Planning and setting goals is one of the most important things you can do to ensure success in life. If done correctly, it will reflect a priority list of what’s important to you and how you plan to achieve it. It is a built-in confidence booster and proof that you have achieved what you conceived.
If you take the time early in life to set long-term goals in areas of your life such as finances, career, family, artistic, sports and helping others, you can remain on course no matter what life throws at you in the way of roadblocks and detours.
In practice, goal setting is a exercise in setting life goals and then breaking them down into five year goals, one year goals, six month goals and one month goals. Finally you will have a list of Tasks for Today.
As you go through each level, take the time to prioritize them so you will know what’s most important to you. Sometimes the prioritization process will surprise you. You may find out that something you thought was important to you keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list. At that point, it might be wise to stop and ask yourself why you’re not anxious to get started on accomplishing this goal. Maybe you’re afraid of not succeeding; maybe you’re afraid of succeeding. Either way, reprioritize your list or discard one or more of the goals and move on. Nothing says that your goals can’t change over time.
You will also want to be sure that the goals are YOUR goals; not those of your family or your spouse or the community in which you live. There is no pleasure in accomplishing something which you really didn’t want to do in the first place.
Review your goals regularly. Some people set aside 2 hours each month to go over their list, make any changes necessary and set up the daily tasks they want to accomplish.
When you are setting your goals, there are some tips to remember. You should be precise about the goal you want to achieve and about the time frame in which it is to be done. Say “I will visit the Great Wall of China in 2008” rather than “I’d like to go to China someday.”
Make your goals realistic. They should be neither too difficult to accomplish, nor too easy. The goal that makes you stretch just a little bit outside of your comfort zone is the best goal. When you accomplish the goal that you had to work for, you will not only feel the enjoyment of reaching the goal; you will be strengthened in your knowledge that you can also accomplish the next goal that you set for yourself. Don’t say “I’m going to fly like a bird.” Say instead “This year I’m going to learn to hang glide.”
Set goals based on performance, not on the outcome. Outcome goals are often beyond your control. Goals based on your personal performance are those which you can track, adjust, and accomplish. It can be very discouraging to set a goal which cannot be met because either you have no control over the outcome, or bad luck, or bad weather intervened. Say “I’m going to improve my sales record by 5% over last month”, rather than “I’m going to have the best sales record in the division.”
Planning and setting goals is a great way to stay focused on what you want out of life.
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译文:
为目标作好计划
在你的生命中要想成功，最重要的一件事就是设定好目标并为它制定好计划。正确的计计划应该列出哪些事对你来说是重要的，准备如何来实现它们。你曾经实现过的那些构思，就是你的底气与信心之源。
如果你对生命中的理财、事业、家庭、艺术、运动和助人等事情都早已制订好长期目标的话，那么人生路上的障碍与弯路，都不会停下你的脚步。
在实践中，小目标的制定可以是设定人生总体目标的试演。我们可以把人生总体目标细分成几个五年计划，再分成一年计划，半年计划，到月计划，最后我们具体到今天该完成什么任务。
每过一个阶段，花点时间来对这些目标的优先级重新做个排序，这样你会知道哪些对你来说是最重要的。有时重新排序时你会很惊讶，那些你认为很重要的事情被推到最不被重视的位置。如果这样的话，你最好停下来想想，当初制定目标时为什么没有重视它？也许你是怕不能成功，也许你是怕会成功。不管怎样，对你的目标重新作个排序，或者去掉一两个，然后继续前进。事异时移，没人说过你的目标不可以改变。
另外，你制定的目标必须确定是你自己的目标，而非你的家庭、配偶或是你所生活的社会的目标。因为首先一点，完成一件你根本不想做的事对你来说毫无喜悦可言。
要定期检查你的目标计划。有些人每个月抽出两个小时浏览一下他们的计划，做些必要的修改，并且安排好每天应该完成的任务。
在设定目标时，有几点应该注意。第一，要完成的目标与完成它的时间要具体。比如应该制定“我在2008年要去中国的长城”这样的目标而不要说“有机会我要去中国”。
第二，目标要现实，既不要太难实现，也不能太容易。最好的目标应该使你实现起来稍微有些困难，而不是太舒适。当你通地努力完成了目标时，你不只会有成功的喜悦感，还会坚定你对实现下一个目标的信心。比如不要制定“我要像小鸟一样飞翔”的目标，应该换成“今年我要学习滑翔”。
第三，要本着其可执行性来设定目标，而不是看它的结果。按结果制定的目标常常无法控制。基于个人执行的目标是指你可以追踪进程，调整并且完成的目标。如果按结果制定的目标因为结果无法控制，或运气不好，或者天气不好而实现不了，你就会非常沮丧。所以我们应该制定类似“我这个月的销售业绩要比上个月提高5%”的目标，而不应说“我要成为本部门销售业绩最好的人”。
想让你始终专注于你对生活的期望，制定好目标与计划是一种非常重要的方法。
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