When the Goal Train Gets Off-Track
What to do When You Get Derailed Cool picture huh? Pretty but accurate if you think about it. Though there’s a simplicity in meeting goals once they are set properly, it’s rarely a smooth ride and almost never goes as expected, and sometimes the destination doesn’t look like you thought it would. Still, you ned to accomplish what you’ve set out to do, unless it’s a bad idea, in which case don’t do it or do it quickly so you don’t sink too much time into it. Along the way, you’ll find urgent things come up. Family matters, money problems , urgent client related problems software limitation etc. This year, a lot of my schedule has been uprooted due to people becoming ill and some even passing away. These are things we have little control over. as hard as it can be to get into the swing of things, when it comes to goals, you rally can just hit the pause button and pick up on them. Like a word document, you save your progress and re-open it later when you’re ready to work on it. There’s no point in getting discouraged. Just get on with it. Pretend the delay never happened and pick up where you left off. Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making plans (a quote from a bunch of different people). It’s a normal thing that happens to even the most successful people. How many products are released late or released unfinished and ned patching up. When you pick up where you left off, don’t try to do everything at once, you’ll just overwhelm yourself. I normally just delay other things as much as possible and hen catch up. So whatever you can put on hold, put it on hold or delay as much as possible while you catch up on the goals you had to pause little by little.. Put in a couple extra hours and you’ll catch up before you know it. If you are REALLY far behind, count the goal period as lost, and restart a new timeline with the same goals. I set goals every 90 days. Recently I had to scrap a whole 90 day period, count it as nearly lost and start again. I’m still here, still working and all is good.
Successful Goal Setting – Part 2 – Goal Timeline
What are Your Goals? Assuming you know why and what you want to do, the next step is to set some goals for yourself. It’s important to note that there are different types of goals and not all of them need to be pursued as heavily as others. Lifelong goals like “climb Mount Everest” don’t need to be focused on every day for the rest of your life. You could use it as a motivator or a direction, but don’t use up much energy making it happen now. You may find it counter productive. There are a lot of things that will require your attention daily in order to achieve that goal. By focusing constantly on a large task, you may be discouraged in your day to day duties. Especially if he end goal seems large and daunting. Timing Your Goals So let’s break it down a bit. You have long terms goals and dreams. You have mid term goals you want to hit along the way that may or may not contribute to the long term goals. Then you have short terms goals, which many times are very urgent. I think it’s important to prioritize these so that you’re not spending more time worrying about tomorrow than you are working today. Today has enough worries to be honest, but your short terms goals should lead somewhere. Start by listing a few long term goals (5 or fewer). It’s ok if these change over time. Then move on to mid terms goals (2-10 years) (5 or fewer). Then go to short range goals (next year or so) (4 main goals). You can change these goals later if you just wan to use this as an exercise/practice. If you have more of these or you want more clarity, expand on the goals and then group the goals into similar categories. In the categories you can have short descriptions that include the breakdown. For example one goal could be to set up a website. Within that goal you need content, pictures, a logo and pricing for services. With the 4 short range goals, break them down and organize them into a logical chronological order if some goals need to be completed in order for other goals to happen. This will help you make sure that your goals are reasonable and obtainable. Quick check, try to make sure your goals line up in some way with each other or that they form something like a big picture. You may have to revise the whole list of goals once or twice (or as you go). What you want to break the year down into is 90 day segments and set 3 gals for each segment. You can have sub-goals, but just make sure your goals are attainable. BE SURE to use an app that counts down in DAYS so you can see the days ticking away. Here’s the app I use: Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/countdown-star/id576177593 Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joemerrill.android.countdownstar&hl=en_US&gl=US Then just make sure you have someone to check in with and be accountable to for each 90 day period. I can all but guarantee that time will all but fly when you do this, but you’ll find that your goals get done. and you’ll start moving your mountain! p.s. Be forgiving (to yourself) if you miss your deadline. I try to hit mine, but sometimes life hits back. If you go over the 90 days I suggest you just finish your goals then start on the next 90 days a little late. Someone else I know suggested you just move the unfinished goals into the next 90 days. Whichever works better for you, but be accountable.
