Planning For Success In 2010
Every year, we make new years resolutions. We intend to keep them, but somehow, they tend to get pushed aside or re-prioritized into obscurity by sometime around say, mid-February. I don’t know about you, by my 2009 pretty much sucked wind. It was a very rough year for me career wise. In fact, I ended up joining the ranks of the unemployed in late October, and as of today I have submitted resumes or bid on over 200 “open positions” or contract jobs. I’ve had 6 interviews.
In this article, I’d like to share with you how I plan to create and keep my resolutions for 2010. It will involve setting clear goals, identifying waypoints along the way to those goals, and re-directing efforts whenever things get a little off course. It’s really pretty simple.
1. First, prioritize what’s really important. I know that things change over the course of time, but when setting your goals, one has to try to look ahead and determine what is absolutely most important, what is very important, and what would be nice, but not absolutely necessary. Setting goals without prioritizing them is a recipe for the February Failure.
2. Set SMART Goals. Don’t just say you’re going to lose weight, or that you will be a better person in 2010. If you need to lose weight, how much weight do you need to lose? Is it 10 lbs? 20 lbs? More? Less? Make your goal/resolution as specific as possible so you have measurable results when you reach your goal. I have always subscribed to the SMART Goals template. It makes real sense to me. Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Know what you want to accomplish specifically. If you can measure it, you can manage it, so make sure your goals are measurable. Achievable simply means don’t bite off too much at one time. It is extremely unlikely that you will lose 25 lbs in one week, but it is achievable to lose 2 lbs in one week, and 25 lbs in 13 weeks. it is better to have 20 achievable goals than one unachievable one. Being realistic in your goal setting simply means to keep the goal do-able. For example, if you do not have access to the resources you will need to meet your goal, it is not a realistic goal. Finally, set a time table for the goal. Hold yourself accountable to that schedule. Work toward beating the deadline, or at the very least, meeting it.
3. Set waypoints along the way to your goal. I’ll use weight again because it simplifies the point. If your goal is to lose 20 lbs and exercise at least 3 times a week. Then you need to set yourself a realistic deadline, as stated above. Now, let’s say your goal is to lose 20 lbs in 20 weeks, and exercise 3 times a week for at least 45 minutes each time. Your waypoints should be scheduled far enough apart to show you real impact and allow you to measure successes and opportunities, and to give you the time to re-direct if necessary to get back on track. They should also be scheduled regularly, say weekly, so that your reviewing your successes and/or opportunities in “equal installments”. Having a weekly touch base with yourself is absolutely a great way to keep on track.
4. Have a plan. Having priorities and goals is great, setting a schedule to review your progress is necessary. But without a solid plan as to how you’ll achieve your goal, it’s just ink on paper, so to speak. Write it down (Or type it out). Make sure you try to think about the possible obstacles and how you will need to deal with them. What resources do you need? Where will you get them? A good plan will help you stay on course, and will help you adjust your pace, etc. as required.
Think about your Goal Planning for 2010 like this: “My goal for 2010 is to (insert smart goal here) by (insert deadline here). To do this, I will need (needed resources), and these are the steps I will need to take to reach my goal (begin listing steps to be taken). I will review my progress each week on (day of week), and re-direct as necessary so that I achieve my goal by (date) or before.
Of course you don’t have to write it out like that, but if it helps to keep you on track, why not?
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