By now the majority of people, yes, each and every one of you, have sat through one or more goal setting seminars or workshops.
You know the drill. There will be slides about S.M.A.R.T. goals and why this is very important.
There will be a discussion about not giving up on your dreams and having great big goals. Someone might even ask the group, “How Do You Eat An Elephant?” Answer – “One bite at a time.” This may be true – what if you don’t eat meat! Seriously this is not meant to make fun of this important information.
All of our goals should be S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Here is the rub, with all of the articles and all of the books and all of the courses, why is goal setting looked at as a chore and worse yet as something that does not work and is a waste of time by so many people? Why do so many goals which are set each year in December or January when revisited at some point are found to not be attained?
The reason is we all want to keep our goals to ourselves!
It is like we have a huge Do Not Enter sign up and no one is allowed to see our goals.
Now the goals we set should be for our career, our business and for our personal life and our families. Why on earth do we feel these are private matters?
The best way to insure your goals are met is to create a method of accountability.
This may be accomplished in a variety of ways. You might have one or two people at work or on your advisory board for your business each share their goals with each other and have a regular meeting to hold each other accountable. Unfortunately, this meeting will begin to take last place when a few weeks or months go by and then no one will be held accountable to each other.
You might have a close friend or family member set goals and you set goals and each of you agree to hold each other accountable. Sad to say what often happens is each person will accept the excuses of the other person instead of pressing for the plan with each other due to the family relationship or friendship. Goal setting and attaining goals is not easy.
It works but it must be worked.
The absolute best way to set goals, achieve goals and move toward your bigger goals is to work with an experienced coach and a group which is guided through the process of goal setting, keeping accountable and continually communicating with the coach and others about your progress.
If you are ready to finally take charge of your goal setting, make certain you are signed up for my weekly newsletter. There will be a free call in December on goal setting. Yes, no charge. You must be signed up to receive the email which will announce the call information.
Mitch Tublin owns a boutique consulting firm with a focus on leadership development, business strategy and executive coaching. Based in Stamford, CT with clients all over the globe.
