{"id":4024,"date":"2010-11-15T16:55:09","date_gmt":"2010-11-15T20:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/?p=4024"},"modified":"2010-11-15T16:55:09","modified_gmt":"2010-11-15T20:55:09","slug":"goal-setting-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/goal-setting-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"Goal Setting Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was heading back from a quick trip last week, I found myself behind a fertilizer truck with a sign on the back that always makes me do a doubletake. \u201cSafety is our goal\u201d it proclaimed.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong with this claim?<\/p>\n

Since a goal is something we haven\u2019t accomplished yet, the message literally declares that the business is working on safety, but they haven\u2019t reached it yet. That doesn\u2019t seem like something a business should be bragging about.<\/p>\n

In fact, I\u2019m not sure that personal and business goals are something that should be publicly shared at all\u2014which is not to say we should abandon setting goals in the first place.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the difference between those who consistently achieve their goals and those who don\u2019t? It\u2019s not the concept that\u2019s at fault; it\u2019s the approach that has a positive or negative impact on results.<\/p>\n

When my granddaughter Zoe was four, she and her mother flew to Las Vegas for a visit. As we were leaving the airport, a billboard caught Zoe\u2019s eye. \u201cWhat is that red bird?\u201d she wanted to know.<\/p>\n

I explained that it was an ad for Cirque du Soleil\u2019s Mystere<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. I told her it was a favorite show of mine and thought that was the end of it.<\/p>\n

Zoe had a different idea. \u201cCan I see it?\u201d she asked. I told her that when she was a little bit older, I\u2019d be delighted to share it with her.<\/p>\n

Every time we were together for the next two years, she\u2019d inquire about \u201cthe red bird show.\u201d I sent her a magazine ad for the show which she promptly displayed on the wall of her room.<\/p>\n

In July, the time had finally arrived for Zoe\u2019s first encounter with a Cirque show. I was almost as nervous as she was. Would she like it? Had I oversold it?<\/p>\n

On our drive to the theater, we listened to the music from Mystere<\/em><\/strong> to get in the mood. She seemed a little bored with the unfamiliar tunes. I wondered if I was about to witness a big disappointment.<\/p>\n

We took our seats. The lights went down, the music came up and Zoe was spellbound for the next ninety minutes.<\/p>\n

On our way out of the theater she asked, \u201cCan we come back tomorrow night?\u201d I laughed and told her that a return visit would have to wait. Nevertheless, the magic of that night lingered on.<\/p>\n

A few days later, I was driving Zoe back to her new home in California and put on the Mystere<\/em><\/strong> soundtrack again. This time she not only listened, but accurately recalled what was happening during each piece of music.<\/p>\n

Then early in August, my daughter called to say that Zoe had decided on her Halloween costume. Did I want to guess what it was? \u201cThe red bird?\u201d I ventured.<\/p>\n

Of course, I was correct. Little did I realize that Zoe had also decided that I would be the costume designer for this elaborate get-up.<\/p>\n

Besides the fact that I\u2019m a pushover for Zoe\u2019s requests, what characteristics of\u00a0 successful goal setting were operating here? More significantly, what can you do to make your goal setting more effective?<\/p>\n

Here are four simple things:<\/p>\n

1. Set authentic goals that make your heart sing<\/strong>. An authentic goal is not one that is accompanied by thoughts of \u201cthis is what I should<\/em> be doing\u201d or \u201cthis is what my parents\/teachers\/spouse expects me to do.\u201d An authentic goal is aligned with your purpose and passion.<\/p>\n

2. Use visual reminders.<\/strong> It\u2019s a noisy, distracting world we live in. Having visual reminders (i.e. Zoe\u2019s Mystere<\/em><\/strong> poster) keep our important goals front and center. Create a vision board, carry a talisman, practice creative visualization.<\/p>\n

3. Seek help from people who can help.<\/strong> Zoe didn\u2019t waste time asking her parents, other grandparents or friends to take her to the show. I was her Las Vegas connection and she didn\u2019t let me forget it.<\/p>\n

4. Celebrate.<\/strong> After weeks of searching for a new home, I finally found my next World Headquarters. When I told my daughter and sister (who had shared the ups and downs of this quest), they both reacted the same way: \u201cHow do you want to celebrate?\u201d<\/p>\n

The best way to regularly accomplish your goals is to give yourself credit for the things you have already done successfully. Success really does breed success\u2014but only if you notice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was heading back from a quick trip last week, I found myself behind a fertilizer truck with a sign on the back that always makes me do a doubletake. \u201cSafety is our goal\u201d it proclaimed. What\u2019s wrong with this claim? Since a goal is something we haven\u2019t accomplished yet, the message literally declares…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[13,27,753],"class_list":["post-4024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goalsetting-with-gusto","tag-goal-setting","tag-growing-a-business","tag-mystere","jsn-master"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4024"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4035,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024\/revisions\/4035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}