7 SIMPLE Steps to Setting Worthy Goals

In keeping with my trademarked theme of using SIMPLE as an acronym, I decided to write a short blog about goal setting. Quite often we know what we want or a general sense of what we want but we never take the time to truly define what it is that is our goal. As a result, we rarely see success in achieving it. When we do not have a clear picture, then it becomes complicated and we fail to achieve what we were working toward. so how so we set goals? Here is a SIMPLE method to doing just that.

S-Start with FREE-WRITING. What is free-writing? This is an expression I made up (at least I think I did...if it exists elsewhere I dont know it) that refers to the action of just writing. In other words you write whatever travels from your head to your pen to your paper. Free-writing has no rules. You just write. There is no need to worry about grammar, details, possibilities or anything else. You SIMPLY write anything. Anything you have ever dreamed of doing, write it! It could be personal, business, financial, romantic, etc. The list is endless. It allows our mind to be free and creative and we learn something about ourselves in this too. Free-writing opens the mind up to the possibilities that it may have not accepted in the past. Whatever limitaitons we have placed on ourselve, or allowed others to influence, then this is the way we remove those limitations. Start free-writing!

I-Incorporate Creativity. Being creative is a process that continues growing once you start it. It may be a little challenging at first, but once the process starts you begin to get very creative with your goals and the ways to reach them. Being creative helps you to find new ideas and new ways to reach goals that you may not have thought of before. One idea leads to the next and so forth until you have a HUGE list of interesting things.

M-Minimize Negativity. Goal setting for some can serve as a list of impossibilties or of failed opportunites. Goal setting is not for the purpose of beating ourselves up over mistakes and past failures. It is for helping our mind to focus on the future and the possibilities that exist for us. They should be goals that accomplish something worthy and are for the benefit of us and others. Negativity is a goal killer so do not allow your mental state to say, "Oh this sounds good but I will never be able to do that." "This is too far away and is unreachable...why bother?" These types of expressions are negative and non-productive. Avoid them like a plague.

P-Patient & Positive Attitude.
Patience is an aspect that is extremely important in setting goals. For the impatient person, just taking the time to write out goals can seem to be a chore. Their thoughts are ones that think it is a waste of time and that we should just go and do it and if we cannot have it now then we will never get it. We live in a society of fast money, fast food and fast service. We are tought through media and commercials that we do not have to wait. Patience, however, is a must

Positivity is important for obvious reasons. Being positive helps us to have a clear mind that can easily be focused and creative. It allows us the mind to find ways to solve problems even when we are not necessarily focused one thing. The mind is like a parachute...it has to be open to work. Being positive helps keep it open to possible solutions.

L-Learn From Mistakes. We will make mistakes along the way. We will learn what does not work far sooner than we learn what does work. Mistakes are inevitable so rather than permit them to bring us down and discourage us, we should view them as progressive steps to a solution and an achievement. Even better is when we can learn from the mistakes of others. Sometimes we can avoid a certain course of action SIMPLY by finding out what others have done. Learning is a process of life and if we are not learning then we are not growing.

E-Evaluate What Is Important. Some goals will be more important to you than others. It is important ot prioritize them and determine which will take more time to accomplish than others. Be sure to keep an updated list and to review it regularly. Know what is important to you in you life keeps you moving forward. Things and priorities will change. What is important to you now may not be important to you a month from now, 6 months from now, a year or more. Evaluating regularly what is important and meaningful will help you keep goals in front of you and you will more likely achieve them. As you do your confidence will grow and you find reaching worthy goals contagious.

Setting goals is an important step in achieving success in any endeavor we undertake. Writing them out and prioritizing them helps you keep focus. A positive, patient attitude helps fee your belief that achieving them is possible and creativity helps you find solutions you may not have thought of otherwise. Success Is SIMPLE when we take the time to do SIMPLE things.