Emerson Exchange 365

It’s often stated that before beginning a new endeavor, you should clearly identify the objectives and, the criteria for success. The same is true as you plot your personal journey to reach your lifetime goals.  Your personal plan should cover the Why, What and How necessary for your development.  Without this, you’ll be busy with tasks but you could be wondering, lacking direction.  In this article we will help you take control of your journey and examine if you are you working on the right tasks to achieve a feeling of accomplishment and to attain success – as YOU have identified it.  To start, we’ll help you define your goals and chart a path to make it happen.

Choosing a Path

Over the holidays, I read the book behind the popular TEDx talk by Simon Sinek, Start with Why.  The book passionately talks about finding your ‘why’ – your purpose in life, and using this clarity to define success, in your own terms.  This is a key step to take before creating goals.  It’s getting your big picture in focus.  Therefore step one in our journey of personal development is learning your ‘why’.  

Here are some tips on exploring your big picture: take inventory of activities when you feel the happiest, content, and satisfied; become aware of what accomplishments you are most proud of, and of times when you have been told you’ve done a great job;  ask your friends what they think are your greatest strengths.  During this discovery phase, you should learn something about yourself.  Did you recognize a pattern?  These activities are ways to gain knowledge about you. 

It’s okay to stay in the discovery phase for a while but there also isn’t any harm in choosing a path and changing your mind later. Take the first step into action. 

Setting Goals

Next, let’s break down the topics of setting and then achieving goals. Tip one is that you should document your ideas about goals; think them through and write them down.  Brainstorm ideas for various lengths of time; short term (1 year), medium term (next 3-5 years), next 10 years, entire career, lifetime.  Why is it important to write down your goals?  The act of writing/visualizing makes the process more powerful and tangible.  It activates more parts of your thought process.  As you select ideas to become goals, strive for balance, whatever balance means to you.  There are no right or wrong answers.  Challenge yourself to try something new, explore something – and give new ideas a chance.  Over time your moods will change, your interests and motivations will change.  Your written goals will help you stay focused and motivated.

Here’s another great tip. Write your goals with this acronym in mind, S.M.A.R.T.  Using this formula will help ensure they are Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time Bound.

Achieving Goals

Congrats, you’re now on a positive path to achievement… But, achieving goals won’t just “happen.” It’s important to identify the resources, enablers, milestones necessary to mark your progress.  Without intermediate checkpoints, you might wander off the path or worse you might get frustrated with not seeing quick progress.  Your personal development journey should have a plan, a schedule and metrics.  And your plan should have a budget – don’t forget to invest in yourself.  Your budget is both your time and your money – it’s also the trade-offs you’re prepared to make.  And wrapping up with the most important factor in achieving goals is having a strong support system, surround yourself with people who are truly interested in your success.  The Women in STEM group is here to help keep you motivated and to reach your goals.

The Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting