With an old year behind us, for many people the year ahead suddenly "looms large" and we resolve to do several things a little (or a lot) differently. For some, this may even mean jotting down a few possible vague commitments or making some relatively loose verbal statements to family, friends or colleagues that we wish to engage in some changes of some kind. For others, the intention to change is a more private affair (but nonetheless has just as much personal commitment to the cause).
Whether specific or vague and open or not, all of these "brave intentions" at the beginning of a New Year do not easily translate to action. We therefore need to put some "hard" process into the equation if we want to be successful in our planned changes and this means setting so-called "tangible" goals.
Most people will know what setting a personal goal is about but very few actually do this effectively (or make it real or tangible). Stating, for example, "I will do more network marketing" is a reasonable intention but does not qualify as an effective goal statement, because it is too loose to be useful. "I will spend an hour a day engaging in network marketing" is better because it adds in a firmer commitment (every day) and an estimate of the resources needed (in this case time) of one hour. A still better statement might be "I will spend an hour a day engaging in network marketing so as to increase my web site traffic by 20% in the next year". In this case we have added in the end outcome we are seeking and therefore now afforded the possibility to measure our progress (monthly or quarterly perhaps).
The simple point here is not to focus on the particular goal a given individual may set, but to suggest that the more time and effort we devote to crafting our written goals the better. When it comes to personal development in particular, this means that our chances of actually achieveing some real and beneficial change are greatly enhaced. We may consequently actually become a better listener, more creative thinker, or more adept project manager, rather than intend to achieve these ends but somehow lose our way only a few weeks after we started (letting other priorities quickly get on top of us).
There are a range of good books, resources and other tools available to help individuals with personal goal or objective setting efforts, and many of these can be found by visiting the www.ReadyToManage.com web store at the link below. This includes the Goal-setting Effectiveness Self-Assessment which allows an individual to think about many more of the issues which are critical to success in crafting any objective and includes a considerable amount of caoching guidance in the interpretive report once the questionnaire has been completed. In the meantime, I'd suggest that each person takes 15 minutes of quiet time and start by writing out at least 4 or 5 personal goal statements on paper for the 12 months ahead just to get the ball-rolling.
Dr Jon Warner-www.ReadyToManage.com and jon@OD-center.org
The web site www.ReadyToManage.comaims to help all individuals who want to become more adept in their leadership ability at all levels. Visit the web store to see all the resources we offer to help individuals including self-assessments questionnaires, skill development books and booklets, e-learning programs and many other tools and resources.
Comments