Your Goals

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SET GOALS?

Have you ever wanted something badly, but felt like it was beyond your reach? A new car? A promotion at work? Or maybe just to stick to a fitness routine? Coach believes that in order to achieve the things you want in life, you must clearly define your goals and always keep them in front of you. That means setting goals for yourself and keeping your goals in mind as you make decisions in all aspects of your life.

Remember, a goal is a desired result that you envision for yourself or others. Goal-setting helps you break down the things you want to achieve into more manageable steps so that you can gauge your progress. It helps you define what YOUR OWN success looks like to YOU.

SETTING GOALS TO GET YOUR PURPOSE

When you set a goal for yourself, you are asking yourself a simple question:  What do I want, and what do I need to do to get there?

If our purpose is our final destination, goal-setting is the way we choose to break down our journey into sections that make it more manageable. Our goals are the critical landmarks we reach on the way to our purpose. Goals help us mark our journey so we can gauge how far we've come and how far we still need to go. They also help keep us motivated - since each time we accomplish one goal we’re one step closer to achieving our purpose.

TYPES OF GOALS

There are two types of goals you can set for the future: long-term goals and short-term goals. Short-term goals are what you want to accomplish in the near future (less than 1 year) while long-term goals are what you plan to accomplish further in the future (1-5 years). You will use a combination of long-term and short-term goals to pursue your purpose.

Coach Gibbs is a great example of how to use both long-term and short-term goals. This week you heard how he pursued his purpose of coaching by making it his long-term goal to coach pro football. He set short-term goals for himself along the way that were based on his skills and opportunities. In this way, he rose through the ranks, going from an intern, to a college coach, to the NFL! Coach Gibbs used goal-setting to take him all the way to the top...and you can too! Check out the bullet-points below for some easy guidelines for setting your own long-term and short-term goals.

Long-Term goalsShould be set about 1-5 years in the future.Can be modified as your immediate needs or environment change.Should be revisited regularly to see if updates are needed.

Short-term goalsShould be set less than 1 year in the future.Can be as detailed as you want: daily, weekly, monthly, etc. (But avoid too many!)Should be celebrated as individual achievements!Should be checked against your long-term goals every so often to make sure they’re keeping you on the right path toward achieving that goal.Can be changed as your needs or environment change.

Part of goal-setting is deciding on realistic lengths of time to achieve your goals. You should also be careful not to set goals that are overly ambitious or too hard. For example, if you want to run your own business one day, your first goal isn’t going to be hiring employees. You would need to research, create a business plan, and talk to investors first.

WORKING TOWARD YOUR GOALS

When working toward any goal, it is important to check your progress. To do this, you should use what we call milestones. Milestones are any significant action, event, or achievement in your life that help you progress toward achieving your short-term and long-term goals. Think of your milestones like a checklist you need to complete to accomplish your goals.

For instance, let's say your short-term goal is to be considered for a promotion within your company by the end of this year. To achieve this goal, you could create the following milestones as a checklist for yourself:

1.	By the end of next week, I will meet with my work mentor to seek advice on what type of promotion would best fit my skills and ambitions.
2.	Within the next 3 weeks, I will meet with my manager to discuss growth opportunities within the company. I will ask for feedback on how I can improve at work.
3.	By the end of 2 months, I will set up at least 3 informational interviews with other managers at my company for roles I am interested in growing into. I will ask these managers for their feedback on what skills I should strive to develop.
4.	By the end of 3 months, I will find training to develop the skills I need. I will then begin implementing those skills at work.
5.	By the end of 6 months, I will set another meeting with my manager to discuss my progress. I will be able to explain how I’ve used feedback to improve at work and I will ask to be considered for a promotion.

Just like in the example above, you can create your own milestones to meet any of your long-term or short-term goals. As you reach your milestones, you will be able to clearly see your progress, assess any challenges, explore new opportunities, and make adjustments to your goals before moving forward.

You can set as many milestones as you wish for each of your goals. Remember, using milestones to check your progress will help you better understand each goal and how to get there!

Your goals (and milestones) should help you draw your own map from where you are now in life to your purpose. “But wait,” you might say, “where I want to be could take me decades to reach. Do I have to set goals for the next 30 years, right now?” No! Remember, it took Joe Gibbs decades to become the head coach for the Washington Redskins, but he didn’t set that exact goal for himself as a college student. Instead, he kept his purpose in front of him and used what he knew about his values, skills, personality, and resources to create both short-term and long-term goals. He revised these goals over the years as he grew more experienced, found new coaching opportunities, and hit his milestones. Coach Gibbs knows it is important to regularly reevaluate your goals and revise them when necessary. Doing so will help you find the fastest path to your own success!

SMART GOALS

Setting goals is pointless if your goals are unrealistic or won’t help you get to where you want to be. So, whether you're setting long-term or short-term goals for yourself, it is important that you're setting "SMART" goals.

SMARTstands for:

Specific Measurable Actionable Relevant Time-bound

Together, these letters give you guidelines for setting effective goals for yourself. Check out the chart below to learn more about how to use each letter to help you set your goals.

	SPECIFIC What exactly do you want to accomplish?
	MEASURABLE How will you know when your goal has been achieved? How will you measure your achievement?
	ACHIEVABLE Is it possible? How will you get there? List all the milestones you need to reach to achieve your goal.
	RELEVANT Why is this goal important to your journey? How will it help you reach your purpose?
	TIME-BOUND How long will this goal take you to achieve?

Now, using the chart above let’s take a look at how two different people might set their own SMART goals.

MEET JANICE.

Janice loves to create handmade jewelry, and she wants to start a small business selling her designs. She knows that starting a business is a lot of work, but she’s very passionate and motivated. Janice has already been creating jewelry for 2 years, has her own jewelry-making tools, and has designed many pieces that are popular with her friends and family. Eventually, Janice would like to open a storefront in her town to sell her jewelry.

Ineffective Goal: "I want to start a handmade jewelry business."

This goal is vague and doesn’t give Janice a way to measure her success or a timeframe in which to complete her goal. It also doesn’t include any milestones to help Janice track her progress.

SMART Goal:  "Within the next month I am going to set up an Etsy page to start selling my jewelry designs. This will allow me to make money while doing what I love! My first milestone will be creating 30 pairs of earrings for my inventory. I will complete this milestone in 5 weeks. Then, for my second milestone, I will aim to sell approximately 3-5 pairs of earrings per week. I will build my customer base by word of mouth and referrals."

MEET RAPHAEL.

Raphael sells insurance, and he wants to sell more policies so he can increase his commission and provide more financial stability for his family. A coworker is leaving and has offered Raphael her list of potential new clients. Raphael has a good reputation for insurance sales and knows he could use his experience and track record to increase his business.

Ineffective Goal: "Increase my overall insurance sales."

An ineffective goal for Raphael would be simply saying he wants to increase his sales. This goal doesn’t give Raphael milestones to check his progress. It doesn’t help him plan how much he should increase his sales or how long it should take.

SMART Goal: "I will increase my sales over the next 6 months by 15%. In the first two months, I will increase my sales by 5% using the list of new client leads. In the following two months, I will increase my sales by another 5% by calling all of my existing clients and asking them to make referrals. Then, for the last two months, I will increase my sales by another 5% by cold-calling new clients and offering a discount for my services. A 15% sales increase is my ultimate goal."

Let’s take another look at the SMART chart and see why Janice and Raphael’s SMART goals are effective.

	SPECIFIC Both Janice and Raphael’s new SMART goals are specific: they clarify what they want to do and what steps they’ll take to get there.
	MEASURABLE Janice can measure her goals by keeping track of new inventory and sales. Raphael can measure his goals by tracking the percentage his sales increase or decrease.
	ACHIEVABLE Both Janice and Raphael have set achievable goals. Janice has been creating jewelry for the past two years and is confident in her skills and designs. Raphael is an experienced salesman with some solid leads. They are both working towards realistic milestones that serve as steps toward achieving their goals.
	RELEVANT Janice’s goals are relevant because she’d like to one day open a storefront that sells her jewelry. But first, she needs to learn how to run a business and save enough money for her store. Raphael’s goals are relevant because he wants to provide more financial stability for his family. So increasing his sales and his commission makes sense!
	TIME-BOUND Both Raphael and Janice have set time limits for reaching their goals. Janice has alloted 1 month to get her Etsy page set up, which allows her time to start creating her jewelry. Similarly, Raphael is giving himself six months to increase sales.

You’ve seen how Raphael, Janice, and even Coach Gibbs use SMART goal-setting for success. You can use the same guidelines to start setting your own long-term and short-term goals!

Remember, goal-setting will help you gauge your journey to success. It will help you to see how far you’ve come and where you still have to go. Be sure to celebrate your milestones along the way and use them as motivation to keep moving toward your purpose.

This week you’ll learn how to set a professional goal and define the milestones that will help you get there. Remember Coach’s advice and keep your purpose in front of you as you plan your goal.

In the coming weeks, you'll be creating a Personal Development Game Plan that will include your goals and bring you one step closer to your purpose!