Goal setting - More fun than a poke in the eye, just barely.

One of the hardest things for me to do is goal setting.  Something about it always feels contrived or insincere.  I always agonize over what to write down and if there's a chance someone else might see it, I feel it has to be profound and insightful.

Well, I've decided to approach it the way I do most things, head on.  So in my determination to become better at expressing my goals and stating objectives, I decided I would do some research and write a blog about it.

First I wanted to find a definition of a goal that made sense to me.  I've been through many workshops and goal setting activities but I've never clearly defined what a goal is.

Here's what I came up with:

"A GOAL is an overarching general statement that provides guidance toward something to be learned or a desired result.  A target or level you desire to reach or achieve."

Okay so now we've got a definition of a goal, but what about objectives, you tend to hear them stated as if they are one in the same.

While they are often used interchangeably they are in fact not the same thing.  As with a goal, I found I also needed to define what an objective was.

Here's what I came up with:

"Objectives are specific and measurable steps taken to achieve a desired goal." 

Think of objectives as the resources, skills, and knowledge you will need to acquire in order reach your intended goals.  While goals tend to be stated broadly objectives should be clear, concise, and measureable.  Objectives can be tweaked as you move along the path to along the path to your goals.

One way I found that really made sense to me for setting goals and objectives is to use the SMART mnemonic.

S              Specific

M            Measurable

A             Attainable

R             Relevant

T              Time-bound

I also like to learn through by applying it, so let's see how it goes when I use what I've written here.

Goal: To maximize the lead generating potential of my Active Rain blog.

Objectives:

1. Set up a custom Active Rain outside blog.
2. Write two posts per day with "hyper local content."
3. Read Brad Andersohn's blog "How to create a blog post for customers and search engines.

Well as it turns out, goal setting doesn't have to be so difficult after all.