Persistence Vs Perfection

Small decisions that you make on a daily basis are important factors that will determine your destiny.

Imagine this scenario: You wake up late for work. No time for exercise this morning. If you skip just one morning this will not hurt your fitness goals. It is just one morning! Come on.

There is also no time to eat breakfast. You rush out of the door. Hurry get the kids to school a little late. You are only 6 minutes late for work. There is a big deadline today! You type away at your keyboard all morning to get the reports in by 1:00 PM. No time for lunch; Just a Honeybun at your desk. You make the deadline by the skin of your teeth! A smoke break would sure take the edge off of your stress. Just one won't hurt. Five o'clock can not get here fast enough!

The rest of the afternoon involves house keeping tasks for your office; answering emails, returning calls, and working on expense reports. Oh no, at 4:00 you realize that you do not have any food at home to cook for dinner. Looks like it is drive through tonight! But, you were trying to cut back on spending on unnecessary items. Oh well, one time can't hurt. The kids are cranky when you pick them up. Homework time is stressful! Why do they need homework any way! It is only 6:30! Two more hours until everyone goes to bed. A glass or two of wine will help ease the rest of stress off of the evening. By the time it is time for bed, the kitchen is cleaned, homework is finished, everyone is sleeping; you are frazzled. Ambien take me away. Now, I know that this is a little exaggerated. We all can relate to some elements of this profile of a harried day.

Blame it on the Bad Luck Fairy! But, I can point out five or six times in this scenario where this mom could set herself up for success. Pay attention to the little things. Bad decisions are bad decisions. If your smoke everyday, you are a smoker. If you take drugs on a daily basis to function; you need drugs to function. If you overeat everyday because of your emotions, you will become over weight. If this women repeats this schedule everyday for a month she will have developed some pretty bad habits.

With all that you did today, you did not leave time to accomplish some of your long term goals. Goals which include: a healthy eating plan, fitness regime, quality time with your children, studying for the GRE, going out to lunch with friends, planning that birthday party for your second child.

Our thoughts are our reality. We sow our own thoughts. Have good ones. The happiness and peace you seek are inside of you. Listen to what your mind tells you. Your inner voice is yearning to be heard.

Have postitive affirmations that you keep on index cards. Memorize powerful statements that you can use to turn negative thinking around. The world will feed us junk if you let it. We have to feed ourselves nurturing thoughts. Here are some of my favorite affirmations:

"Dream big and will it to happen."

-Brian Souza

You are an eagle born to soar.

Motion equals emotion. So, start moving.

Stay strong and keep dreaming.

Easy Strategies For Goal Setting

Goal Setting Basics
Here we go, another article on goal setting. You may have heard some of these tips before:
Be very clear on your goals. Write them down. Break those goals into smaller goals or action steps. Take immediate action.

Now this is just a basic outline on setting and achieving goals which can definitely be broken down into greater detail. Many people know what needs to be done to successfully accomplish their goals and yet many people fall short on their goals.

Why?
They aren't doing the basics. Many people know what they should do and either aren't doing it consistently or not at all.

The above steps I have outlined are, as I stated, "the basics" in goal setting and to be effective in achieving goals you must do the basics...consistently and daily.

Here's an example:

All great athletes and ball players know in order to have the best chance in performing flawlessly they must be solid in their basics. If they are not it will open the door to errors and defeat. Just having knowledge of the basics is not good enough to succeed. They must be practiced daily and consistently to have the best chance of victory.

The same applies to setting goals. Just knowing what to do is not enough, the basics of goal setting must be practiced to be successful. For many years I couldn't see the benefit in writing my goals down. "I don't have to write them down because I have a good memory," I thought. Today it does not surprise me why my past goals were seldom accomplished.

Goal Setting Review
So lets review:
First be very clear and precise about your goal. Saying you want to be happy or successful is vague and needs to be defined. If success, then what does success mean to you? Is it a new job or business? Well then state what kind of job or business you want and by when. The clearer you are on your desired outcome, the better the odds are in your favor. IMPORTANT - Write them down! There have been studies done which prove what you write down you remember with greater clarity. Don't make the same mistake I made years ago by thinking you'll just remember it because you won't. You see there is an event called life that distracts us so unless it is written down, it is easily forgotten. Once you write them down keep them somewhere where you can regularly see and review them and don't just file them away. Have you ever gone grocery shopping and forgotten your shopping list at home? Chances are you did not buy everything you needed and that is why you need to see you goal list regularly. Break them down into smaller goals or action steps. What are the necessary steps you must now take to move you closer to your desired outcome or goal? By breaking your goals down into smaller steps the original goal will not feel out of reach and you will gain self-confidence as you complete each step. Take action! If you want to acquire success in your life and reach the goals you set for yourself, take immediate action. That means now, not later and not tomorrow.

Tip:

The the first thing I do everyday when I sit down at my desk, is to write my daily action steps on post-it notes which I stick to the bottom of my computer monitor. I spend much of my time during the day writing, creating speeches and programs as well as updating my blog so these daily goals are in front of me a good portion of the day. As I complete a task I pull it down and throw it out. This routine has increased my productivity by a considerable amount. Find a place in your home or office where your goals or action steps can be in clear view for you to see. This will help keep life's distractions from keeping you from your goals.

Slawek Polinski is a motivational and personal development speaker inspiring audiences to overcome their obstacles, challenges and limiting beliefs. Slawek motivates people to achieve, purpose, direction an passion in their lives and to reach for heights that were in the past out of reach.

Slawek is the author of "From Stinking To Thinking - The 7 Keys To Unlocking The Power Of Self-Confidence and Motivation."

"Slawek Polinski is amazingly open and vulnerable about his journey From Stinking to Thinking. He inspires you to make similar changes as he shares his blueprint for change combined with a detailed plan of action. Both are well thought out and based on his own experiences enhanced by wisdom from mentors and leaders in many fields." - Betty Powell, D.Min, LCSW - Transformational Coach, Writer, and Psychotherapist

Create Your Own Positive Parenting Program

One of the things that you can do to raise happy and better-disciplined children is to create your own positive parenting program. This would be especially helpful, if you have a child who is between the ages of 4 to 12 years old. However, any age group of children would benefit from having a parenting plan.

A positive parenting program would definitely be helpful in making your household more organized and structured. Children crave structure. This is obvious when you observe them get out of control in a non-structured environment, and complain but are following directions in a structured environment. Structure allows all the members of your family to establish better relationships with each other. Squabbles and other common family problems can be avoided with a parenting program you create to fit your family's needs.

Identify which of the following reasons discussed below might help your family to develop a positive parenting program for your household.

• First, your individualized parenting plan will help add to your parenting skills arsenal. Children usually go through all kinds of problems and challenges, which could cause you to be worried or anxious about your child's behavior. Depending on what type parenting tools you use, you could end up making your child feel more troubled than before you started. I believe the object is to correct unwanted behaviors all the while letting the child learn a lesson and feel comfortable afterward.

• Through having a positive parenting program in place, your child would feel more secure, and you would have a better idea on how you can deal with your child's problem behaviors. By setting family goals and behavioral limits in your positive parenting program, your children would know what they should expect from you and what you are expecting from them.

• How do you feel about misunderstandings? I cringe, when I think about it. Putting your parenting plan into effect will result in fewer incomplete chores, less conflict and less frustration for the whole family. Because the positive parenting program you set in place, members of your family understand each other better, have clearly defined expectations and standards, and you, your kids, and everyone in the family will be able to build and maintain happy and healthy relationships.

What do you think? Is a positive parenting program worth it? My experience tells me that we parents 'wing it' way too often. Setting parenting goals, learning to remain calm in the face of frustration, and creating lessons through consequences and rewards all function to mysteriously establish an atmosphere in which children can grow into healthy adults.

Life is full of challenges, and parenting is a big one. It is the most important challenge we face. There have been times that we parents have all experienced the frustrating behaviors of our children. Don't let this frustration cause you to lose sight of your personal goals for your family. Create your own positive parenting program with parenting coaching online parenting classes. There is value to increasing and improving each parenting skill and getting new ideas. Get new ideas; create your own parenting plan; learn about family harmony, and how to be the successful parent that I know you are with Parenting 101 Success

Smart Goal Setting Is The Smart Way Of Living

Don’t get intimidated. Smart means nothing but a logical way of goal setting by arranging things in a particular order so as to make them easier to follow. The proof of smart goal setting being simple and uncomplicated can be glimpsed from its name: smart.

The first letter of smart can be attributed with being SPECIFIC. In goal setting and general planning, specific can spell a difference between a lousy goal against a well thought one.

In actual planning or goal setting, the people involved, the places concerned, financial needs, reasons, objectives, and all other stuff needed in any planning should be specific. If, for example, a person is entrusted to carry out a particular job for the whole company, that person should be named, not only the department she or he represents.

The letter M in smart goal setting can mean MEASURABLE. If you’re specific with your objectives, it follows then that you need to be concrete.

The concreteness of your goal will be measured by how measurable it will become in terms of assessing the overall progress of your goal. Quantifiable is the word used by many expert.

From this, it is easy to remember that what we are talking about is something that has quantity, or something that can be counted on. “Twenty thousand dollars will be needed for the printing of this company annual report” is more helpful than just saying “several thousand will be needed”.

The third aspect of a smart goal setting has something to do with dreams. If your plan is complicated, you might get overwhelmed and the goal will be become a dream.

Dreaming, per se, is not bad; great inventions and ideas are usually propelled by a dream. But when it comes to smart planning, you will need attainable goals to realize your dream. If you’ll notice, ATTAINABLE is closely related with being specific and measurable. Any goal that is not measurable and specific can never be attained.

How would you know that your goals are attainable? Easy. If the financial component of your project, plan, or goal, is larger than the source of your finance, then there is problem.

Or perhaps the load of the work resulted in company planning you have just attended is too much with the present manpower in your company, then the goal you have set is not smart because it’s not attainable.

Perhaps the problem lies not in the lack of money or manpower. Perhaps the problem lies in the time constraint. You’re planning to organize a blessing for your house in a three months time, and yet six months at the very least, will be needed to finish your new home.

REALISM is the fourth letter of smart planning. To be realistic is to be honest with yourself, particularly in your ability to carry out the project, or some other goal.

Remember that any planning or goal setting entails much work, particularly on the part of execution. But remember to balance caution with boldness. If the goal or plan is way below to your capacity, your tendency is to be lax, and this will not develop your productivity.

The essence of planning and goal setting is to improve or elevate your performance. There’s no way that the elements in your plan will not help you improve for the better.

The fifth letter in smart goal setting stands for TANGIBLE. Tangibles are things that can be subjected to our five senses, your five senses. Tangible actually is closely related with being concrete. And your plan is concrete because it is measurable, specific, and thus, attainable.

Motivation in Sports Through Goal Setting

In sports, coaches and mentors have been providing effective and sound motivation to athletes through goal setting. The practice is being recognized as effective and potent in the sports training scne for the past three decades already.

Because sports training is taken more seriously now by handlers and athletes alike, it is imperative that the athletes be conditioned mentally, emotionally and physically during trainings and practices.

To be able to achieve such targets, there are various techniques and measures that are used to provide motivational devices and tactics to the athletes.

In general, nothing else will come close to the motivation being provided to the athletes by effective and practical goal setting activities.

Motivation and goal setting

Thus, in the contemporary sports arena, motivation and goal settings are two different concepts that are now inter-twined and inter-connected.

That is because goal setting provides motivation to athletes, and in turn, motivation provides goals. The two concepts are really working hand in hand in making the best come out from every successful sportsman or athlete.

Goals that are set by athletes provide them direction, and motivation fills it up with fuel to keep everything---the mind, the body, the determination---going on and on.

Motivation is what keeps athletes going and keep on striving, while goals, set through goal setting activities, put up targets and direction to help monitor and gauge the efforts and initiatives.

Characteristics of good goals

Goal setting, thus, has to be effective and well-planned. There are several attributes of good and effective goals, which should be paid particular and utmost attention to during the tedious and ardent goal setting tasks. Here are some of them.

• Goals must be specific and measurable. They are to be made specific in a sense that particular targets and aims are set. Measurable, when they can recorded and compared to previous performance and records. By that, goals are becoming more effective when looking out at progress and developments in sports trainings and practices.

• Goals must be realistic, but at the same time difficult. Challenging goals provide more motivation and force athletes to strive better and release more effort, making them stronger and more determined, traits that would really be advantageous in the long run.

• Goals must be achievable in the long term or in the short term. There is no sense setting out goals that are practically and logically unachievable. Even if the effort is raised 100 times, 1,000 times or 1 million times, if the they are really unachievable, nothing will do to make the athletes realize them. Short term goals are far better motivation tools than long term, but they can be used to eventually lead to longer-term goals and targets.

• Goals should reflect priorities. Make sure goals are in line and not conflicting with priorities. Otherwise, the efforts to achieve the set of goals would be futile and inutile despite a good and strong set of motivation and determination.

Overall, motivation should, at the same time with goals, get athletes going with greater and more significant focus. Otherwise, measures and actions should be done, or goals reset, to help the athlete attain the much needed concentration.

Motivation fuels goal setting and strategies. Focus make up the steering wheel in the long and winding drive to the attainment of the ambitious and noble goal.

Recognizing The Importance Of Goal Setting

Goals are of great importance because it leads a person to success and achievements. Thus, it is imperative that a person realizes that effective goal setting will point out the clear and vivid difference between great success and humble failures.

Some tips when setting goals

Here are several practical guidelines that would help you set goals effectively.

• Focus on your goals. In the long run you, would surely realize the value and effectiveness of focusing and concentrating to achieve your long-term and short-term goals.

• Have a long view and concept of the outcome or results. Doing so would make your sight futuristic. You would certainly prove to yourself that doing so would never be a waste of time and would help you achieve more determinedly your desired outcome.

• Know yourself better. Be sincere and honest when you think of yourself, your ability, your talent, your skill and your capacity. By so doing, you would be able to avoid the trap of overestimating or either underestimating yourself.

The importance of goal setting

Because goal setting is really an activity that brings about more advantages than disadvantages, it is logical that the concept has its own set of plusses and merits.

The goal setting activity is the time when one’s self is evaluated and assessed. That is why one importance of goal setting is that it provides a venue for one to know himself or herself better.

By knowing oneself better, and humbly admitting shortcomings and realizing talents and skills, one can estimate his or her own capability or capacity, which, in the long run, would be helpful in other and various aspects of life.

Another, goal setting would give you something to measure your progress and would facilitate in evaluating whether you are close or are far from getting or achieving your ultimate target.

That makes goal setting measurable, and that what makes it extra helpful and insightful. By measuring progress and development in one endeavour, you are given the chance to improve and do more when the gauge indicates there are still more effort needed.

Failure

Another importance of goal setting techniques and measures is opening you to the possibility of failure.

By being open about the idea, you are made open minded and receptive to the various and possible causes of pending failures. Thus, when such comes, you would come prepared for it and accept it more flexibly.

Thinking about potential failure would also enable you to do better and conduct measures to actually prevent it from coming your way.

Be informed that there are people who do not want to set their goals because they are afraid of dealing with failures in advance. Optimism could greatly help, but practicality, truthfulness and being accepting of the circumstances and the inevitable would also benefit your greatly.

Overall, expected =results would surely be more appreciated if goal setting is done properly and with utmost care. That is how the activity bears direct and indirect importance to the actual target goal and to other aspects of one’s life.

Employee Goal Setting

If you are a boss or a manager and you have ambitious and great plans to accelerate the overall development and progress of your company or team, the first thing you would logically do is to make sure your employees are on the same sentiment as you are.

The company would not move forward and achieve goals and targets if the team players, the workers or employees that make up the group are not participating or cooperating whole-heartedly.

That is why it is imperative that companies every now and them set employee goal setting activities to help employees better understand the dynamics of the team and motivate them to cooperate in the collective idea and goal of achieving progress and development for the company.

The SMART goals

Thus, before embarking the employees in ambitious and major goals, it is likely and recommended that bosses and managers subject the staff to a session wherein they would be oriented about goal setting.

Experts in the human resources industry know the idea of SMART goal setting. The concept is not to be strictly followed, but adhering to them would help one individual achieve target goals and aims.

The SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.

One tool that is widely used by profound and organized corporations and companies around the world is the employee goal setting document forms that are distributed to be filled out by employees.

Sometimes, it would not be practical and effective if the management set the goals for the employees. As a standard and effective practice, employers usually orient staff about the needs and target of the company, and allow the employees to set their own goals to help achieve these targets or aims.

Specific

Employee goals need to be specific so the employees would know the definite and specific activities that need to be accomplished.

For example, if a manager tells an employee “improve client satisfaction,” the employee would still feel a little confused because the order is still broad and too general.

To be specific, the order could still be made specific by telling the employee to be “smiling to all clients when dealing with them.”

Measurable

Being measurable, employee goals should be comparable to other goals. By that, measurability is ensured and set making it easier to gauge the effectiveness of certain goals and measures in achieving them.

Achievable

Of course, when setting employee goals, you should make sure that the goals set are achievable. Otherwise, the planning stage would only made futile and ineffective. Time would only be wasted on thinking and devising ways to achieve company goals that would, in the first place, be impossible to achieve.

Realistic

Employee goals should also be made realistic by infusing concept of practicality, achievability and possibility. Just like how employee goals are made achievable, they should also be made realistic so the attainable ends would be realized by the completion or realization of the employee goal.

Timely

The employee goals should also be set with definite and objective deadlines or time frames. Be reminded that sometimes, deadlines are necessary because they encourage activity and productivity.

Overall, employee goals are necessary because they make up for the overall collective goal that would help the company advance further or accelerate growth.

Time Management and Goal Setting

There are practically two types of people on the workplace. The first type of corporate workers would be those who always find sufficient and ample time to easily do things that should be done.The second type of workers would be those who are always cramming to complete tasks or work things out at the last minute.

A thorough analysis of the situations of the two types of workers would certainly lead you to the idea that the two differ from each other through their time management practices.

As such, time management is very important, especially to people in the workplace who are always bombarded by heavy work loads and different tasks. Each person for sure has his or her own other life aspects like social, life, sex life, family life and spiritual life. Each individual has his or her own set of priorities.

That is why effective time management would really be necessary so people would easily and effectively meet targets and beat deadlines with greater ease.

But it is to be noted that efficient and effective time management would have to entail a greater skill, that is, effective goal setting.

Goal setting and time management

Goal setting and time management are two different concepts, but they are practically inter-related and inter-twined.

Time management would not be effective and achievable without goal setting.

Goal setting, for its part, needs effective time management skills for it to be successfully achieved.

Remember, when managing your time, the first thing you should attend to would be assessing or setting out your list of priorities. Doing so would enable you to carry out tasks that need to be carried out first than the others.

It would be impossible for anyone to set priorities without first setting goals. Priorities are things that should be given primary and foremost focus and attention. The same goes for goals.

Priorities and goals are almost the same in a way that both are the ultimate targets and aims of each individual.

Some useful tips to set goals and manage time:

Here are several simple, logical and practical tips and guidelines to help you set goals and eventually manage your time better.

• Set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely goals. Remember the acronym SMART to simplify and unify all these. By doing so, bear in mind always your goals and arrange your schedule in a way that the achievement of these goals would be attained.

• Determine the things or activities that need to be done or carried out in order to attain priorities and goals. By doing so, you would inevitably consider and think about the time frame needed to perform the tasks.

• When arranging your schedule, make sure that the set of activities related to attaining the goals would not conflict with any other important appointments or activities. Make a time table so no deadlines, appointments or important dates would be forgotten or missed out. That could be a great start up to effective time management.

• Assess yourself during goal setting. Humbly and honestly determine your skills, talents, competency and capacity to carry out your desired outcome or goals. Doing so would enable you to estimate the time it would take for you to attain and achieve your goals.

Overall, make sure you focus on your goals and ensure that you always remember the tasks that need to be done and completed on time, so the goals would be achieved also on time.

Effective Goal Setting

Goal setting is a powerful tool in leading whatever endeavor into its reaching its final and full potential.

But goal setting should effective enough than when this goal reaches its fulfillment, the goal itself becomes the fruit.

With the advent of the fever created by a book by Dan Brown, stories suddenly became the focal point of everything. Everything started in a story, they say. When God created the world; it is a story. The other side of this, i.e., evolution, is also a story. Jesus' mission is also a story. And His supposed relationship with Mary Magdalene is a story in itself.

But in all of these, there is a singular tie that binds all of these elements. What is the goal of the Creator in creating the world? Is it a finished or an on-going goal? What was the original goal of Charles Darwin in setting forth the evolution theory? And Dan Brown, setting aside his writing talents, what was his real goal in coming out with such a book?

Everything else being equal, an effective goal setting strategy will spell the difference.

But how to do it?

1. Be clear. If you want a clear and tangible result, then set a clear and tangible goal. When people around you are sometimes confused of what you're up to, what makes you think that what you really want is clear to you, even without a clear goal. Your whole being, all of your senses, should be one in achieving your goal.

2. Be positive. Goals, right from the start, should be positive. It's common to see "tips" in almost everything to be set in two folds: the do's, and the don'ts. You wont need the don'ts. It will only confuse your goal and is in violation of the first principle.

3. Prioritize. If you're up to something bigger, and even a simple one, chances are that you must come up with a list of several goals. But be aware that multiple goal setting sometimes doesn't work. You should have priorities. Put at the top of your list very few goals that are doable at the moment.

4. Classify your goals. Most probably, you really have one goal. But since you're only one of the more than six billion souls inhabiting this planet, you will need to have several goals to help you achieve your ultimate goal. Thus, you will need to classify these several goals into (a) goals that will lead directly to the final goal, and (b) goals that will help in beating the odds that prevent you from realizing your final goal. Concentrate on the first type of classification.

5. Be positive. Believe in your goal. It is common to hear people saying keep your goal to an achievable level. Start with small things. Don't harbor goals that are too big. But hey, this will limit your creativity right from the start. It's true that you must have a list of your goals but it doesn't mean that this couldn't be changed. Even the U.S. Constitution has its amendments.

On this note, its good to touch on a little of this much abused set-realistic-goals mantra. If you would concentrate on this, you would soon realize that your goal is undoable because you're bound to come across with a person with goals that contradicts your goal. When this happens, you only need to go back to your master list, what was the final goal? Then re-arrange the smaller goals that were supposed to lead you to the ultimate goal. Goal setting is more effective in this way.

It is true that goals that are too high need an equally huge investment in your part, but this is nevertheless doable. What you need actually is a little bit of rearrangement among your smaller goals.

Some Simple Guidelines for Effective Goal Setting of Goals

They say that the best opportunities offered to you in life are the very same opportunities you create.

Physics’ law of inertia states that without a force or action imposed on an object, no motion or movement can take place. The same is true with your life.

No pain, no gain. In order to achieve goals, it is imperative that you act yourself. You have to think deeply, dream greatly and act immediately if you want to achieve something in your life.

But how can you do so effectively? Well, there is one major and significant key -- goal setting.

Goal setting

Through setting your goals, you are applying motivation to yourself. Such motivations are aimed as encouragements and inspirations to help you move on and attain that specific target, usually a state of being or a material reward for yourself.

Goal setting is often thought and regarded as an easy task. But you might have probably proven that it is an otherwise excruciating and ardent activity. Thus, it has to be effective.

Goal setting is easy, but the steps and processes to make the goals effective and the measures to achieve these goals are the part of the idea that makes the concept hard and tough.

Be also aware that the way you set your own goals significantly affect the effectiveness and soundness of such goals. Thus it would be advisable if you follow these simple tips on effective setting of goals.

Some tips on effective goal setting

Here are some useful, practical and simple guidelines that would surely help you set your own goals effectively and achieve them.

• Try to set performance goals that are achievable and feasible. Many people fall on the mistake of setting outcome goals that they have really no control over. Performance goals are goals, which can be achieved by sheer determination and action. Outcome goals are usually situations or state of being that sometimes are out of control.

• Be specific when setting goals. By being specific, you have to specify the desired and target outcome of a set of actions or moves. By being specific, you also set measurability of an action, so you can check every now and then the progress you are doing over a goal.

• Be realistic on setting goals. Do not set goals, which are, in general and from the start, impossible to achieve. Adults and analytic people know how to be realistic most of the time.

• Do not aim for the sky. They say, aim for the ceiling instead of the sky, because the ceiling is easier to reach than the sky. By so doing, achieving a goal becomes easier and more motivating. If you want to pursue a higher goal after attaining an initial one, then go for it. After reaching the ceiling, you can now start to aim for the sky. Failures for such goals would hurt more, for sure, so be ready to the endless possibilities.

• Think of your goals over and over. Doing so would enable you to perform a simple reality check. Check on yourself, the situation, the available resources, your skills and the overall backdrop. This would enable you to check on the feasibility and your progress on achieving the goal you have set yourself.

Overall, successful people have attained success because they learned how to meet and achieve their goals. If you want to achieve something or be somebody, start setting your goals. That would provide you with a good and effective start up.

The Benefits of Institution-initiated Professional Goal Setting

Professional goal setting is a commitment of an individual to his profession, or a commitment of an institution to its staff. This is also a pledge of the institution to its target beneficiary, by giving itsthe best service, through comprehensive training of its manpower.

Having said this, professional goal setting, in its very nature, is giving emphasis on enhancing the future performance level of the individual or group. Of course, it is presumed that the group or the individual had prior experience on the process of goal setting of this nature. If there is no familiarity with the process, the goal setting exercise is even more important.

But what does professional goal setting provide for an individual or group? Perhaps the individual, alone or as a part of a group, has a prior immersion with personal or career planning. Why add another goal setting process to an already informed person or group?

The principle behind professional goal setting

The good thing about this form of goal setting when conducted by an institution or a group is that, it focuses not only for the common good of the group but also for the individual members. When facilitated by a competent moderator, the process can be an invigorating experience for each of the member, and to the group as a whole.

It is also common for institute-initiated professional goal setting to include the identification of area that needs development. This area is then put into focus, and relates it to the individual concerned, without losing sight on the constantly evolving needs for individual career planning. The impact of this group planning to an individual is just astounding.

Professional goal setting when done in a group can also offer several schemes to secure resources, which are usually unthinkable for an individual professional.

The institution can also help in sourcing out finances needed by the group or individuals, for their goal planning. Also, the identification of possible obstacles in achieving goals can be extended into details, which is otherwise difficult to achieve when setting up a goal alone. The collective experience of the institution regarding this process can be a rich source of inspiration and intuition.

The benefits of institution-initiated professional goal setting are so immense that joining some of these exercises is never a waste of time.

In fact, this type of goal setting is not only limited to private institutions that are more inclined to do this stuff such as educational and religious institutions, but other as well.

Corporations, huge and small, are now racing against time to incorporate into their calendar of activities, schedules of goal setting for their executives and other staffs.

Harmonizing the company's goal with the career and professional goals of the company employees can be immensely beneficial. This will allow people to be more open, conscientious, thus developing the environment into a more conducive place for professional growth.

This last point is very important because it drives the point against those that advocate individualistic professional goal setting. Of course, setting personal goal is the basis for every collective goal setting but too much concentration on this part will lead into ambitions verging into selfishness.

Admittedly, there are many people who would only want to benefit from the others but not return the favor even in other forms. But even from this, a sensitive person can still benefit-that of learning what not to do.

Goal Setting Theory: What Does It Mean To An Ordinary Person?

In the 1950's, the study of goal setting theory was not a highly regarded pursuit. In fact, the whole array of motivation theory, the forerunner of goal setting theory, is not accepted as a legitimate field of study or discipline.

But today, goal setting theory is not only an accepted science, but also a persistent reality of American everyday life. Whether we like it or not, we are bound one way or the other, with the overwhelming presence of goal setting theory and some of its derivatives.

Suddenly at loss what to do with your life, you often ask how to put some direction to it. Or perhaps, all of sudden, you're questioning the very purpose of your life. When this happens, it might be because you failed to set a personal goal for your general guidance.

Without a clear-cut personal goal, you will feel adrift in an endless sea, undecided on what to do with your talents and other gifts. Personal goal is one discipline of study under the goal setting theory.

Or perhaps the problem is outside the personal milieu. Maybe you're having trouble in assessing the growth of your company. Or even worse, you don't where is the company heeding. If this is happening to you, the only reason for this is that you haven't come up with a business goal setting program.

Maybe you're a top executive for a big company and you're having trouble projecting yourself with others, and not in good terms with your colleagues. Or maybe you're into belief that nothing is happening with professionally; you're stuck with a profession that is really at variance with what you want. If this is so, then you may have missed the process of professional goal setting. You need to undergo with one now.

There is also a possibility that you're having a hard time assessing whether the company you're working with, or even your personal career, is not working as it should be. Because of this, even though you are pretty sure that there is a problem, you can't decide where to attack it. If this is the case, you have a deficiency in setting performance goals.

From the above, it is now very obvious that goal setting is a very important process you need to consider before embarking in whatever endeavor. According to a study conducted in the 1970s, conscious goal setting or planning affects action. From this; a goal is defined as an object of an action.

For instance, you have to attain a specific standard of expertise with your chosen field of profession, then you'll need to undergo extensive training to develop the part of your academic field that is wanting.

Extensive because, usually, goal setting during this period, is really an effort to race against time; to compensate for the lost opportunities earlier and to set a professional goal.

Goal setting, therefore, is a set of skills that can be learned or acquired, which is important for achieving different types of effects necessary for specific desires.

Ultimately, however, the most important factor in goal setting is your gut feel. Even without the benefit of any scientific theory regarding the benefit of goal setting, deep within, you know that somehow, you need to come up with a clear goal to succeed in life.

Some Easy Steps on Financial Goal Setting

It is a well-known and accepted fact that the greatest problems affecting and hounding the generation of today is more of financial.

As people say, money makes the world go round. Thus, financial difficulties and issues make up the challenges that directly hinder peaceful and happy existence of mankind in the face of the planet.

Thus, the ability, skill and talent to manage the financial aspects of one’s life is very essential and helpful in the context of the contemporary times.

That is why setting goals to achieve financial targets and aims is very necessary and should be done every now and then to ensure that each individual is on his senses in managing and keeping his financials afloat.

Here are several simple and practical tips or steps when you are embarking on a financial goal setting task.

• It would advisable if you would write down the specific financial goals that you ultimately want to achieve over time. You can get a piece of paper and write them all down, then keep the paper where it can be easily found.

You can post at the door, your headboard, the wall, or even at the door of the fridge. That would make the written financial goals easily read, thus, they would serve as constant reminder of the financial aspects you aim to achieve in the short or long run.

• Break down the goals into short-term goals and long-term goals. Short term goals can be achieved and attained overnight, over a short span of time or even within hours. They are easily achievable and are often more specified and directly stated.

On the other hand, long term goals are to achieved or attained within longer range of time, usually, months, years, or often, indefinitely. Patience and determination are ought to be kept when keeping or maintaining long term goals. You can manipulate both by setting short term goals that would eventually make up or lead to longer term goals.

• Invest on education and research when setting financial goals for yourself. If you want to accrue interests for your savings over time, make sure you do proper research about the tools and investment vehicles where you could put money, and where that money would significantly earn interests.

Buying financial magazines and books or attending crash courses and seminars would sometimes make up for costly investments, but for sure they would definitely be worth it.

• Every now and then, devise measures and techniques on how you could evaluate your progress when it comes to the achievement and efforts in achieving your set financial goals.

The activity might sometimes be tedious and pressuring, but it would surely help keep you on track and monitor the development. You can thus easily pinpoint measures and activities that are effective and thrash or stop those that are not helping in any way.

Overall, if you find that your financial goals are really hard to achieve, and you are not advancing on your progress to achieve or attain them, every now and then, try to assess yourself, your determination and the potential effectiveness of the financial goals you have set.

Starting all over again and shifting into more practical and effective financial goals, even if it means going through the whole process of goal setting once again, would in the end, prove to be very beneficial.

Eventually, there would be not stopping you from realizing the financial goals you have so desperately been trying to reach.

Setting And Achieving Goals: Two Part Process

Setting and achieving goals are two sides of the spectrum; yet they are both needed if your life is to have a purpose and meaning.

The first step

Setting your goal will be the first step. It is when you clarify, list down, and construct the step-by-step process on how to achieve your dreams. This also the time that you will need to reflect, not only about your past achievements or frustrations but also about your future worries and angsts.

To prevent yourself from being overwhelmed with plans, however, goals have to be simplified and broked down into much smaller units. In this way, you will easily access every angle of your goal, whenever there is a need to review any of its components.

Since the very purpose of goal setting is to be achievable, your goals should be challenging enough to stimulate you but realistic enough so as not to discourage you in the end.

For instance, you want to set a goal for your personal growth, as a person and as a professional. These two can be easily confused into one thing but they are different. Do not make the mistake of planning to improve your personal over-all goals in order to "carry over" your professional goal. Attack the two concerns separately.

Of course it is only natural that some aspect of your professional goals are preset in your personal goal setting and vice versa. This is only natural.

But it should be clear that from this two types of goal setting, you should a priority; don't swallow too much even if it's a good thing. It is also important to come up with a list of specific goals in aid for the major goal, in descending order, that is, the most important part being in the top of the list.

The second step of goal setting

Setting your goal is very important. Just don't forget that creating and even planning ways to achieve it is equally important. You should also have a method of checking your progress.

Say, for example, you have decided to prioritize your personal growth and you have set a goal for this. What you will need is a procedure in which you can monitor each step of the goal so as to make the necessary revisions.

And since goal setting is never done to isolate yourself from the rest, make it a habit to surround yourself with people that share your vision. This will help you in motivating more of yourself into achieving what you have decreed for your self earlier.

Achieving your goals

Setting up goals will never mean an iota if there is no effort on your part to achieve it. It's not there to be put on display or to remind yourself that once upon a time, you were sensible enough to create a goal for yourself. And don't try to convince yourself that there are goals that are really meant to be written and nothing more; there is no such thing.

Goals are meant to be achieved. This "achieving part" completes the goal setting process. What makes achieving goals twice as difficult compared with the goal setting part is that people tend to separate the two. Don't do this. The setting and achieving is intertwined, in fact, two parts of a whole process.

Setting Performance Goals Toward Realistic Planning

Setting performance goals is essential in achieving your goals. This is where you put all the factors in place, to make sure that a general goal is achievable and doable. However, depending on what kind of goal is your general or ultimate goal, there are a few variations that you can use in setting the performance goals.

First is when the goal involves personal, professional, career or other choices that are in line with “upgrading yourself”.

If you’re working on your personal improvement, it is important that you come up with step-by-step procedure on how to achieve your major goal. This step-by-step procedure is to be broken down further into smaller steps, so that monitoring the progress of the minute detail plan is possible almost on a daily basis.

With each step, a set of performance or actions to be taken should be put in place. These steps or actions are needed to be assessed, updated and once in while revised. The logic is that, your goal, specific as it is, is bound to face some resistance.

The resistance can come in the form of some people who will be affected by your performance goal, or other entity. This is not to say, however, that your goal is something wicked, but it is only an acknowledgement that other people have also their own goals.

These conflicting interests can be beneficial in many cases. With your constant interaction with other people, you may come across with ideas that haven’t entered your realization earlier. The performance of these people, moreover, can be very beneficial to you. Their experiences might shed some light on things that continue to baffle you in the first place.

Your colleagues’ experiences in the workplace can be a rich source of knowledge in terms of performance assessment. Of course, you will not poke into their private lives even in informal talks, or even in jest, as they may reveal some development on their personal career.

Performance goal in the company

If you’re an executive or officer of a company, part of your responsibilities will include setting performance goals. This work can be trickier than you might think because this would entail setting a performance for the company that the employees will accept as their own.

The connection and relationship between the company’s long term goals might not appear to compliments even the employees’ short term goals. The connection should be made apparent right from the start.

Just like your personal or professional goal setting, the process of setting performance goals for the employees should begin with the listing down of the company or organization’s need.

And if on the personal level, you consider it important to converse with yourself, how much more for the employees and the company that they are working with? This means that constant communication is important.

It is also important to note that this responsibility is not done after the first meeting. Dialogue between the employees or employees with the other officers of the company should be continuous and not a one day affair.

This may entail hard work but you should remember that setting performance goals for the company through the workers will help the company in achieving its ultimate goal. The process also will help the company, as a whole, to remain strong, if not to survive.

How to Make Your Fitness Goal Setting Programs Work

Sarah is aiming to lose 25 pounds so she could wear any swimsuit she wishes to wear when summer begins. So, she immediately set her own fitness goals to attain the drastic changes.

Problem is, summer is only three weeks, or barely a month, away. How could she possibly lose that much within such a short period of time? That would be quite impossible.

This is why appropriate and proper fitness goal setting programs should be done. The fitness program should be carefully planned and a timetable, with goals and targets, should be put up.

Before you begin any fitness goal setting program, remember to assess and think over what it is you really like to achieve after a certain period of time.

To do so, you must take into consideration a number of factors and variables that include your physical skills, your appearance, the amount of weight you want to lose or gain and whether you would settle to building up your strength, flexibility and endurance.

There are various physical activities that fit various physical or fitness gains, and it would be appropriate if you would first do a little research about them or more advisably, seek the help of experts and professionals.

Time table

When adopting or starting out a fitness goal setting program, it is recommended that you first consider or set out goals and targets that would not be attainable in the very long term, or almost too impossible to attain.

Most fitness goals are targeting a time frame of about a few months. Years would be too long, and the fitness goal program would probably not be too effective for such a long-period time frame.

When setting a fitness goal program, you should carefully set a time frame, or the period you intend or expect to see the significant changes or desired outcome of your effort.

Doing so would certainly be like doing the activities in an organized manner. By so doing, you are setting a gauge or a measurement scheme to monitor your progress and development in carrying out the task.

Setting a time table would also create a little or self-imposed deadline to yourself, which would in turn make you act out more efficiently and effectively into doing or carrying out your desired actions or outcomes.

Expert help

Many other fitness goal setting programs would certainly demand an expert or professional advice. Because losing weight and gaining more muscles are too complicated concepts that would involve various health issues and discipline, expert and professional advice would do a lot to carry the programs out, safely and effectively.

These fitness goals would require not just physical activities but also a great sense of discipline in food intake and overall lifestyle. For example, losing weight would entail a great, carefully planned and tested diet.

Gaining muscles would require more physical agility exercises that sometimes could be too hard, tiring, and could even lead to muscle or joint injuries.

Considering the endless negative and destructive possibilities of the fitness goal setting programs would lead you to really set an appointment with your doctor, nutritionist or other experts.

You would not want to put every hard and tedious effort to waste don’t you?

So the next time you set another fitness goal setting program, remember to do it properly, giving out more focus on details, safety and desired outcome.

Nobody would say it would be really and practically easy.

Goal Setting Worksheet: Organizing Your Future

Goal setting worksheets will help you not just to list down all your goals in a more organize way, but arrange them visually for easier reference. People, for most of the time, are in need of something to arrange their frames of mind.

A goal setting worksheet is exactly created for this particular and immediate need. Moreover, in this time where there are lots of stimuli or disturbances in people's concentrations, it is very easy to get lost even in the jungle of their own thoughts -- even during their planning exercises. And this doesn't include the familiar adage of "making your goal planning more effective".

It is very common to read from many sources that in order to be effective, a person's goal planning should be listed down. Be it a personal goal, career or professional goal, and even business planning, bringing this down into a paper will the practitioner to see the planned goal factually.

But some important aspect of this "writing" process is omitted. In writing, just like in thinking, there are many steps. And if it is the first step of thinking, usually the "warm-up" period that is committed into writing, then the problem is in the making.

This is so because goals can be easily lost in myriad of letters in written form. There are even instances that if someone is tired, simply looking at several pages of paper can be a stressful exercise. How much more if this involves the effort of "deciphering" a product of an earlier mixed-up thought now more muddled in a piece of paper?

This is where a goal setting worksheet can be proven useful. The planning, even at the earliest stage, can be properly arranged, so as to determine the general objectives from specific ones.

The general objectives can be broken down into medium-term plans, while the more specific objectives can be arranged in a descending order, starting from the most important to the least.

In a goal setting worksheet, the long-term and short-term aspect of the goal is easily recognized. From this, necessary changes are easily committed to. Even minute detail aspect of the goal planning is easily seen, giving the user an almost undivided concentration as the target information is spotted with a small amount of effort.

The worksheet can also be proved useful as a "scratch" paper. Of course it is but natural to commit some error in an earlier goal planning session. The benefit of putting down the thinking product is the easiness that it can be corrected, paraphrase, or even revised it on the spot.

This "revision" process is also very important. As people go on with their everyday chores and concerns, important things that are evolving in the process are recorded in goal setting worksheets for future review. And since goal setting worksheet is more organized, it retains this "orderliness" even when used as a scratch paper.

How wonderful that even from its infancy, the process of goal planning is already organized and arranged according to the attendees' frame of reference!

So, for the next important goal setting session, it is advisable not to settle for an ordinary paper. A professional or career goal setting process should be written on an ordinary piece of paper. And even if the goal setting process is a very personal one, a goal setting worksheet can work its wonder even in the privacy of a home.

Your First Step For A Satisfying Life

Career goal setting is your very first step for a successful and fruitful life. Success, though, is subjective; it depends on your definition on what it is. You might already have thought of a goal at the beginning of your career and have a vivid vision of where you're headed exactly.

Or, perhaps, you’re already in the middle of your career, and you feel that you seem not to be going anywhere, or you’re always in doubt if you have chosen the right career.

Do any of these sound familiar to you? This is a sign that a career goal setting plan is in order. But, before you begin, be sure to figure out first what you want to happen in your career. Take the time to sit down and list all your goals and aspirations, and craft a chart to see whether you are near or far from any of these goals.

For others, career goal setting is no more than a few minutes of talking it out with some friends, or silently thinking about it, albeit melancholy, over a bottle of beer. But the best way of setting your career goal is during your most rational periods. After all, what you are about to set is a career goal that either will spell disaster to your life, or will bring endless blessings.

Here are some suggestions on how you should go about it.

1. Be clear on what you want to be.

There’s nothing more annoying than a person trying to tell you something, yet you can’t understand what he's talking about. The same goes for your inner self. Being indecisive is frustrating and feeding this habit will only be futile to your quest of searching for career goal answers.

The more detailed you are with your plans, the better. Instead of writing down "Own a car in two years", you will find that writing "Buy a Silver Ford Escape by September 2008" is more helpful. Douse that inner critic at this stage. Just go on and write your goals down.

2. Verbalize your plan.

The more you talk about your plan, the greater self motivation you will get. If you want to discuss it with friends, do so. They will be able to help you make a decision. Just remember, however, that it is ultimately your decision because it is YOUR life. Don't let others decide for you.

3. Come up with alternatives.

You’ve got to have an alternative route for reaching your career goal. Sometimes, the road that you’ve decided to embark on is simply impassable. But this should not deter you. Instead, try to look for every possible angles to push your journey.

The most important thing you have to consider is that the process of attaining your career goal is a journey. When you are in a journey, you are open to almost everything, every stimulus, every possibility.

This in turn will enrich you during the journey. You can use all the information you get along the way to assess and re-assess your career, and review, from time to time, your earlier career goal, and make improvements, revisions, or additions, as needed.

The abovementioned guidelines should suffice, but there is something more that would help you more in your career goal setting plan: You must learn to love yourself.

Business Goal Setting For 2011

The year 2010 is now over. You may be thinking of what you want to achieve for your company or business in 2011. But do you know how to go over setting your business goals in such a way that you wouldn’t be overwhelmed?

Here are few simple things to remember before you go about the business of business goal setting.

1. Clarity of your business goal.

Remember that diamonds, more than their cut, are greater prized and treasured for their clarity. Diamonds with yellow, blue ang green hues are simply alluring. But 'alluring' is not what to do with your business goal. What the above statement means is that what you want and what you need is a business plan that is clear from the onset, in order for the internal factors of your business to run smoothly.

2. Come up with a goal that is doable and result oriented.

Remember the businesses right across your office and the one at your back? They have folded just a few years ago, with their officials facing imprisonment for fraud.

A hundred theories have been presented trying to explain why such situations happened, but, hey, if you base everything on rhetoric, then you really wouldn't get anywhere. Go for something that is tangible and concrete. Something you can actually experience and proudly present to everyone. You wouldn't want a shutdown of your own business, would you?

3. Put it into writing.

Decide where you company should be for the next year. Effective business goal setting needs to be detailed and put into writing. This will give you a concrete basis for further review in the future. It will also save you from having to grope your mind for the ideas you came up with during one 'eureka' moment.

4. Use active words.

Active words are not only for writers; they should also work perfectly with your business goal. Do not use passive words and passive sentences because these will give you the feeling of indirect responsibility. Do say: “My company will capture this particular market by the middle of next year”, and not: “This particular market will be captured by my company by the middle of next year”. Breathe action into your words to give life to your business goal.

5. Come up with smaller goals to complement your biggest one.

The smaller goal will help you achieve the ultimate goal of your business, by providing the step by step actions leading to the ultimate plan. By doing this, you will also see more clearly the initial errors inherent with an imperfect plan. In the process, you will know what actions are effective and what are not.

6. Employ people who share your dreams and ideas.

They may not share your concept on how to do things but if these people share your vision, they will at least give you alternative routes in reaching your goal. These alternative routes represent their own view with the world and their belief in doing things.

This process will give you the chance to improve your precepts or ideas.

And, of course, take a regular review of your plan or business goal. Do some revisions if needed, depending on the small changes that you encounter as the plan progresses. And should there be changes, big or small, accept them wholeheartedly. This is what effective business goal setting is all about.

Setting Life Goals the Simple Way

Everybody has little goals that are set and achieved on an everyday basis. At the start of the day, you might be thinking about making your date later in the night a success.

Preparing to make that date a success is actually one example of a simple goal that you tried to achieved within a few hors after you have waken up in the morning.

In life, you are bombarded by such little goals in life. But there are goals that take longer to achieve. These goals are for the long term. That is why achieving them takes a lot of patience and perseverance.

These goals are often referred to as life goals.

Life goals

Life goals are goals or target outcomes that you want to achieve in your life. Life goals are commonly referred to as goals that help one person choose what path to take or help one define what he really wants to achieve in his life time.

That sets life goals from the common and simple short-term goals you set everyday in your life. Simple and short-term goals can be achieved in a matter of hours or even minutes.

Life goals take longer to achieve. These are more of challenges because achieving them usually is an ardent task and requires utmost patience, determination and hard work.

Simple tips

But no matter how hard the task of setting life goals can be, and actually doing measures to achieve these goals, setting and attempting to achieve life goals can be made easier by adhering to the following simple guidelines and tips.

• Start with the personal goals. Set a personal lifetime goal. You will be amazed to find out that unconsciously, you are setting lower level plans or goals to make your major life goals achievable.

• Consider what you really like to achieve in your life. Be specific and realistic. You would not want to rule the whole world someday for sure. That could be an impossible life goal, but you can dream of something bigger for yourself. Know yourself, your likes and what really would make you happy. Follow your instincts when setting goals.

• Be positive. Remember, being optimistic would help you achieve and set better life goals for yourself. Having a good feeling about a goal would definitely help you put out all of your heart and efforts to achieving that goal.

• Set your priorities. When you have your goals already set, or even if you are still in the arduous and continuous process of achieving these goals, knowing your priorities and adhering to attaining them would likely help you somehow get orderly amid the long and winding goal-achieving process.

• Set performance goals instead of outcome goals. Performance goals can be achieved if you have the skill, talent and knowledge about these goals. Outcome goals are not like that, and sometimes are depending on sheer luck and fate, which sometimes you could not do nothing about but just wait and see. Make sure you do something to achieve your life goals, not just merely wait and see what unfolds.

• Be determined. Sometimes, there are goals that you fail to achieve. Do not let these simple failures halt you when attempting to achieve your life goals. Determined people would surely not falter.

Moreover, life goals could be made easier to achieve if you have focus. Know what you really want, why you want it, and how you could possibly attain it. That is focus, and that would help you achieve that life goal you’ve been dying to get at.

Teaching Your Teens to Set their Goals

Goals are clearly the targets of success. You, for sure, have your own goals, which may have already been achieved, are in the process of being achieved, or are still to be achieved.

But how can you teach your teens to set their goals, especially if they are already teenagers? Surely, teens would have to set their own goals because they know what they like to achieve better than you do, or than anyone else in the world does.

But for your part, you can help your teens develop their far and future vision and set their own goals, be it in the long-term or in the short-term.

You know how teenagers need guidance and proper advice, especially in their age when their personalities of manhood and womanhood are being developed and framed.

You can always help your teenage kids dream better about their future. They have so much to learn, and as a parent or a guardian, it is your responsibility to make sure their dreams are on the right path and are achievable and reasonable.

Doing such would enable you to effectively carry out your tasks and responsibility as a good and wise guardian or parent.

Here are some useful tips that would surely help you teach your teens to effectively set their goals:

• Explain to the teen why goals, be it for the short term or the long term, are very crucial and important. Sometimes, teens would not understand why they would have to set goals when there is no guaranty that these goals would ever be achieved.

• Teach the teen to clearly identify his or her goals. The teen would define his or her own goals. It is to be based on his interests, likes, ambition, knowledge, skill and talent. Because the teens are basically in the age of confusion, wisdom and practical advice from elders and guardians would really be helpful and insightful.

• Make sure to point of where to start the goals. The time frame, or the when, of the process should also be suggested. By doing so, the teen would have the clear idea and concept of where he would start to start the achievement of the goals, and when to start acting on it. Often, important goals in life ought to be started immediately.

• Suggest some step-by-step procedures or processes on how the set goals can be achieved. Of course, the teen would eventually figure out the measures he must take to know the techniques, but you have to still suggest specific and vivid suggestions on how to effectively accomplish the goals.

Remember that as an older being, you are far more knowledgeable and experienced when it comes to matter of life, so imparting a little knowledge and wisdom would be a welcome note in the part of the teen.

• Orient the teen on how to overcome obstacles and effectively deal with several temporary defeats that are way inevitable and are on their way. Teach the teen the value of reverting back and determination in the backdrop of little failures and missed goals. Some wise words and advice would convey the idea.

• Relay several anecdotes or personal experiences about your own goal setting experiences. The personal touch is always the best, and for sure, your teenaged son or daughter would learn a lot from your own petty and major goal failures and aborted attempts.

Effectively Setting Goals for a Sports Team

Sports is a stringent discipline in itself. The athlete, or members of a team should exude not only physical discipline, but also a combination of mental and emotional stability.

The coach or team leader is tasked with the most ardent role of providing motivation and mental and physical conditioning to the members of the team.

Be it a basketball, hockey, baseball or whatever type of sports it may be, the team members should be really given the proper and appropriate mental, emotional and physical conditioning and support they so dearly need.

To effectively set goals for a sports team, it is imperative that the team coach assist the members and make sure they come up with a collective goal or target, that is, for the advancement and victory of the team.

Any sports would require competitiveness and extreme discipline, that is why it is natural that every sports team aim for the top spot. Victory would come with fame and a sense of individual self actualization. That could provide a great motivation for each team member.

Some useful tips in setting sports goals:

Thus, the coach or team handler can make use of the following simple and practical tips or guidelines that would surely help effectively set out goals for sports teams and each of the members.

• At the start of the training period or sessions, allot time for an initial meeting where each of the members and the coach could air their expectations, individual goals and other concerns.

Knowing each other too well could sometimes set a difference in making the relationship, and in general, the team, work. The discussion could facilitate a venue where each members can meet half way and reach a consensus about how they could effectively meet targets and goals.

• Set the goals for the team. Make sure the goals are clear and acceptable to each of the sports team member. Remember, victory and success of the team would certainly be a collective effort, that is why no one should be ever left out when it comes to the important task of goal setting.

• Set out an group or individual appointment to know each member’s situation and personal condition. Doing so would enable the coach to help increase the members’ self confidence that would eventually translate to greater and more effective focus, and ultimately, to better performance.

• Know the strengths and weaknesses of each of the team members. The team should complement each other because it is a given fact that no person would exhibit all the necessary traits, skills and talents needed in the game.

Let a person’s strength complement others’ weaknesses and vice versa. The team should collectively stand as a perfect sports entity with unified goals, though divided in weaknesses and strengths; and that would surely be the sports team’s strength.

• Set measurable, realistic, specific, achievable, timely and practical goals for the sports team. Make sure these goals are put up in a simplified and easily comprehensible manner that the team as w hole would not ever forget especially during the ardent, tedious and hard practice sessions, when patience is utmost needed and required from each team member.

Overall, when setting sports goals for the team, make sure to inspire each members to have sheer and firm determination. As a leader, motivate the team collectively so they would achieve the goals they ought to achieve.

Personal Goal Setting: The First Step Toward a Purpose-Driven Life

What's your purpose in life? If you don't have a ready answer, don't be surprised. Even the greatest of the philosophers who had ever lived succeeded only in making this question more profound. Personal Goal Setting is hard to do. Why? Because the answer lies not in simply knowing what's your purpose in life but lies in discovering what's your goal in life. The last one is only possible if you have already gone through the process of goal setting.

Soul-searching is actually personal goal setting in its infancy. The only problem is that for many people that infant never grow up into maturity. The person involved in soul-searching might dismiss this process as nothing but being sentimental. Without realizing it, the person had just killed the infant, or his chance to flesh-out the course of his purpose driven life.

But luckily, soul-searching is a recurring process. So the next time you have been given the honor of another visit, be mindful.

Personal goal setting is a powerful tool for setting a course for a meaningful and fulfilling life. The process of personal goal setting in itself is powerful enough that if you're going through with the process you might think that your life's meaning or purpose had been found. But it is not. The euphoria is only a result of your self finally realizing that you're on the right track.

For some, the process itself is motivating. Once you've found a way in making this a habit, you will soon realize that achieving your goals that look like impenetrable walls in the past is nothing but a purpose that needs a set of personal goals as the key.

Personal goal setting: what should be set?

Since there is more to life than the four letters that it represents, personal goal setting involves a review of all the aspects of your life, and all of these should have a corresponding goal. But before going to the process of setting-up goals, you must have one general goal that encompasses all the other goals. In fact the other and smaller goals should work in the service of this large goal of yours.

1. Career. What aspect of your career do you think needs an improvement? Or perhaps, ask yourself: is time for a new career?

2. Outlook or attitude. Is there a part of you, particularly on how you perceive things, that needs to be changed?

3. Financial. Do you have a clear projection as to how much you should be earning in a particular moment in your life? This aspect is closely related with career, so better review and come out with a goal with these two side by side.

4. Potential development. Perhaps some of your talents and skills need an improvement, or are maybe already clamoring for an improvement. Life, after all, is discovering your potential and developing it in the process.

5. Academic. Perhaps you're no longer getting any mental stimulation lately. Maybe your education-related goals had expired many years ago. Perhaps it's time to go back to school for another degree, or engage in any thought provoking activities.

6. Family. What is your idea of a family? Getting married, having and raising kids? When? How?

7. Social involvement. Perhaps you want to help achieve something that would make the world a better place? Perhaps you're into animal protection, environmental concerns, and human rights issues?

These are just some aspects that generally come to mind when it comes to personal matters. If you feel or think that this list is not enough, or doesn't fit well with you, you may add or change it. Remember, personal goal setting is what its name is - a personal task. It is all up to you to device it and make it happen.