"The best opportunities are the ones we create. Goal setting provides for you the opportunity to create an extraordinary life." -- Gary Ryan Blair
I am a firm believer in regular goal setting. There are only so many minutes in each day, week, month, year and life. I want to be doing the things that will sit well with me at the end of life, and I set goals accordingly. Here's how I do it, along with a Word template to help you set your own goals.
Before you download my template, take a look at what Jim Estill has to say about goal setting. Run through the exercise he suggests. Then come back here for help getting it all down on paper.
Now download this template and I'll explain how I use it: Download 100_day_planning_template.dot
First of all, you'll note that the template has seven rows: Family, Health, Spirit, Career and Self Development, Community, Recreation and Company. I have decided that I need to have goals in each of these seven areas. You may choose these areas, or areas of your own. Just remember that this is about creating an extraordinary life and you want to consider all the areas that are important to you in life.
About once per year, I review my lifetime goals. As with Jim, these usually don't change much. However, I have added to and modified these goals as I matured. Next I work backwards in time. So, for example, if one of my lifetime goals is to have five bestseller books published, what needs to be done by 20 years from now? And knowing what needs to be done by 20 years, what needs to be done by ten years from now? And so on down to the goals for this year. The goals for 1, 5, 10, 20 years only change annually. Write them all down in the template and save it.
Once per quarter, I look ahead and determine what I need to accomplish in the next 100 days in order to achieve this year's goals. I print the plan to act as my guide through the quarter.
Each Friday, I make my plan for the next week. This consists of those things I must achieve in the next week in order to make this quarter's plan. And each evening, I make my plan for the next day, which consists of those things I must do in order to accomplish my week's plan. My weekly plan and my daily plan are also written down.
Why write everything down? Because it is much more likely to get done if you have written it down. Writing it down increases your level of commitment to making it happen. "The difference between a goal and a dream is the written word." -- Gene Donohue
