This document provides an overview of goals and goal-setting. It discusses 7 key aspects of effective goal-setting: 1) basing goals on your strengths, 2) writing goals down, 3) dreaming big, 4) setting intermediate goals just beyond your reach, 5) expressing goals in terms of desired performance not rewards, 6) taking the first step towards your goals, and 7) pursuing goals with passion. The document emphasizes that writing goals down, thinking of goals as already achieved, and using your imagination over willpower are important for achieving goals.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Goals and Goal-Setting
MTL: The Professional Development Programme
GOALS AND GOAL-
SETTING
What have you done with your life lately?

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Goals and Goal-Setting
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from thenounproject. All clipart is from free sources. The MTL Professional Development Programme is copyright of Manage Train
Learn.
Goals and
Goal-Setting
Introduction: Goal-setting is the one activity that sets apart self-developers from
those who survive or just get by. Goal-setting enables us to create the future we
want to happen rather than live the future that others want to happen. In goal-
setting, we take charge. Here are 7 key features of goals and goal-setting.

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Goals and Goal-Setting
1. START WITH
YOUR
STRENGTHS
Although you can base your goals on anything
you want, your chances of success are greater if,
first, you base them on your strengths and
second, on the current opportunities in your
field. To find out your strengths, do some self-
research, such as a personal SWOT: your
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats.
Find what comes naturally to you and then excel at it
Flickr attribution: /28032587@N06/11278364026/

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Goals and Goal-Setting
One of the best ways to precede a goal-setting session is to carry out a personal SWOT
analysis. This is your way of assessing and writing down your strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. While we must keep an eye on weaknesses and threats, our
goals should be built around strengths and opportunities.
Build on
Strengths

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Goals and Goal-Setting
2. PUT YOUR
GOALS IN
WRITING
Written goals have a way of transforming wishes
into wants, can'ts into cans, dreams into plans
and plans into reality. The act of writing clarifies
your goals and provides you with a way to check
your progress. You can even add reasons to give
you more motivation. So don't just think it - ink
it!
It’s OK to dream about your goals but record them too
Flickr attribution: /alant79/12290896954/

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Goals and Goal-Setting
WriteYour Goals Down When you put your goals down in writing, you not only force
yourself to clarify them, you also commit yourself to them.
Written goals give you a clearly expressed target which then becomes your way of measuring your progress.
You can carry out a written goal-setting exercise at any time, perhaps writing out your goals on one sheet of A4
and tucking it away in your personal diary or papers. It should not be left to gather dust but should be read and
reviewed regularly.
To add power to written goals, you
can include the reason for the goal eg
“My goal is to become fitter, so that I
will feel healthier, be less stressed at
work and enjoy my hobbies more.”
"If you have a
goal, write it
down. If you do
not write it
down, you do
not have a goal.
You have a wish."
(Steve Maraboli)

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Goals and Goal-Setting
3. DREAM BIG
One of the factors that restricts the realisation of
our full potential is the belief that we shouldn't
go for big goals. Yet all the evidence of those
who realize big goals is that we can always
achieve far more than we think. David Schwartz
says in his book "The Magic of Thinking Big": "Big
goals attract big resources like a magnet."
Big goals attract big resources
Flickr attribution: /jeffchristiansen/525676813/

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Goals and Goal-Setting
4. PITCH YOUR
GOALS
Once you have set your ultimate goal, you then
need to set the intermediate goals that will get
you where you want. Don't pitch these too easily
or too ambitiously or they will drop into the Drop
Zone. Aim to make them challenging: out of
reach, but not out of sight.
Set your goals just beyond your current reach
Flickr attribution: /nostri-imago/2872095521/

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Goals and Goal-Setting
5. EXPRESS
THEM RIGHT
It's important to express your goals in the right
way. Never express your goal in terms of what
you don't want; always in terms of what you do
want. Express your goals in performance terms
not reward terms. That's because performance is
always within your power; rewards are not.
Express your goals in terms of how others
benefit. Express your goals according to the
principles which matter.
I want to dance in Swan Lake one day soon
Flickr attribution: /eme06/2777668472/

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Goals and Goal-Setting
6. TAKE THE
FIRST STEP
When we set goals for ourselves, they should be
expressed in behavioural terms, rather than in
terms of status, rewards or position. That’s
because behaviour is something within our
power, while status, rewards and position are
not. Formulating goals in behavioural terms also
means we present a strong positive image of
ourselves to our brains. The brain, not knowing
the difference between a real or imagined
experience, then seeks to act in accordance with
the presented image.
Whatever your goal, start straightaway
Flickr attribution: /h-k-d/3450478183/

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Goals and Goal-Setting
Think from your Goals
In the 1950's, success philosopher Neville
Goddard taught that you should not think "of"
your goals, but "from" them. The reason was as
follows.
If you spend a lot of time thinking about your yet-
to-be-accomplished goals, it is easy to overwhelm
yourself. Every time you think about what's still to
be achieved, you realize how far you have to go,
what effort you need to put in, what obstacles
you need to overcome, and what distractions
may put you off-course.
However, when you think that your goal is
inevitable and that, indeed, you already have it,
that certainty gives you a new identity and you
simply act in accordance with what you believe
about yourself. By consciously setting your
mental thermostat to "goal achieved", you are
bound to reach it because you will act in
accordance with who you believe you are.
This picture shows the safe return of Apollo 12 on November 24th
1969 in the Pacific ocean.The mission found the unmanned
Surveyor 3 on the moon and brought back 75 lbs of moon rock
samples.

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7. PURSUE
YOUR GOALS
WITH PASSION
The driving force behind your goal-achievement
is Desire. You must desire your goals constantly,
vividly and with a burning passion, knowing that
you have already achieved them and now only
need to realise them. If you do, you cannot fail to
achieve them. It was said of Michelangelo that,
such was his focus and desire, he could blot out
every distraction while working on a project such
as the statue of David, until it was completed.
Michelangelo’s David was a work of pure desire and focus
Flickr attribution: /erikmadsen/14492200674/

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Goals and Goal-Setting
Imagination Beats
Will
When your will, your rational left-brained self, comes into conflict with
your imagination, your creative right-brained self, your imagination wins
every time.
Like children, we often imagine the worst. If we want to achieve our goals, we need to
imagine ourselves succeeding. Such thoughts send out an energy that attracts
complementary thoughts from people who can help us achieve what we want.
MarkVictor Hansen tells the story
of the little boy who was frightened
of monsters under his bed.To calm
the child down, Hansen suggests it's
better to appeal to the little boy's
imagination than his reason. So,
instead of saying something like,
"Don't be silly, there are no
monsters there", say something like,
"Don't worry, son, our monsters are
the kind that look after kids".

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Goals and Goal-Setting
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
Goal-setting is central to maximising our potential because it enables us to create something
unique and new in our lives. Goal-setting allows us to feed our goal-oriented brain and puts us in
control of our futures.