Goals: Obvious is ok.

Railroad crossings are a great point of making a decision, and with the consequences of making the wrong decision – we usually make sure we’re making the right choice.

Goals can be similar to railroad crossings – if we set a bad goal, we can feel like we didn’t make it across the tracks in time and caught the 5:30 head-on.

We’ve been talking about setting good goals.  So far the three qualities of good goals are:

1. The goal is Specific
2. The goal is Measurable
3. The goal is Attainable

These three things will help us in creating good goals, there are two other qualities of a good goal that we should be aware of before we finalize any plans.

A good goal is also – RELEVANT. Let me ask you a question: if you set a goal, but have no passion for the area where the goal is focused – are you going to work on it?  My guess is probably not.  I know in my own life I have had the desire to learn to play the guitar, I have even signed up for lesson – TWICE.  As of today, I do not know how to play the guitar…do you know why?  I didn’t have any real application for  playing the guitar – I really just liked the idea of being able to play the guitar.  Does this mean you shouldn’t set a goal that is outside the realm of your focus?  No, but realize you have to set a realistic expectation for yourself and find the application to keep motivated.

The last trait of a good goal that we’re going to talk about is: A good goal is TIME-SPECIFIC. How long do you want to give yourself for reaching your goal?  Keeping in mind that a goal needs to be Attainable, what would be a realistic time frame?  Give yourself too much time and you’re going to lose motivation – give yourself too little and you’re probably not going to reach your goal.  So, going back to one of our original goals:  ”I want to lose weight.” (weight goals are common examples, because almost everyone can relate to them.)  Like we said a few weeks ago this is an admirable  goal, but isn’t a good goal yet.  If we just apply our criteria for what makes a goal good, we can easily transform it: “I want to lose 10 pounds in next six weeks.”

Just the addition of a couple key specifics changes the quality of a goal.  This is now a Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-specific goal.  It is a good goal (and probably one most of us need…)

And if you’re really serious about your goals – then make yourself accountable to someone.  Tell someone else what your goal is and ask them to keep you on track – when we make something public we make it a more powerful influence in our lives.  So, what goals are you going to set for yourself?

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