Goal Setting: Hitting the Target

The week of Thanksgiving was always a great week growing up in Wisconsin. There is the obvious reason of all the great food on Thanksgiving Day and there was also being around family and the Dallas Cowboys football game! It was also deer hunting season in Wisconsin which led me to our cabin for a few days of hitting the woods in search of the elusive whitetail. On the occasion that one would pass by, I always seemed to have trouble hitting my target. It also made it tougher when they were moving. A moving target is always going to be more difficult to hit, maybe the only thing harder would be no target at all. Unless having no target is easier because....wait, back on point.

At work we have targets or goals that we are trying to reach and we spend a lot of time thinking about them and monitoring them. The past few months I have been thinking about my personal goals. Some of those goals include: health, financial, experiences, and more! As I was reflecting on them, I realized that I do not spend the same amount of time or expend the same amount of effort on my personal goals as I do my work goals. I am thinking that needs to change. In January I began to write down goals that I am working towards for this year. I divided those goals up into 4 quarterly targets and reflected on my progress so far. I am happy to say that in some areas, I have met the quarterly goals and in some areas, there is still work to do.

When thinking about goal setting, there are a couple ways you could go about it. The first one is to use the SMART goal approach. The second approach you might not be as familiar with, DUMB goals. I have provided a link to the video that introduced the idea to me for you to check out if you are interested.

SMART Goals: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, Time bound

DUMB Goals: Dream driven, Uplifting, Method friendly, Behavior triggered

Most of my goals that I have set probably fall into the SMART goal area though I would like to continue to think about DUMB goals and push myself more towards those or at least to have one or two that I am working towards. What ever you choose, I encourage you to take out a sheet of paper or your journal and write down those goals that you want to achieve. By writing them down and keeping  them in front of you, you are more likely to accomplish them. In a future post, I will discuss other strategies for keeping on track with your goals.

Question for Reflection:
What are your goals for 2016? Did you have New Year's resolutions for this year, are you still on track? (If you do not have any, it is not too late to set them and begin working towards them!)

As always, take care and wishing you all the best.