Goals

Define your goals and objectives.

Overall Goal:  This is what you're really trying to do. It is important to be able to spell out your overall goal – you do this by asking yourself the following questions:

• What’s my overall goal?
• Why am I doing this?
• What do I want in the end?

List Your Overall Goal:

List Your Long-Term Goals:  Generally, these goals will take longer than one year to achieve.

List Your Short-Term Goals:  These goals can be achieved in less than a year.

List Your Right Now Goals:  What are the right now goals? The right now goals are important because you only proceed moment-to-moment. It is not much use to have a clear knowledge of the overall objective if you have no idea what you are trying to do right now. At any moment you should be able to stand back and ask yourself, “What am I trying to do right now?”.

List Your Objectives:  It is usually not possible to reach the overall goal directly. So you set up objectives. Objectives are a way to reach the overall objective thru achievable steps. Objectives may also reveal Priorities.

Eliminate Intentions:  Separate and remove intentions from goals and objectives. The key here is to look for operational aspects. Goals and objectives require action to be achieved; intentions don’t. See Intentions.

Tree Diagram:  Draw a hierarchical diagram of your goals and objectives. This should look like an inverted tree diagram.

Timeline:  Overlay your tree diagram on to a time scale. See Timeline.

Create a List of Milestones:  Pay particular attention to the sequential nature of your goals, objectives, and sub-objectives.

Contradictions:  Are there any competing goals? If so, what is the contradiction between achieving both of these goals? (Use the Contradiction Analysis tool.)

Define Success:  How will you know when your overall goal has been achieved? How will you when you're successful?