Goal Setting Part 1

Today, I want to share with you what we mean in terms of goal setting in NLP. This is a 2 part article, with this being part 1.

Goal setting the SMART way

The first thing is to make sure when you are goal setting is that they are SMART. Now you may have heard the acronym SMART before. What exactly do we mean by it though?

What does SMART stand for from a NLP goal setting point of view?

S= Specific and Simple
M= Measurable and Meaningful to you
A= As if now, Achievable and All areas of life
R= Realistic, Responsible and Ecological
T= Timed and Towards what you want

Let me give you an example:
It is 1st December 2013 and I have made $1,000,000 during 2013. I am sitting on the couch with my wife and we are looking at the bank statements that shows the income for the last 12 months. I can feel the cool sea breeze coming through the open sliding door. Cooling us down from the intense heat. I can hear the kids playing with the dogs in the back ground.

The goal is specific as it says how much I have made. It is also simple.
It is measurable as I can quantify the amount by looking at the bank statement.
It is as if now, as I said “It is 1st December…”
It is realistic as I can work it backwards and show how I have made it. It is also responsible and ecological, as it does no harm to anybody or to the planet.
It is toward what I want, as it says I have made, rather than something like, “I am not struggling.”

“A goal without a date is a dream.” Milton Erickson

Share your goal.

Goal Setting requires you to commit to saying by when you are going to achieve your goal. It is actually also good to share your goals with other people. The funny thing is that a lot of people don’t like to share their goals, because they are scared of what other people will think of them.

This can be for a number of different reasons. They may be jealous because they don’t have goals of their own. It may be that they don’t want to see anybody else succeed. Whatever the reason, it should not matter to you what they think.

Sometimes people don’t like sharing their goals with others, because they are scared if they fail, that the other people might laugh at them or ridicule them for wanting to achieve more. “Why do you want to rise above your station?” may be their response. It is better to have tried and not succeeded then never to have tried at all.

Imagine if Thomas Edison gave up after his first failed attempt to create the light bulb. Instead he went on to fail almost 10,000 times before finally succeeding. (Depending on which book you read it was between 1,000- 10,000 times) He carried on regardless. There are many cases of such achievements throughout history.

The point is, do your goal setting, take action and go for them.

Achieving goals requires change.

Many people want to earn more money as their goal, but they don’t spend time to improve their knowledge. They want to achieve their goal, but don’t want to do anything differently. The question you should ask yourself is, “Is what I am doing now, going to help me to reach my goal?” If not, then change what you are doing. If your goal is to become a teacher and you are a plumber, then you need to start studying to become a teacher. It is important to invest in your personal development. Just having a goal is not going to magically make it happen for you. Goal setting is the first step. The next is to take massive, appropriate and consistent action.

You need to have an action plan. Is your goal a real goal or is it just a dream? Do you really want to achieve it, or would it be nice to have? Are you committed to doing what it takes or are you just drifting along, hoping the current will drift you to the land of milk and honey?

We help our coaching clients with goal setting and show them how to achieve their goals.

If you need help with life coaching, or business coaching, simply contact us today.

Till next time. Set your goals and take massive action.

Our success is your success.