Goal Setting: You don’t need to spend heaps of money to understand and do it properly

I realised recently that a lot of people spend a significant amount of money on all sorts of products teaching them how to set goals and keep themselves motivated. In my opinion that is not really necessary if you carefully read the following points and really apply them in your day to day life:

(1) Set S.M.A.R.T. goals: One of my goals is "Do 300 speeches of min. 1 min. Length in front of min. 10 people each until 31 December 2009". The goals have to be:

- Specific: My goal tells me what to do i.e. in this case: Stand up and talk in front of people for at least 1 min.

- Measurable: It is possible to measure whether I've achieved the goal or not. I've a little booklet (my little book of courage) in which I note down for every day how many speeches I've done and in which situation.

- Achievable: It is possible to accomplish the goal. It is roughly one speech per day which only takes some minutes out of my daily routine.

- Relevant: The goal must be relevant to what you want to achieve in life. One of my goal is to become motivational speaker and help others to make more out of their lives. By numbing my fear senses by talking in front of random people regularly I'm making an important step on my way to this goal.

-Timely: The goal has a specific deadline by which it is supposed to be achieved. My goal is to do the 300 speeches by the end of 2009.

(2) Focus and filter: Focus on a limited amount of goals at a time. Put everything else on a Someday/Maybe list that you review periodically. Thus your mind can trust that everything important is captured in your organisation system and that you will eventually get to every single item. Once your mind trust the system you will notice that an enormous amount of energy is freed that comes with the peace of mind i.e. you can use your mind for sophisticated and creative thinking rather than worrying and storing information. An excellent book to achieve this and get more organised is "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.

(3) Vision Board: In addition to your list of current and Someday/Maybe goals buy a pin board. Put your dreams on the board and make them as visual and as colourful as possible. Add your own photos and photos of people that inspire you to achieve more. Write in big letters as if the goal was already achieved. E.g. I printed out a photo of a motivational speaker speaking in front of a huge crowd. Then I put my photo on the head of the speaker and added in big letters "I am an excellent inspirational public speaker. I just love talking to people and inspire them to make more out of their lifes".

(4) Review goals daily: Review your goals every day. Put your vision board and goal lists to the wall at a place where you see them multiple times a day. Especially after getting up in the morning tune yourself in for the day by looking at the vision board and get really excited (e.g. say out loudly "Yes. This is another awesome day to come closer to my dreams. Every small sub step counts and is important. I am moving somewhere. My life is full of purpose. I'm so excited to make a difference in this world") One of Zig Ziglars quotes is very poignant "Some people say motivation doesn't last. Neither does bathing. That's why we recommend it daily".

(5) Really DO IT: In my opinion this is the most important point and the only real reason to go to one of these expensive seminars. Do not just read this post and treat it as just another article. Set a specific time when you will do these things. Get at least one accountability partner with which you do the goal setting and do regular follow ups (at least fortnightly). Track your success, discuss it, hold each other accountable and call each other whenever you get lazy or stuck.