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.
译文:
计划和制定目标，实现目标
计划和制定目标是帮你成功的重要因素之一，如果决策正确的话，它将会是一张对你非常重要的优先列表，同时这张列表还能告诉你如何去完成计划。优先列表一种内在的自信助推器，它能验证你是否达到了自己制定的目标。
如果你从容不迫的在金融、职业、家庭、艺术、体育等领域制定了长期目标，那么在规定的过程中，不论遇到什么障碍和困难，你依然能够继续前行。
实际上，这里所说的制定目标只是一种制定人生目标的练习，你可以把这些目标分割成5年计划，1年计划，6个月计划和1个月计划，最后就会明白今天的目标是什么了。
随着你逐渐成长，会慢慢的开始区分这些目标的先后次序，于是你就能知道对自己而言，什么是最重要的了。有时区分先后次序的过程会让你吃惊不已，你会发现自认为很重要的东西居然排在了列表最底部，此时你最好停下手中的活，扪心自问为什么不急于完成这个目标，或许你害怕失败，或许你重新排列了列表的先后次序，又或许你放弃了一个或多个目标，然后继续前行。没有人说过定下的目标不能随着时间的推移而改变。
你还得知道，这些目标都是你自己制定出来的，不是你的家人、爱人或社会帮你制定的，强迫自己去做些不喜欢做的事情没有任何乐趣。
时不时的来“温故”一下你的目标。有人每个月花2小时来温习列表，抓住每个机遇，制定每天需要完成的目标。
当你制定了一个目标，还要注意一下方面。目标必须要精确，并定下完成的期限，比如“我2008年要去长城”，而不是“哪天去中国玩玩”。
目标要现实。不要遥不可及，也不要触手可及。最好的目标位于超出你能力之外一点点的地方，完成了这些目标后，你不仅仅体验到了实现目标后的喜悦，同时还为向下一个目标进发而累积了知识。不要说“我想像鸟儿一样飞翔。”而是说“今年我想学着去翱翔。”
根据表现而不是结果来制定目标。结果性目标通常不受你的控制，表现性目标是你可以跟踪、调整和完成的。制定一个不可能完成的目标往往会令人气馁，因为既不能控制结果，又不能控制霉运或干扰性的坏天气。我们要说：“我要比上个月提高5%的销售成绩。”而不是“我要成为公司里好的销售。”
计划和制定目标是专注一生事业的重要方法。