Personal development goal setting

An excellent way to get the most out of life is to set personal development goals. Surprisingly not many people set goals, or even think about what they truly want in life. But the people who do, usually are the ones who do much better compared to the people who don’t.

The basic idea of setting goals is to spend some time thinking about what is important for you to achieve in life in general, or something specific like in business. This in itself is a valuable exercise. Think about your core values and then write down your goals. If you have only one goal, that is fine, if you have more, that if fine as well. Ideally you want to look at your goals once in a while, of even better on a daily basis. This whole process makes sure your goals are stored, like a computer program, in your subconscious.

Now what is the best way to set goals? One way of doing this is to make your goals SMART. SMART stands for: S=Specific, M=Measurable, A=Attainable, R=Realistic and T=Timely. This method is especially useful in setting business goals.

Another way of defining goals (and my preferred one for personal development goals) is to phrase them as if they already are reality, and in a positive way:

  • I allow myself to live a healthy and enlightened life
  • I have all the money I need
  • I am a good parent and husband

Whichever method you choose, and there are plenty more, make sure your goals are believable. This means that if you set a goal like “I want 10 million asap”, you will probably react like: yeah right, this will never happen! So whenever you set a goal it must be something you, and your subconscious, can believe in.

Another important guideline is not to focus on the lack of things, like “I do not want to be fat”, as your subconscious mind will focus on being fat. If you want to lose weight, it would be better to set a goal like “I allow myself to a healthy body”.

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2 comments… add one
  • Dan Apr 8, 2009 @ 17:49

    If you’d like a tool for setting your goals, you can use this web application:

    http://www.Gtdagenda.com

    You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
    A Vision Wall (inspiring images attached to yor goals) is available too.
    Works on mobile.

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