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I’ve been doing a year-end review of my goals and intentions from last year (I did better on some than others, of course), and setting goals and intentions for the coming year. (Goals are specific targets, while intentions are more ways of being.) And of course, both of my clients yesterday chose to focus on what was coming up in the next year and how to set intentions, set goals, shape affirmations and take actions to move ahead in their desired directions. This is an important thing to do every year, whether you do it at your birthday, which is great for personal goals, or at year-end (either calendar or fiscal), which is probably more appropriate for a business. Here’s why:
In a study of 1979 Harvard Business School graduates, those graduating were asked, "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" Only
- 3% of the graduates had written goals and plans;
- 13% had goals, but they were not in writing; and
- 84 percent had no specific goals at all.
Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings were amazing. The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% who had no goals at all. And the 3% who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97% put together. (Info from “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School”)
You might want to
- clarify your choices for the next year,
- set some goals and/or intentions,
- make sure your affirmations and your action plans support your choices,
A good goal is a SMART goal, that is:
Specific - for example, 'I'm going to lose 15 pounds', or better yet, 'I'm going to weigh 135 pounds (from my current 150)'. There are 2 reasons the second version is better. One is that you can measure what you weigh each day on the scale, while you can't measure directly what you lost. The other is that your unconscious mind wants to have a positive goal, while 'losing' something is generally negative.
Measurable - You need feedback to gauge your progress. If a goal is measurable, you get that feedback, so you know when you're done, when you've reached your goal.
Achievable - Goals that are achievable will reinforce your self-esteem when you reach them. Goals that are not achievable will undermine your self-esteem, because you can never succeed. If you are 150 pounds, losing 15, and getting to 135 is achievable. Getting to 20 pounds is not.
Realistic - Achievable and realistic are quite similar (but it makes for a good acronym).
Time-limited - This is the "by when". It's not a goal if it does't have a deadline... and the deadline must be realistic, too. If you're losing 15 pounds, 15 weeks is reasonable. One week is not.
Intentions are ways of being which support you in meeting your goal. Affirmations are statements that support your intentions and goals. More about those later.
