Personal Goal Setting (Decision Making Skills No. 6)

Do you ever feel that you're lacking direction, or that you're not achieving everything that you could be? If so, you'd probably benefit from setting goals Add to My Personal Learning Plan.

A goal is a clearly- defined personal objective – something that you want to achieve within a specific period of time.

Goals are powerful motivators for developing your career. They improve self-confidence too, because you can use them to measure your achievements.

To start setting goals, brainstorm Add to My Personal Learning Plan what you would like to achieve in different areas of your life, such as your career, education, family, or personal finances.

Set your large-scale goals first – these are the ones that you hope to achieve over the next 10 or 15 years. Then break these down into smaller goals, which will move you towards your lifetime goals, when you achieve them.

Write your goals down too – they'll be no good to you in your head, where you'll likely forget about them. And don't scrimp on the details. If you set precise goals that include dates, times, and amounts, you'll be able to measure your achievement, and get a sense of satisfaction from it.

It's also useful to keep your day-to-day goals small and realistic – otherwise you won't feel that you're making progress.

An effective way to make goals more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic: S is for Specific; M for Measurable; A for Attainable; R for Relevant; and, T for Time- bound.

Once you've achieved a major goal, give yourself a pat on the back – then review your existing goal plan, and adapt it as you see fit.

Did you achieve that goal too easily? If so, make your next goals harder. Or if the goal took too long to achieve, make your next goals a little easier.

Keep tweaking your plan as you work on your goals, and as you move towards your vision of your future.