Romance Your Goals: Seven Secrets for SMARTER Goal Setting

It's that time of the year when you are motivated and ready to take on the whole world. You know you need to set goals, but in the past you have set goals with mixed results. However, this year will be different. This year you will be S-M-A-R-T-E-R to romance your goal setting.

Romance your goals? What am I talking about? Think about a great romance you are experiencing or did experience. What makes or made your romance great? Passion. Well, we are going to create passion for your goals by applying these techniques so that you will achieve more in life.

The following are seven secrets to romance your goals for success:

Specific
When you were searching for romance, you had a specific idea of what type of person excited you. Suppose someone asked you, "What would this person look like?" or "What qualities or attributes are important to you?" Most likely you could, with out even blinking an eye, describe what type of person would excite you. In other words, what person would create passion in you? You probably visualized how this person looked, sounded, acted, and even smelled. Because you visualized this mate, "You would know it when you saw it."

Apply the same techniques to your goal setting. Take the time to visualize exactly what you want to accomplish. Take a few minutes, find a quiet place, relax, close your eyes, and think about what you want to accomplish in life. What is it and what does it feel like? The more senses you involve in your visualization, the more real it becomes, and the more passion you have concerning your goals. The more detail the better.

Know what you want!

Measurable
In a romantic situation, the question is, "What is the next step?" or "Where is this relationship going?" or "Where are we going to be?" As in a romance, you need to be able to answer the following questions:


What are the steps along the way to accomplishing my goals?
How do I keep track of the steps I've accomplished?
What will happen when I accomplish each step?

Make sure your goals can be measured so that you know whether you are on track or behind and what appropriate actions you need to take to stay on track.

Action-Oriented
In a great romance, you are always working to take the actions to further the relationship. You buy flowers, go to the movies or a concert, or take some action that furthers the romance. In goal setting, what actions do you need to take to achieve your goals? Are these actions tangible? Are you clear on what steps to take when progressing to achieving your goals? Document the actions needed, take the action, and document that you took the action.

Realistic
Great romances have realistic expectations about the direction in which they are going. The romances last because they are realistic in terms of values, perceptions, finances, etc.

Are you realistic with your goals? You may want to make $20 billion by the end of this year. Is that realistic? Most likely not since that depends on your resources, experience, confidence, network, etc. Work on your baby steps. For example, if you made $50k last year working for an organization, you may say, "I want to make $75k by December 31st of this year." Is that possible? What actions do you need to take? Would you need a promotion or overtime? Are you thinking of starting a part-time business?

Once we start asking these questions, we will come away with the realistic answers for setting goals.

Time Sensitive
Great romances are time sensitive. The people involved are excited about their relationship and are sensitive about the time needed to accomplish their "love goals."

It is important that you make your goals time sensitive. What are the deadlines to accomplish your goals? Make sure you break your deadlines into smaller time lines or events so that your goals are more manageable and realistic.

By setting time lines, you will have constant feedback to gauge where you are along the path to accomplishing your goals.

Encouraging
In a great romance, each partner is encouraging each other to improve themselves, to do better, and to believe in themselves. They are excited about the romance and are inspired to take their relationship to the next level, even through the ups and downs of life.

What inspires or excites you with the goals you want to achieve? Is it a good feeling, a new sense of confidence, encouraging? Use the positive energy and thoughts to fight through challenges you may encounter along the way to achieving your goals.

Rewarding
Great romances are very rewarding. The rewards may be the love of another person, peace of mind, finding a soul mate, etc.

How rewarding are your goals? Once taking the steps to achieve them or achieving them, what rewards will you receive? What financial, spiritual, health, educational, family, community, career, and business rewards will you receive? At each step to achieving your goal, what reward will you give yourself? It's okay; I encourage you to give yourself an award or pat yourself on the back for achieving your goals. It could be as simple as renting a movie, going to dinner, or playing inspirational music. But the important point is to reward yourself.

Use these tips to romance and create passion for SMARTER goals and you will achieve what you want.

Ed Sykes is a professional speaker, author, and success coach in the areas of leadership, motivation, stress management, customer service, and team building. You can e-mail him at mailto:esykes@thesykesgrp.com, or call him at (757) 427-7032. Go to his web site, http://www.thesykesgrp.com, and signup for the newsletter, OnPoint, and receive either free ebook, "Empowerment and Stress Secrets for the Busy Professional," or "Secrets of Outstanding Customer Service."