Success Tip For 2007 – Set Empowering & Clearly Defined Goals
December 28, 2006
Year 2006 is coming to an end soon. To me, it has been a great year for me as I’ve managed to bring myself out of my comfort zone and take massive actions towards my dreams and goals.
It has been a great year of learning and growth for me and I certainly look forward to another year of purpose in year 2007. I’ve picked up several success tips from severaly self-improvement books I’ve read and I would like to share with everyone.
Hence, in this success tips series, I’m going to share with everyone some success tips which I feel everyone should adopt in order to make 2007 a year to remember for all of us.
1. Set Empowering & Clearly Defined Goals
There’s this famous example about a research done at Yale University in 1952. In the research study, it was found out that only 3% of the graduating batch of students had set for themselves clearly defined goals. On the other hand, the remaining 97% had no idea what they really wanted in life.
Twenty years later, a follow up study was done and a shocking truth was revealed: The combined income of the 3% of students who had clearly defined goals was actually more than the combined income of the remaining 97% of students.
This is by no means coincidental. I’ve gone through several stories of the most successful people in the world and they all knew exactly what they wanted since a young age. Tiger Woods made a bold statement when he was only eight years old that he was going to become the world no.1 golfer. And look where is he now?
There are tons of other examples of similar success stories like his, and the similarity is these people all set clearly defined goals. Now by this I’m not referring to your normal new year resolutions. I myself have set tons of those only for them to be forgotten.
You’ve got to set goals that will truly stretch your limits and empower yourself towards attaining huge success. And you have to review and evaluate your goals constantly to ensure you remain on track towards achieving them.
One good formula I’ve learnt is the S-M-A-R-T Goals Formula:
1. Specific
One of the main reasons people do not achieve what they want is because they are not definite about what they want. You’ve got to make sure that the goals you set are clearly defined and specific.
Do not set vague goals like ‘I want to make more money’. Well, this could mean making a few dollars extra, a few hundred dollars extra or even a few hundred thousand dollars extra. Unless you know how much more money you want to make, you will never be able to develop a realistic action plan to achieve your goal.
Hence, instead of saying you want to make more money, set a goal of ‘earning an income of $5000 per month’ for instance.
2. Measurable
If you can’t measure your goals, you can’t manage it. Hence, choose a goal with measurable progress, so you can see the change occur.
An example will be I want to lose 2Kg by February.
You should establish concrete criteria for measuring progress towards the attainminet of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goals.
3. Attainable
Now, by this I’m not suggesting you set goals that are easily attainable. In order to really stretch yourself and bring about greater success, you’ve got to set goals that are able to challenge and excite you.
The reason why people are not often motivated to their goals is because the goals they set do not excite them. Thus, in order to ignite the passion and fire in yourself, you’ve got to set challenging and inspiring goals.
Nonetheless, you’ve got to make sure they’re exciting yet attainable. If they’re not attainable, one would simply give up.
4. Realistic
Once again, this is not a synonym for ‘easy’. Realistic, in this case, means ‘do-able’. In order for your goals to be realistic, you’ve got to devise a concrete plan that will ensure that you’re able to achieve them.
Hence, you have the ability to make your goals realistic. Just be sure to set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement and formulate a consistent action plan.
However, unrealistic goals include changing the forces of nature or trying to change the science of how things work. So be sure not to fall into the trap of setting unrealistic goals.
5. Timely
By this, it refers to setting a timeframe for your goals. You’ve got to set a deadline by which you want to achieve a certain goal.
If you do not set a time, the commitment is too vague. There’s no sense of urgency and you will tend to procrastinate. Chances are, you will simply forget about that goal as you’re not compelled to take action.
Hence, always set a deadline that will force you to start immediately and stick to your deadline!
So there you have it! The S-M-A-R-T formula for creating empowering goals. So what are you waiting for? Start setting clearly defined goals for 2007 and I’m sure it will be a meaningful & purposeful year to come. Write it down and stick it on your wall so that you will be reminded of them every single day! Visualize yourself achieving those goals and think about how you would feel if you were to achieve them?
With that, I shall leave you to setting your own goals and I shall continue with my success tips tomorrow. Good luck and have fun setting your goals!
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7 Responses to “Success Tip For 2007 – Set Empowering & Clearly Defined Goals”
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Precisely. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Recently, i went kayaking from Pasir Ris beach to P. Ubin which is directly across a short stretch of water. My friend who is an avid kayaker, advised me to look for a landmark on the opposite coast, then kayak towards it, instead of just kayaking forward. His reason was simple. Because the waves and currents will bring you off course even though you seem to be rowing forward all the time. But if you always row in the direction of the landmark, you are bound to hit the bank where the landmark is. True enough, I reached the landmark spot quite effortlessly.
In life, the challenges we face everyday is likened to the waves and currents which only serve to impede your progress and deviate your desired direction in life. So it is absolutely vital to set well-defined goals, just like setting a landmark on the opposite coast before you kayak, so that regardless of the challenges we face everyday, we are bound to succeed, with hard work of course!
Hi Weiming,
I cannot agree lesser to your comment. It’s a sad truth but many ppl actually choose to give up after facing some obstacles in life. What they fail to realize is, life is full of ups and downs and just like the waves which you described.
Most importantly, we must accept that everyone fails at some pt of time in life. But it is the ability to turn failure into success that will really determine if you’re able to achieve your goals and dreams.
Hence, set well-defined goals and make sure every step you take leads you towards them. Do not be distracted by the waves in your life and keep working towards your targets!
Good luck to achieving your goals in the coming year bro!
The SMART formula is quite useful formula 4 me and it’s easy to remember. Now dat e new yr is here, it will serve me well coz i can use it to set goals for the coming yr. thx for sharing the formula w me!
happy new yr!
Hi Calvin,
I’ve jus downloaded your eBook and I must say i’m really impressed. Considering the fact that you’re only an undergraduate, to be able to conjure up an eBook of such quality is really impressive.
I still remember when i was an undergraduate, i used to have many business ideas only to played down by my parents and friends. all the advice they cld offer was for me to concentrate on my studies and nth else. hence, when i look back, i really regretted for not following my dreams.
hence to see that you are so determined to follow your dreams, it really inspires me right now to reach for greater hieghts too.
To be frank, i’ve been reading up a bit on internet marketing. But your eBook really provides useful tips on creating online income streams, some of which I wasn’t even aware of.
I’m already starting to implement some of your strategies and is starting to see some results. Thanks and keep all the free stuffs coming in!
Hi Paul,
yeah i also get played down by many ppl when I share with them my dreams. Most wld comment that i’m simply being unrealistic and shld jus focus on getting good grades and get a gd job.
However, I’ve soon grown to realize that I must not be discouraged by pessimistic ppl and jus follow my dreams.
Hence, I hope that you will strive hard towards your dreams too and succeed in achieving them.
I’m happy to hear that you found our book beneficial and even happier that you’re starting to see some results.
I’ve received many emails by ppl saying they do not know how to start. The best advice I can give is for them to really think about what they want to achieve and why they want to achieve it. Thereafter, read through the book carefully and start taking action.
You’ve got to try out some of the strategies mentioned and read through the resources recommended.
Remember, without action, there will be no results. And you’ve got to decide for yourself what is the price you’re willing to pay in order to achieve the success you desire. Hence, do not procrastinate even one second and work towards your goals!
Anw, I’ll be adding more bonuses and free stuffs in the members area so stay tuned for it!
Hi teen_user,
Glad that you found the SMART formula useful. Now there’s another advice for setting goals. I may not have emphasized it enough in my post so i shall say it here again. It’s important that the goals you set really motivate and stretch you to your full potential.
Do not worry about setting your goals too high. No doubt, it has to be realistic. But lets say you set a goal to earn $5000 a month and eventually you only earn $4000. No doubt you may not reach your targeted income of $5000. But you have succeeded in raising your standards, and it’s better than setting a low target of $2000 and reaching it effortlessly.
The bottomline is, once you set a goal, you’ve got to be absolutely committed to achieving it and you’ve got to devise a concrete plan to reach it.
With that, I wish you all the best in achieving your goals and do let me know when you achieved them!
Happy New Yr too!
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