How to Set Detailed Goals
One of the first really important steps in coaching, or indeed in anything involving getting a result is setting a goal. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have a terribly good process for defining well-formed goals.
A well-formed goal is specific, positively stated, defines consequences, procedures for success testing, a time frame, an “environment check” (a process to double check that you really do want the goal), an identification of existing resources and additional resources needed, and a detailed plan.
Whew. How many of your goals tend to be like that? How many of them do you tend to get?
Here’s a detailed step-by-step process for defining a well-formed goal. This process uses several NLP techniques to get the desired result.
| # | Step | Instructions |
| 1. | What do you want? | Pick a single goal or desire. If several come to mind, ask yourself if they are related in some way, or if there’s a common thread that could be made into a single goal. If not, pick one and start with it. Make sure that the goal is stated in positive terms, and not negative terms. For example, ‘I want a job close to home’ instead of ‘I don’t want a long commute’. Also make sure that your goal is stated in such a way that you can get it yourself, instead of depending on what other people do. |
| 2. | What’s in it for you? | What will obtaining this goal allow you to have? Often there is a goal behind our first attempt that is more valuable and easier to obtain. ‘I want a job close to home’ might be because you want more time with your family. Using that as your goal instead may turn up better methods of getting this deeper goal. Iterate through this process as many times as necessary until you find that real core goal that is most valuable to you. |
| 3. | How will you know that you have it? | What are your success criteria? Often people feel like they have failed to achieve their goals because they really haven’t defined how they will know when they have achieved them. If your goal is ‘having more money at the end of the month’, does that mean ‘the bills are all paid’? Or does it mean ‘my savings grows by X% each month’? |
| 4. | When do you want it? | Is this goal something you want all of the time, in all circumstances? Or are there specific circumstances that you want this goal? Being more assertive might be very valuable at work, but less so during the sunday sermon at church. Decide specifically what the criteria are for when you want this goal to be manifest in your life. |
| 5. | Try it on. | Now that you know what your goal is, how you’ll know you have it and when you want it, take a moment and imagine what life will be like when you have achieved your goal. Make it as vividly as possible — see, hear and feel (even taste and smell, perhaps) what will be different, and what will be the same. How will this work in various circumstances? Go forward a week, a month, a year, five years and imagine what will be the same, and what will be different at each point. Does this goal really meet your needs? Or do you need to fine tune it? Repeat steps 1 through 4 as many times as necessary to get it exactly right. |
| 6. | Are there any conflicts? | Does this goal conflict with any other goals you might have? For example, a goal to take a great vacation next month might conflict with a goal to land a high-paying job next week. Combine, reschedule or re prioritize any goals as necessary to insure that they do not conflict. |
| 7. | What resources do you already have? | What resources do you already have that will help you achieve this goal? Make a list of things you already have, know, or can do that will be important to you for realizing this goal. |
| 8. | What additional resources will you need? | Determine any additional resources you will need to find, acquire, or learn in order to get your goal. |
| 9. | Make your plan. | Make a plan of the steps required to get your goal, including obtaining any resources that you’ve identified as necessary. Make sure that each step is attainable, and define what the success criteria is to let you know that you’ve completed that step. Visualize what it will be like to complete that step, what will be the same, and what will be different. Breaking a large goal down into a series of obtainable steps is one of the most important methods of bringing big tasks down to size. Remember the old adage of how to eat an elephant — you do it one bite at a time. |
Parts of this process are loosely derived from the ‘Knowing What You Want’ process presented by Steve and Connirae Andreas in ‘Heart of the Mind’.
Sometimes it’s a lot easier to set, track, and obtain a goal if you have a little help along the way. If you want to get more out of your life, trying a personal coach can help you obtain it.
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Chuck Lawson
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