Success: How to Set and Achieve Goals

As you go about planning your goals it’s tempting to create big, dreamy statements for yourself. Statements that are dreamy are not quantifiable, not specific, and they don’t hold you accountable. Consider these weak goals with loose structure:

• I will finish my novel.
• I’ll start looking for a new job.
• I’m going to lose some weight.
• My health needs to improve.

These statements have poor structure and they’re weak goals. We want strong, powerful goals – and that’s what I’ll discuss in this lecture.

A structure, such as house or skyscraper, has a logical approach to support the weight of the building, make it functional for the people, and includes some design to make it pretty and professional. Structuring your goals is a similar concept: you’ll need to examine your goals to determine:

• How well-defined the goal is
• How feasible the goal is
• The probability of finishing the goal
• The simplicity and complexity of the goal
• How you’ll have control over the goal

This isn’t to be negative about the goals you create, but to help you structure good, achievable goals with clear outcomes.

If you’ve studied goals before you’ve probably heard of SMART goals. The SMART goal concept is a method to create framework for each goal. In this lecture we’ll walk through creating SMART goals and discuss how SMART goals help us be better prepared for goal achievement.

SMART goals are:

• Specific
• Measureable
• Action-oriented
• Realistic
• Timely

In this lecture we’ll discuss the process of taking a large goal and breaking it down into smaller, achievable goals. We’ll examine how goal decomposition works for practically any goal and why you should break down your goals into smaller, actionable items.

We’ll also examine a goal timeline and how seeing progress helps motivate you – and others – in your goal success. Finally, we’ll examine a Goal Breakdown Structure and how to create one to better plan and manage your goal execution.

This lecture includes a step-by-step exercise.

Great job completing this section on structuring your goals for success. In this lecture I’ll do a quick recap of what you’ve learned in this section. If needed, take the time to go through this section again. That’s one of the advantages of online learning – come back to the information as often as needed. Finally, if needed, post any comments or questions about this section. If you have a comment or question you may help someone else taking the course – and I’m always happy to hear from you.

So many things in life require a plan: going on a road trip, building a house, even a big shopping trip. A plan communicates and documents what your intention is. It defines what the outcome of the actions will be, who is responsible for what, and when events should happen. Yet so many people go about changing their lives without a plan or even a strategy.

This lecture discusses the concept of creating a direct and well-defined plan for achieving your goals.

Goals are constrained by their objectives, the energy and resources you can afford, and a schedule. It’s the deadline that often drives many people to goal achievement. Deadlines give you something solid to work towards. With deadlines you can create achievable goals and use the calendar for planning and motivation. Achievable goals fit to either yearly, monthly, weekly, or daily schedules. This quantifies the goal and gives it a definite ending for achievement.

Goals are activities. It’s not the possession of a thing, but the work required to gain the thing. It’s the achievement of an event, the success over challenges, and the results of hard work. Successful goals are the results of actions, not thinking and dreaming, but hands-on hard work to bring about the results you aimed for.

In this lecture we’ll discuss how to write your goals to be action-based. It’s the action that shows what the end result of the goals will be and it’s the action that express the intent to reach the goal.

When you have more than one goal, or just one big goal, you’ll need to manage the actions, the schedule, the labor, and your energy to achieve the goal outcome. Managing the goals is the orchestration of time, effort, and dedication to bring about the results you hope to achieve.

Goal management defines:

• How will you get to the end result?
• What actions must you take to achieve the desired outcome?
• When will you do the required work?

In this section we’ll also examine the assumptions, constraints, and risks that can threaten the goal success.

In this very important exercise I’ll walk you through the process of scheduling your goals. In this exercise you will:

• Examine the Goal Breakdown Structure
• Sequence the activities
• Add the activities to your calendar
• Look at the Yearly, Monthly, Weekly, and Daily goals
• Confirm that you know what to do and when to do it

Great job completing this section on goal planning. In this lecture I’ll do a quick recap of what you’ve learned in this section. If needed, take the time to go through this section again. That’s one of the advantages of online learning – come back to the information as often as needed. Finally, if needed, post any comments or questions about this section. If you have a comment or question you may help someone else taking the course – and I’m always happy to hear from you.

While it’s great and beneficial to plan what you’ll do to achieve your goals, it’s doing the work that creates the goal result. It’s all in the doing that will bring you from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

Doing the work, however, requires several things:

• You know what to do
• You know when to do it
• You know what the outcomes should be
• You have a plan to respond to the outcomes when they aren’t as expected.

Jerry Seinfeld, one of the funniest comedians, has a simple approach achieving goals. It was discovered by a software developer, Brad Isaac, and Seinfeld may not even know the genius his approach provides for goal achievement. So what’s the Seinfeld Method? I’ll tell you in this lecture!

There’s power in achievement – the more you achieve, the more confident you’ll become. The more confident you become, the more you can achieve. But first things first! You first have to do the achieving and this means you’ll need a strategy to get up and get going. And that’s what this lecture is all about – getting up and getting to work on your goals. It’s doing the most important thing, often the most dreaded thing, first.

You need to become the best version of you – and that means you’ll need to grow into someone new than who you are right now. In order to develop you’ll need to move out of your comfort zone by trying new things, new experiences. It doesn’t mean you have to love the new experiences, but you’re trying them and letting your body and negativity know who’s in charge – you!

Growing your life also means that you won’t get lost in the details. You’ll ask for help when you need help – and recognize when you need help! You’ll keep the past in the past (where it belongs) and you will refuse to allow history to control your future. You will, through practice, control what you can control.

It’s been said that what get measured gets done. A weekly review is an opportunity to review each week as you work on your goals and work on your life. A weekly review asks several questions to track what you’ve accomplished this week, what’s worked (or didn’t work) for you, and documents your failures and successes. It’s an opportunity to see what lessons can be learned from the past few days – and it allows an honest look at your goals to see what needs more attention.

Great job completing this section on goal execution. In this lecture I’ll do a quick recap of what you’ve learned in this section. If needed, take the time to go through this section again. That’s one of the advantages of online learning – come back to the information as often as needed. Finally, if needed, post any comments or questions about this section. If you have a comment or question you may help someone else taking the course – and I’m always happy to hear from you.

What inspires you? What makes you want to accomplish? To do more? Is it the people that put you down? Is it to prove to yourself and to others that you can accomplish more than you ever thought possible? Or do you find inspiration and motivation in the reward that your goals will bring?

Whatever (and wherever) you find motivation and inspiration, embrace it! Many, many people start goals - often packaged in New Year's resolution promises, but over time they give up and abandon their goals? Why? Often it's because of the hard work that's required of the goal. Or the people get bored with the effort. Who knows? Who cares?

You have already done more than so many others. You've identified your goals, created a plan to make the goals a reality.And you're very close to completing your first goal: finishing this course!

If you could travel back in time to speak to the older version of you what would you say? What if you could travel forward in time and meet the older you? What would this person say? In this lecture I’ll walk you through a powerful exercise to consider your goals and to find an ongoing motivation – and technique – to make good decisions in your life.

How many people do you know of that start off with New Year’s resolutions only to let them fade away? Maybe you’re one of those "resolvers" that abandon their goals too. Don’t worry! I know that I’ve done too! It’s easy to start off strong on your goals and then the excitement gives way to the work, the routine, and soon a goal just seems like another thing to do.

Not anymore! In this lecture we’ll discuss some strategies that you can use to keep the momentum, excitement, and confidence in your goal creation. Find your excitement and let’s bottle it up!

Is there something you can do today that would make your goal more likely to happen? Even one tiny thing? And is there something you can do today that would your goal worse off? I suppose there are things you can do right now to improve the odds of your goal becoming a reality – or making your goal less likely to happen. My point? You have the authority, the power, to affect your life and your goals! You are in charge, are responsible, for the success or failure of your goals.

In this lecture we’ll review all of the goal documents you should have created in this course. These goal documents will help you plan, control, and manage your goals. If you’ve not already done so, take the time to complete and maintain these documents. They’ll help you create and manage your goals – and that’s something you and I want.

Great job completing this section on finding goal motivation and inspiration. In this lecture I’ll do a quick recap of what you’ve learned in this section. If needed, take the time to go through this section again. That’s one of the advantages of online learning – come back to the information as often as needed. Finally, if needed, post any comments or questions about this section. If you have a comment or question you may help someone else taking the course – and I’m always happy to hear from you.

Fantastic job making it to the end of this course and completing your first goal. You've already done something that others haven't been willing to do. You've invested the time and energy into achieving new and great things in your life - and that is awesome! Continue to do what you've done already - work towards a goal and finish the goal. That's confidence-boosting and will help you to accomplish more. The more you do, the more you can do.

In this course we covered five sections:

• Creating Powerful Goals
• Structuring your Goals for Success
• Planning for Success
• Executing the Work
• Finding Inspiration and Motivation

Come back to the course as often as you need to. Use the course to help you achieve the goals you're working towards. Complete the exercises and maintain your goal documentation. You can do this. I have confidence in you!