Your 9 Step Guideline to Goal Setting

Goals are vital to success. They're HOW to get where we're going. The WHERE is your Vision which is what your life looks like if you design it with no restrictions, impediments or problems. Your goals are the checkpoints along the way to getting there.

1. Values? What do you value above all else?
2. Action Statement. Write a sentence that describes each Value in action.
3. Roles. What roles do you play in your life? Parent, spouse, friend, coach, leader, etc. Do your roles conflict with your values or compliment them?
4. Your ideal life. This is your vision or its basis. Describe a typical day when you've achieved your goals. This future has no impossibilities and nothing to hold you back. Make this a typical day. No one-time, special events go here. Your time frame should be 3-5 years out if this is new for you or longer if you're experienced at goal setting. Does it reflect your values and roles?
5. The Price. What price will you pay? No golfing for a year? No TV? Will you work overtime, or spend an extra hour a day making calls? Will you take classes, read books or get a coach? Just remember that "Success at all Costs," is usually just that. It costs you all. Check against your values and roles.
6. Major checkpoints? These are your major goals. There are two kinds. First is time. Goals that are 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc. from now. Second is functional. If you plan to be CEO of your company, what are the steps you have to go through first? What do you have to do before moving to the next step? Check this against your values and roles.
7. Break each checkpoint into its components. Each checkpoint will be made of sub-checkpoints or can be broken into steps that can be better achieved. This makes the process more manageable and easier to understand. Values and roles?
8. Action Plan. Create a workable plan. Take each sub-component and determine what it takes to do it. List the steps and things you have to do or become. How much time is needed? What order do you do it in? Who can help you get these things done? Check against your values and roles.
9. Schedule it! You have to schedule it. You mentally cleared your calendar in step 5, the Price, so you can fill it with your Action Plan. Don't try to do too much at once. That is how people get discouraged. They set the bar so high, or set too many bars, that it's impossible to do it. Check against your values and roles.

These steps can help you accomplish any goal or dream you have if you're willing to follow them and commit to doing the work. Goals take hard work, both to create and to execute, but they're worth it if you've got good ones.

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