckets’. That joy, that energy and vitality carried itself all the way through to all the other tasks that I needed to finish that weekend.

The point then, is to think of investing in yourself, as just that, – an investment. Don’t look at the achievement of your personal goals and habits as a chore, because those activities are what fill you up with expansive, positive energy, and drive you to maintain an excellent attitude and vigour in everything that you do.

Here’s an excellent exercise that I’d suggest. Pull out a sheet of loose leaf paper. Make a list of all the small time blocks that could possibly be used to work on some of your important goals. Identify some times when you could truly get yourself into the habit of working on the pursuits that are most meaningful to you. This will ensure that your achievements continue to evolve as opposed to desolve.

Cheers to your success! that works.

What is it?

What is a personal improvement review? A personal improvement review involves you reflecting back on your past and outlining in detail every single achievement, improvement, or positive effort that you’ve put forth in your life. I personally recommend doing this every three months, or possibly every six months. The more often you do this, the greater your chances for accelerating your life success and satisfaction.

I’ve focused on the word “improvement” instead of “achievement” because achievements consist of many improvements and efforts that build upon each other over time. If I asked you to only outline your achievements, you might feel a bit disheartened because you didn’t accomplish everything that you’d hope for.

The truth however, is that you’ve probably taken many deliberate efforts and steps to turn your dreams into reality. Although you might not see the final tangible outcome (if there is one), you must train yourself to all of the small or large amounts of time, energy, resources and efforts that you’ve invested into your goals. Those investments deserve to be noticed, celebrated or at least acknowledged in a positive manner.

Don’t simply wait for the grand finale when your entire goal is realized. This could take many days, weeks, months, years, or even a lifetime. It’s best to congratulate yourself on the mini-steps you’ve taken, and all the learning lessons that occurred along the way. After all, with each learning lesson, you’ve moved yourself closer toward your goals.

Who is it for?

Who is the personal improvement review for? Anybody who is completely serious about enhancing their personal growth, continuously improving their life satisfaction, along with achieving their life goals should be reflecting back on their personal improvements and achievements.

Benefits

What are the benefits to doing to a personal improvement review?

• Enhanced self-esteem. When you see how far you’ve come and how much you have invested in yourself, you can’t help but feel good about who you are. You’re essentially telling yourself that you’re worth it!
• Realization of how intelligent you are. When you reflect back and understand just how much you’ve learned, you feel a sense of relief that you haven’t been remaining stagnant, and that you are actually moving forward, and closer to your goals.
• Increased locus of control – you begin to see the correlation between your personal actions and the outcomes in your life, even if those outcomes are simply learning lessons
• Gives you a reason to ‘celebrate’ or to do something positive for yourself
• Increased motivation to stay persistent in working toward your goals. Therefore, you are less likely to feel discouraged, and give up because you don’t see the final outcome that you are looking for
• Learn from your successes what is actually working, so that you can continue doing more of it. Learn from your mistakes so that you can identify what areas of your life require sharpening.

If you never reflect back on your life performance, how will you know what areas of your life are improving, and, if you are improving, how will you get a better sense of how you’ve improved? You might even find patterns of strengths or weaknesses developing. For example, I knew a woman who made such great strides in her career when she opened up her own business, but as a result her health suffered drastically. Within a year, she had gained over 25 pounds as a result of stress eating. She also had high blood pressure, and was diagnosed with diabetes. Even though her bank account had grown in dollars, her weight had grown, and her health suffered. Imagine if she had sat down, and done a review of her performance in each area of her life? Perhaps she could have nabbed this weakness as soon as she gained five or ten pounds, compared to the 25 pounds.

Likewise, I once had a client who was achieving many of his travel and leisure goals, but it happened all at the expense of his savings, and he wasn’t ok with this. He was able to nip this one quickly, when he sat down and took the time to actually reflect on the negative consequences to his net worth.

Often times, we know what is working and what isn’t. We know what is going well, and what isn’t. However, unless we sit down to strategically think about all the different areas of our lives, and how our actions or lack of actions are affecting us, nothing truly sinks into our brains, and we don’t do anything about it. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to get into the habit of consistently evaluating how far you’ve come with your goals in each area of your life. Overtime, you can’t help but get better. Wherever attention goes, energy flows, and then the results will start showing up.

How?

I recommend pulling out your evolving achievements binder, and starting a new section just for your personal improvement reviews. Start one page to list all your improvements and achievements, and start another page where you’ll list what didn’t go so well. It is beneficial to examine all areas of your life, including health/wellness, finances, career, leisure, personal growth, relationships and spirituality.

Some people prefer to evaluate their success by the area of their life, or some simply brainstorm all their achievements on the same page. If you choose this latter approach, you may even wish to go back and the organize your achievements by life area. You could even formalize the process further, by typing it up on your computer and printing if off.  Organize yourself however you’d like. As long as you do the exercise.

Where?

Complete your personal improvement review preferrably in an inspiring, uplifting, or comfortable environment, one that also gives you enough privacy so that you can fully concentrate on reflecting back. One of my friends James, checked himself into a nice hotel in his home city, so that he could celebrate the entire process of not only documenting his improvements and accomplishments, but also so that he could celebrate the fact that he was even doing the actual exercise!  To this day, James is one of the most successful people that I know, – both financially and in terms of pursuing what he is most passionate about. I’ve seen him make dramatic improvements and changes in his life, all for the better.

Good luck getting started!

Cheers!

Do you need a place to capture all your big dreams, ideas and lofty goals? I’m going to share with you my secret on how I organize my many goals and dreams.

I’ve decided to keep track of every whimsical goal that I’ve pondered.

For years, I wasted so much time and money on buying pretty journals and notebooks for writing down my goals. I’d end up not only writing down my goals, but I’d use those notebooks as a journal as well. So, my goals and other thoughts all became mixed up with no real functional order. Also, it became difficult to add in new goals, and delete my old irrelevant goals. It was also challenging to put all my various goals in different categories.

Of course, when those notebooks became full, I ended up throwing many of them out. After all, I had no need to keep all my journal entries, and I figured that I would just re-write out all my goals in the next notebook that I would buy.

You can avoid all these problems by putting together an ‘Evolving Achievements’ Binder . This is an easy to use, practical filing system that allows you to easily maintain, update and delete goals as you see fit. You will devote this entire binder to your goals. Think of it as a landing place for your ideas, desires and wants. The key is to capture those ideas so that you can evaluate them at a later time. I’ve decided to keep track of every whimsical goal that I’ve pondered.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1) A nice 3-ring binder

2) Lined paper to go inside your binder

3) Tabs or dividers

It’s so simple and easy to maintain, and since I’ve converted to this Evolving Achievement binder, I’ve never gone back to using journals for the purposes of organizing my goals.

Also, having the dividers or tabs will allow you to organize your goals by various categories that make sense to you. Whenever you think of a new idea, you simply find the tab/divider that corresponds to that type of goal, and add it in.

From time to time, because we are busy woman, there will be phases in our lives when we get side-tracked and abandon some of our goals. When you have your goals all organized in one spot, it prevents you from misplacing and forgetting or about your goals. It might sound a bit ludicrous to suggest that someone would forget about their goals, but it happens all time.

For instance, think of your to-do lists that you have. Imagine that you’ve written some of your errands on a few sheets of loose paper around the house, while some are in your journal, and others are in your calendar. When the list of errands is scattered all over the place you are bound to misplace, and thus forget about what you need to get done. You easily lose your focus.

It’s really no different with our goals. We need to keep them all organized in one place, – a place where we can be sure to find them! This way, when a period of time goes by and you haven’t attended to your goals, you’ll be able to pick up right where you last left off, without any delays.

The ‘Evolving Achievement’ binder will also allow you to insert your plans for how you’ll achieve your goals. Whenever you come across new resources, services, or other ideas about how you can achieve your goals, you’ll insert them in the same section along with those goals. As we’ll discuss later, once you have brainstormed and set your goals, you’ll need to devise a general plan or at least outline some steps that will allow you start taking actions toward your goals.

Just as people forget about their goals or get sidetracked, the same thing happens even after people have committed to their goals. They start taking action, and then they run into a few barriers. Once they get stuck, confused, or frustrated, they lose their focus, and forget about their plan and abandon it. When your plan is written down, you’ll never forget what your next steps are.

If you have multiple plans written down, you will always have something to return to, along with many other ideas for what you might try next to achieve your goals. Having a binder dedicated to achieving your goals will increase your confidence that you can indeed achieve those goals.

For me, the binder is like a concentrated source of energy that fuels my goals and propels me to take more and more actions toward those goals. This happens because it provides a person with a clarified focus. Everything you ever wanted to be, do or achieve, will be contained within this binder. The ideas have already been turned into something concrete and tangible. This helps you perceive and think about your goals more seriously just because you can see them! Then, the mere act of reading your goals over and over again, imprints them deeper and deeper into your subconscious mind.

So, what are you waiting for? Start your own ‘Evolving Achievements’ Binder today! Don’t loose sight of what is important to you.

Visualization need not be complicated, artsy and all creative. Many people including myself find it too tedious to do the traditional imaginative exercises in our heads. We lose concentration, we fall asleep, or for some other reason it just doesn’t appeal to us. So, here are some great ideas for the logical person who still wants the benefits of visual exercises, without having to imagine pictures in one’s head.

PRACTICAL VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES

1. Print off a nicely organized list of your goals, or action steps for a particular goal, and then put your goals in a nice picture frame! Place this frame somewhere that you will see it every single day. How’s that for a nice visual? Rather than having your goals written on some piece of paper or notebook shoved in a drawer, now you have them up on display! You can get as obsessed as you want with this technique. You might have several different frames up, each entailing a list of action steps for your various goal projects. Or, you might have several frames up, each with the big picture objectives of your various goal categories.

2. Buy a really attractive or appealing greeting card from your local store. Inside that card, write out all your goals, or again, the actions steps for a particular goal. Keep this pretty card sitting on your night table, on your desk, or even posted on your fridge, wall or bulletin board. Whenever you have a spare minute, read through your goals and action steps.

By writing your goals and action steps in a beautiful card, it ensures that you don’t shove the card in a drawer where it will get lost. So since you write your goals down on something that you paid several dollars for, you are more likely to keep that card in an easily accessible, visible location.

3. Put your goals and actions onto your computer’s screen saver or regular desktop background. How’s that for a constant visualization reminder?

4. Program one of your big goals onto the face-top of your cell phone!

5. Forget showing off your driver’s license picture in your wallet. Instead, use that visual space to insert a printed version or a picture of what is most important for you to focus on completing right now! Maybe, you might even put a motivational quote or reminder in there.

6. Use Post-It sticky notes to write down all the action steps needed for one of your current life projects. Post it right beside your desk where you work most often. This way, whenever you encounter a lull in motivation or a barrier, you will constantly be reminded of the steps that you need to execute to continue on with your goal.

Often, when people run into barriers with their goals, they become foggy-minded, fooled, and disillusioned about their reality of what is happening. Soon, their fear and negative emotions paralyze them. Then, they forget what they need to do or try next to get started again. Don’t let the bumps in the road cause you to forget what to try next. Have this post-it of action steps on your wall so you are always have a visualization to remind you of what you need to do.

7. Use the power of email! Email yourself and in the subject title, simply write an action step or goal. Don’t ever delete this email until you have completed the action or achieved the goal. Every time you log in to your email, you will be reminded of your goals or action steps!

8. Create a vision board! Buy a bulletin board from Walmart, and hang it somewhere visible. Then, cut out pictures that symbolize what you want to do, be and have in your life. You can even post real pictures of you that show you achieving your goals. Keep on the look out of inspirational pictures in magazines, the newspapers, etc. Clip them out and post them on your board.

9. Use a whiteboard! using the dry erase markers that easily are wiped off, you can write your to-do list on here for the day, week, or month. Organize it however you want, but keep it somewhere you can see every single day.

10. Use a scrapbook! If you want a more private medium, then you can store all your visuals in a book. However, keep this book right by your bedside table. In the morning and/or evening, pull out your scrapbook, and flip through all the pictures as reminders.

11. Buy a hardcover, spiral bound journal of medium size – one that is really beautiful with nice designs on the pages. Buy a nice bookstand or picture stand, and place your journal on it. As your goals or to-do lists change, simply turn the page, update your list, and put back on your display stand! I love this one, and I keep mine sitting right on my desk by my monitor.

So, now you have a good handful of visualization techniques that do not involve lying down and listening to relaxational music. These are practical, and tangible strategies that are guaranteed to boost your productivity, keep you focused, and give you all the benefits of traditional visualization!

Here are some questions to leave you with:

1. What other visual symbols or tangible items could I put in my environment to remind me of my goals and required action steps?

2. What visual strategies have motivated me, or kept me focused on my goals in the past?

3. What do I have the most difficulty imagining or ’seeing’ in terms of my success? How can I find a real visible snapshot of this?

Step 2: Prioritize Your Goals
Step 3: Writing Goals Down
Step 4: Positive Motivation
Step 5: Negative Motivation
Step 6: Identifying and Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
Step 7: Changing Habits and Behaviors

How to Set Goals: Brainstorm and write down all your goals!

When it comes down to how to set goals, you don’t need to worry about various categories. When you are in the “idea” phase and brainstorming out all the possibilities for what you might want to pursue in your future, you need not get caught up in categories or the “types” of different goals. Simply write down as many things as possible for what you’d like to do, be or have.

Remember, the sky is the limit! Also, let me give you a very cool tip for this first step on how to set goals. Spend as much time as needed, or as much time as possible on this exercise until you feel as though you have really captured many of the goals that are important to you. Don’t feel as though you have or need any goals? Hmm…Think again, and Read all about what goal setting really means!

Why wouldn’t you want to take your time on this brainstorming exercise? Hey, if you are feeling as though you want to skip this step, let me use my power of comparisons talk on you again… First of all, how many hours a week do you spend watching television? I’m guessing you spend at least 1-2 hours on average. So, why couldn’t you also invest a minimum of an hour on this particular exercise? Do you go to the movie theatre each week, every other week, or even once a month? I guarantee you that, the few hours you invest in this exercise will return much more than the few hours you’ve spent watching shows and movies. And, let me also say, that you’ll have just as much if not more fun!

Here are some awesome motivational goal setting questions that will help you identify all the things that you want to do, become or achieve (you don’t have to answer these, but they will stimulate a lot more ideas for you)! Go nuts, and make a nice big long list! As you learn how to set goals be sure to keep the process fun! After you complete this brainstorming process, you will move on to step 2, which is prioritizing your goals.

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Goal Setting Questions to Help You Brainstorm!

1. What things do I want to do with my life?

2. What kind of person do I want to become?

3. What do I want to become known for?

4. What is my life purpose or mission?

5. What material possessions would I like to have?

6. What do I want to move toward?

7. What would I like to have in life?

8. How do I want to focus my time and energy?

9. What does my ideal lifestyle look like?

10. What do I want to experience?

11. What sorts of activities am I so passionate about that I would gladly get up at 5:30am to start them?

12. What do I find myself daydreaming and fantasizing about all the time?

13. If a genie could grant me one wish, what would I wish for?

Congratulations for finishing step 1 on how to set goals! If you now have a nice, long list of your goals, you are further ahead than most people! Most people figure – “what’s the point” and don’t even bother. You are now ready to move on to step 2, which is prioritizing your goals.

Using my motivational questions, you’ll have no problem buckling down and deciding what it is that you want to focus on! Are you still wondering how to set goals? You are well on your way!

Step 2: Prioritize Your Goals
Step 3: Writing Goals Down
Step 4: Positive Motivation
Step 5: Negative Motivation
Step 6: Identifying and Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
Step 7: Changing Habits and Behaviors

Throughout my journey of personal development, I’ve realized that great achievements are comprised of a series of small steps, efforts and actions that have evolved over time into what are often perceived as big, notable achievements.

As a woman who is very passionate and ‘obsessed’ with her personal development, I would describe myself as overly ambitious, and often times frustrated by anything that resembles status-quo living. Just like you, I’ve had the tendency to want ‘more’, or ‘different’ in my life now, as opposed to later.

Interestingly, we live in a culture in which we are continually bombarded by success stories in the media that misrepresent how people actually achieve their goals.

We typically hear about the “rags to riches” stories of a people making millions of dollars in the marketplace, turning a home-based business into a multi-million dollar company, suddenly becoming a famous actress, and so forth.

The media always focuses on the end-result of the journey, – the destination. No one ever hears about the complex journey that often times comes before.

This is not to say that huge achievements cannot happen within a short period of time, because they can, and they do. For most people however, achievement is something that evolves and grows with time.

The journey is not about a race, it’s about setting and sticking to your own pace. My personal motto has always been, “one step a day is the only way!”

As you approach your goals remember to exercise patience. If you’re obsessed and passionate about your personal development, you’re probably quite busy working toward your goals, and, probably feeling quite inpatient.

One of the side effects to being a savvy, ambitious woman who is overly passionate about her achievement, is something called cognitive dissonance. While creating cognitive dissonance is necessary to make your goals a reality, it can also make your life a living hell if you aren’t careful.

Once you create a clear, detailed picture of your dreams, things can get pretty hectic. You constantly think, talk and act on your goals consistently. As a result, even though you haven’t achieved your goal, in some small way it feels like it has already happened, and that it is already a reality.

The only problem, is that it hasn’t happened yet, and there is a gap between your current reality and your expectations. This is called cognitive dissonance. While experiencing this gap ensures you stay motivated and in action, if you’re not careful you can become quite impatient and frustrated with yourself.

In my own experience, I’ve described this feeling as exploiting my intellectual and spiritual resources, and feeling empty inside. There have been times where I’ve felt quite productive and proud of my efforts, yet it came at the expense of living unconsciously.

Remember the story of the tortoise and hare? Slow and steady will win the ‘race’. It’s about being consistent, and developing the habits that will make your dreams a reality! As much as your passion might be your strength, it can also be your Achilles heal. There is wisdom in knowing when it is time to make leaps and strides versus when it is time to stick to your ‘baby steps’.

Think about some of your character qualities that you are proud of. You probably didn’t become a different person overnight, but rather you honed and developed your character over time. Think about some of the most meaningful things you’ve accomplished in your lifetime. How did they unfold? Was it suddenly, within a few days, months or even years?

Regardless of whether you are at a point in your life where you are taking baby steps, leaps or great strides, and regardless of how quickly you take those steps, – remember this:

Your journey to achieving your dreams is a process as opposed to a single event that happens ‘overnight’.

No doubt that as a busy, savvy woman, there will be times when you will need to take comfort in knowing that you are moving forward, period. Sometimes, baby steps are good enough.

Each step you take toward your dreams, is a step forward. Move toward your dreams with confidence, power and pride. Step forward consciously, and enjoy the journey!

Cheers,

Allison

In working with many women over the years, I’ve learned that women’s ways of knowing, and their approach to achieving their life dreams, differs from what is taught in the SMART acronym. When setting goals, we are taught that they are supposed to be very Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented with a detailed plan, Realistic and Time-bound (must have a deadline).

The problem with the Smart formula is that its assumptions and philosophies are heavily rooted in pure ‘scientific’, left-brain thinking, pure logic, and reason. It’s the whole “I’ll believe it when I see it” perspective, as opposed to “I’ll see it when I believe it.” The problem with these instructions is that they alone, are limiting in nature.

Smart goal setting has many valuable benefits that should not be ignored, and I wouldn’t advocate that you through the baby out with the bath water. However, Smart goal setting seems to only speak to only one of two important sides of the “success” equation.

I believe that the Smart formula has turned many women off from the idea of “goal-setting”. It has become such a mechanistic, boring chore to set goals using only the Smart formula. When I think about the Smart formula on its own, there are certain negative connotations and overlooked concerns that immediately come to mind.

Let’s start with the first guideline of setting a Specific goal. Being specific with your goals is very important, however “specific” on it’s own, leaves out an important former step, which is the need for exploration, brainstorming, curiosity, and something else called, “thinking big”! This is how the process of goal setting should begin, but this part is rarely ever suggested, it is only assumed.

The first time you actually get serious and start thinking about what you want in your life, you will come up with many different ideas, and this is exactly what you want. The term “Specific” on its own, is limiting in nature. How does one have absolute clarity and detail on a goal that is in its infancy?

The truth is, the clarity of your goals evolve and develop over time. So, don’t worry that the goals and the visions behind them in the different areas of your life are a bit fuzzy. This is completely normal when you are first setting a goal.

What about being told to make sure that your goals are measurable? This only takes into consideration measuring the final outcome. What if the ‘outcome’ is a result that will take many months or years to attain? How will you measure your progress in-between? I believe that we need to measure and reward ourselves for the many steps, actions and efforts along the way.

There also seems to be some goals that just aren’t measurable by quantifiable standards. For instance, what if a person’s goal is to maintain a positive outlook on life? What if a person’s goal is to experience more gratitude on a daily basis? Not everyone wants to ‘translate’ or break those goals into something quantifiable. Not everyone wants to take a ‘logical’ approach to every single goal.

On the flip side, of course there are many short-term, straightforward goals that are easy to measure such as the size of your waist, your bank account, or perhaps the number of unique visitors that arrive to your website each month. These types of goals are easy and fun to measure, because they are quite concrete. Not all goals are so straightforward though.

Third, we are taught to make sure our goals are Action-oriented. Of course this is important, – it’s a no brainer. Interestingly, taking action is not most people’s weakness. It’s relatively easy to take action. Consider the common New Year’s resolution to lose weight. People get into action right away, but they often have problems staying in action.

The downside to promoting the ‘massive action’ side of the equation is that it leaves out an equally important task – which is that of planning. Many people in life know what to do to achieve their goals. The problem they often have is sticking to their goals and following through with their goals.

In order to make this a success, a person needs to work on identifying their limiting beliefs, thoughts and behaviours, and supplementing them. This requires work, and compared to taking action, it is relatively boring for most people as it is ‘behind the scenes’ work, and not something that you can easily measure and track.

One of the worst things about the Smart formula is the notion that our goals should be Realistic. When you are first setting your goals, that last thing I’d recommend is to be realistic. This assumption again is rooted in thinking out of practicality and logic. What about thinking big?

The first step is to decide on what you want in the different areas of your life, and only later does a person figure out the ‘how’. The ‘how’ is your plan, and that is the component that will be rooted practicality. Don’t ever let your current lack of awareness or knowledge ever prevent you from attempting to achieve a dream of your choice.

I once read that being realistic with setting your goals is actually being pessimistic. So, think big, and don’t consider realistic plans in the beginning. That part of your plan and strategy is what comes later.

Last but not least, watch out for the Time-bound notion of the DEADline! My goodness, what feelings and thoughts come to mind when you hear the term ‘deadline’? The term seems to imply, – achieve your goal by a certain date or else! Automatically, many people report feeling a lot of negative pressure and stress.

It almost feels like a competition to ‘beat the clock’ so to speak. There is a feeling of needing to rush and possibly sacrifice quality to meet the deadline. There is also the fear of failure. If you don’t achieve your goal by the deadline, you might feel like a failure. This can create feelings of low self-worth and unnecessary frustration and stress.

Deadlines of course are important, and they will have a necessary time and place with many of your goals. When the tasks are quite menial and straightforward, it might make sense to set a date for their completion. The pursuit of many other life goals however, aren’t so straightforward.

The achievement of big goals and dreams are rather complex. Rather than focusing on achieving an end-result or arriving at an exclusive destination, women find that their dreams unfold one step at a time. Our achievements evolve, and it is a journey-oriented process.

The key isn’t so much to focus on the quantity of time it takes to achieve our goals, but rather it’s about the commitment to our goals. It’s about staying focused and knowing the direction we are headed in. We can’t always control timelines due to the expected, yet unexpected variables that always come into play along during our journey.

Deadlines assume that one already has all their resources in place, and that one already knows the exact instructions on how to arrive at the goal. It also assumes a person will have no obstacles or barriers to overcome, which in turn, takes time to circumnavigate.

The problem is that achieving big dreams can’t be done by following a cookie-cutter approach. There is no precise instruction manual with a person’s name carved into it. A person’s unique circumstances and life context always comes into play, and there are never any detours.

Rather than thinking in terms of deadlines, it makes better sense to think about moving or ‘evolving’ targets. The achievement of our goals is a dynamic process that is constantly in flux. Changes in our environment, available resources, and the unique factor of ‘trail and error’ all ensure unexpected zig zags in our path, and hence our overall timeline.

As a person works toward achieving their goals, they are constantly customizing their plans and overall approach. As time goes on, we constantly evaluate our goals, their importance, relevance and meaning to us.

Another assumption inherent in deadlines is that a person will always be consistent in their motivation to plan, take action, and adjust their approach as needed. This is rarely the case because what gets a person from Point A to Point B is always different than what is required to move a person from Point B to Point C. New plans, and new perspectives for staying motivated are always required.

Furthermore, deadlines assume that a person knows how to stay motivated all the time. I’ve learned that learning personal motivation techniques is perhaps even more difficult than taking action, because motivation is what gets a person to take action, and to take consistently.

Achieving our goals is not a single event, but rather it is an evolving process.

Our achievements evolve, one step at a time, one day at a time, one insight at a time, and this occurs over and over again. The journey is forever evolving, which is another point left out in Smart goal setting. For example, a deadline implies that the journey ends once the destination is arrived at. However the journey continues as a person maintains, improves or builds upon that big dream.

Being “smart” about achieving your dreams isn’t only logical – it also requires being present to your own unique life context, and rather than relying exclusively on someone else’s cookie cutter formula, you might want to take a few of the main principle ingredients that you prefer, and then create your own personalized recipe for success.

Others’ expertise and advice combined with your own self-knowledge and inevitable trial and error might prove to be the most fruitful.

It is not just about staying fully committed to a set of predetermined and specific goals with date tags attached to them, – it also requires being open and receptive to the many new opportunities, perspectives, and learning lessons that develop as each day passes. We are in constant flux and change, and therefore our goals reflect this as well.

Goal setting is about living with passion, and staying focused on your multiple, evolving dreams. The Smart approach to setting goals is one of two important sides of the equation. Use your imagination, intuition and personal wisdom to adopt an approach that works for you. In the end, there is no one exact acronym, formula or secret that can get you there. What works for someone else might not work for you.

Try my goal setting and motivation program today.

This will allow you to not only set your own goals, but it will provide you with personalized motivation – and that is what you need for the long haul.

Cheers,
Allison

These goal setting software programs have become popular because they are helping people to organize their personal goals. I myself, was contemplating on buying some goal-setting software until I encountered many great free goal setting software programs.  However, I’ve realized there are pros and cons to using these tools as opposed to writing your goals down on paper.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Goal Setting Software

One benefit is being able to have all your files together, and this includes your personal goals. Just as you are in the habit of checking the online news, your email, Facebook and anything else online – now you can check your goals at the same time.

Also, many of these programs provide for a nice visual background, and a sense of true interactions since others can also read your goals. You feel supported and you feel a sense of community which can be motivating in and of itself.

There are a few disadvantages to using these online programs. First, are you going to take the time to login to check your goals? Or, will it become one more ‘to-do thing’ on your list?

For myself, I love to read my goals every night as I lay in bed. Somehow, this seems more real and personal for me. My journal is so easily accessible, whereas I don’t always feel that my software is if I’m not at my computer all the time.

Also, if I’m plugging my goals into the computer, I’m more likely to get distracted with all the other things occurring online, and so I might not focus as much on setting my goals.

In contrast, there are many benefits a person can reap from the power of hand writing their goals. It has been thought that it is a more active approach integrating many different sensory faculties. As you move your had across the page, often times your hand will cross the median of your body, and this is thought to activate different parts of the brain.

Handwriting might actually ingrain the goal more into your subconscious mind. This is important, because it normalizes and ingrains how badly you want your goals – your desire and expectation to achieve these goals simply becomes your true waking reality -and you won’t accept anything less.

Of course, if your goals are in notebook, they aren’t as confidential as someone could find your notebook. Also, if you’re the type of person who would lose your notebook, or paper on which you’ve written your goals, then maybe using a goal setting software program is best for you. Check out the following goal setting software programs!

Goal Setting Software Programs

Take the tour, and check out this amazing platform first! You can easily add new goals and new logbooks to track everything! This program is all about measuring your success. You just click on a calendar to log in information! It’s fun!

Try this totally advanced platform now!This along with the free goal setting program will keep you inspired and taking full action!

goal setting software program because you can have your goal emailed to you each week! Advertise your goals to yourself through email so you don’t have to remember to go out of your way to read them! How great is this? Reminding ourselves of our goals is half the battle in my opinion!

This is a totally cool, easy to use goal setting program. The platform itself is very colourful and well put together.

It sort of reminds me of Facebook in that you can decide whether or not to share your goals, and your level of privacy. The flip side is that you can view your friend’s goals as well! You can choose an alias name if you’d like. They have a really unique set-up where you can view a whole bunch of people’s goals, and you can even adopt someone else’s goal and have it set up on your own profile!

There is also a task tracker, so you can remind yourself of the little steps required to meet your bigger goal. I promise that you won’t be disappointed with this site – you’ll love this one for it’s ‘looks’ alone!

This is yet another great site – no joke again! As soon as you get to the site, you can watch an inspiring video informing you on what the goal setting software includes. Watching this video alone is worth the trip to its site!

This good program has all the standard features as above. While it is not as visually appealing, it does include other perks such as a goal setting guide, the ability to set goals as part of a group, and finally, it also includes charts to track your progress. Have a peak at this program, and you can begin sharing your goals with others and receiving support right away!

Another user-friendly goal setting freeware program that allows you to track your progress in achieving your targets. This has a video demo for you to follow instructions on how to use it. It has current, future and lifetime goal categories. What is unique about this program is that it contains a section called “Reason to Achieve”, so that you write down why the goal is important to you. The program also contains some decent charts as well.

What I like about this site, is that you can type in your goal without registering to see how many other people have that goal as well! This is a great site that is user friendly and free of course, – well up to 43 goals, and then you’d have to pay. You can take the 43 Things Goal Setting Tour to see what it is all about. While this site is not overly aesthetically appealing, it has a very nice basic look.