Welcome to our web log (which most people call a "blog"). The opinions expressed herein are our own personal thoughts and opinions. Check back often for our musings and updates.
Feel free to e-mail us your comments on our entries or use our contact form. Thanks for visiting!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Are you a Goal Setter or a Goal Quitter?
Steps for Successful Goal Setting
The beginning of another year is upon us. The time of year that everyone gets excited about the possibilities of what they can achieve with the fresh start of a New Year. To better help make your possibilities a reality, I would like to discuss Goal Setting and Goal Getting! Goal Setting is an extremely powerful technique for accomplishment, but for Goal Setting to really be effective it requires more than just writing down what we want to achieve. It is important to apply steps that will help to define exactly what your goals are and implement steps to achieve your goals with more success.
Goal setting is about deciding, prioritizing, and organizing the ACTIONS that will be needed to realize achievement. Almost all successful people credit goal setting as the key ingredient of achievement. Anthony Robbins said, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” The following are steps for Successful Goal Setting.
1. Form a Goal Statement
A goal statement clearly identifies your specific goal and is the foundation for the goal setting process. Many goal setting experts use the acronym S.M.A.R.T., as a way to define their goal statement. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, Time and Resource Constrained.
Goals should be specific to the point that we know exactly what we want to achieve, measurable so we can chart our progress, action-oriented to indicate which actions will produce results, realistic so that we may learn and grow from our actions, and time and resources constrained meaning that there is a deadline for completion and we only have a limited amount of resources to apply toward obtaining our goal. The goal statement “to increase each month’s gross revenue by 10% for the entire fiscal year of 2008, over the same month of 2007 and increase each months advertising spending to 10% of the previous months gross revenue for the entire year” is an example that follows the SMART system.
2. Break your Goal down into ACTION steps
Now that we have formed our Goal Statement, we must break down the actions that will be necessary in order to obtain your goal. Carefully define each action to insure that it contributes to the over all goal, assign and delegate actions if needed, and follow up to insure actions are complete. The goal “to increase each months gross revenue 10% for the entire fiscal year of 2008, over the same month of 2007 and increase each months advertising spending to 10% of the previous months gross revenue for the entire year” is a very worth while goal, but will be very difficult without breaking the goal down into action step that will result in our victory.
3. Stay Motivated and Focused
Motivation and focus are the fuel that runs our goal setting machine. They enable us to continue to work toward our goals when the inevitable failure or challenges emerge, and they will! But from these small victories we gain a sense of achieve and satisfaction from moving that much closer to realizing our success, giving us the knowledge and confidence to set bigger goals in the future. Andrew Carnegie wrote, “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.
4. Stay on Track
Reaching our goal requires planning and regular review of our progress, with a little persistence thrown in for good measure. We need some sort of system to keep us organized and accountable. The best method is to keep all information and planning in one place. With either the use of a day planner or the Outlook program on your computer you can organize important task and track your actions.
5. Review your Actions
Goal Setting is a process that takes time and commitment. When breaking down our goals into tasks and actions, patience is definitely required. All tasks and actions should be reviewed at least once a week. The great thing about frequent review is that this forces us to take a realistic look at our progress and the decisions we are making. Regular review allows us to notice tasks and actions that aren’t being achieved on time.
6. Celebrate your Success and Renew Your Goals
Being a Goal Setter and a Goal Getter is a confidence building, motivational creating experience. Goal Getting allows us to gain the knowledge to increase our goals and make new ones. It builds a sense of pride in our self and our staff members. Finally, Goal Getting is mark of a true professional and separates professionals from amateurs.
Mark and Elizabeth Casey Premier Martial Arts 1-(360)-956-0888 www.pmatumwater.com
I hope everyone had an outstanding Christmas! I want to remind everyone that there is only 4 spots left for the PMA rank camp on January 2nd and only 3 spots left for the Kajukenbo camp on the January 9th! Both camps start at 9am to 3pm! Email with any questions, discount if you do both camps! If you didn't get the flier on the camps I can email it to you. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Some food for thought as this next week goes by. The end of the year is just a few days away. I want to encourage you all to look back at this last year. What you have accomplished and what you wanted to accomplish. Look back at the victories and challenges. Now look at the new year, all the promise it has to offer. What are you going to do with your time, your dreams, your goals? Our opportunities are right in front of us, we need to reach out and grab them. I know that each and everyone of you has what it takes to reach your goals! I know that by training in the martial arts you have seen that you can accomplish anything! A couple of things I suggest for you to get the best results in reaching your goals this next year.
1. Write them down.
2. Be very specific about your goals. Don't just write down I want to get in shape. Write down how much strength you want to gain (bench press 175#'s) How much weight you want to lose, how far you want to run, etc.
3. Set a date to when you want to reach the goal. A goal with out a date is just a wish!
4. Separate your goals into short term and long term goals. ie short term with in a year, long term with in 5 years.
5. Make a plan as to how you want to reach the goals, meaning what steps it will take to reach them. For example if your goal is to lose weight then the action steps would be how often and what schedule you will work out on, and an eating plan that doesn't include daily trips to McDonald's!
6. Put your goals, plans, and date to achieve goals in a place where you will see them everyday. On your bed room door, bathroom mirror, etc.
A final note on goals. Just remember that every step/action you take is getting you either closer or farther away from your goal!
Those that have reached the goal of Black Belt know that there is much more to learn and the goals get steeper!
Last thing, a question:
WHAT'S YOUR GOAL?
Mark and Elizabeth Casey Premier Martial Arts 1-(360)-956-0888
Jan Cereghino: Today, we received a letter stating that Nic had been accepted into National Honor Society. He had to write a paper about a topic. He selected leadership and chose to write about his Sifu, Mark Casey, and his experience with his karate school.
Elizabeth Casey: Oh wow!! I would love to see it when it is finished.
Jan Cereghino: I will give you a copy of his paper. It was very heartfelt. You must never ever feel that what you are doing does not have an impact. I am sending all of the Casey family a "You Rock!"
Elizabeth Casey: Thank you. I was just telling Sifu Mark that alot of people own businesses but we have one of the only ones that can positively impact so many in so many ways. We have people that still contact us or come to the academy that trained years ago. Some were teens that now have kids of their own or adults that have moved away and still keep in touch. This is something that we will do the rest of our lives.
Jan Cereghino: I printed out a copy of Nic's letter and will bring it to class on Friday. Being a teacher is a very rewarding career. You have no idea, really, the influence you have on others. I am proud to be a teacher. And, I am also proud to be your student. You, and your family, are such a treasure.
Mark Casey: Jan I am so proud of him! he is a one in a million! I am touched that he wrote about leadership, Martial arts and me. What an honor!
Are you a Goal Setter or a Goal Quitter?
Steps for Successful Goal Setting
Wherever I go,