A few years ago I took an undergraduate speech class. One of my assignments was to give a speech that taught the class a skill. The subject I chose was how to set goals. I included in this speech a handout that listed 100 things I wanted to achieve before I died. Over the years, I have added more items to this list as I have checked things off. There are many examples of these lists on the internet especially after the movie The Bucket List came out in 2007. I believe that everyone should have their own written list. I realize that many people today use electronics, but a printed copy should be placed someplace where you will see it daily, maybe the back of the front door or taped to your laptop.
My whole life I have been a very goal driven person.
(Stereotypically this has been a positive attribute for a man not a
woman.) Recently I have felt sort of stagnant. A cousin recommended a
blog and book by Jon Acuff. He has some great incite on achieving goals.
A conversation I had last night reminded me of how short of a time each person has here on earth. We aren't guaranteed tomorrow. If we have crappy things happen to us in our childhoods, then as adults we can't spend our lives blaming others for how our life turns out. At some point, we have to realize that we are solely responsible for our reactions to what happens in life.
I'd be interested to read what you wrote about setting goals. Did you go on to teaching how to accomplish the goals? Honest question, not being snarky. My approach is like this. I call it the Five P's.
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2. Plan - Figure out what you need to do to accomplish the goal, be it getting fit, painting a house, building a garden, etc. Decide what steps need to be taken and in what order. Again, be specific.
3. Prepare - Get the necessary material, books, space, research, and so on. Review your plan and make sure that your preparations meet the plan's needs.
4. Perform - The actual execution of your project. Depending on what your are doing, this can be the shortest part of the task or the longest.
5. Pick up - Clean up your mess if there is one. A job never feels complete until you have tidied up afterward.
I think the speech was around ten minutes long. First I talked about goals that I had set in the past in which I had to overcome some large obstacles. I gave examples about not giving up even when the odds were stacked against you. I demonstrated some on breaking large goals down into small bite size steps. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to go too in depth. One item you brought up that I hadn't considered was the pick up afterwards. This really is an important step. In the corporate world this usually includes a meeting about what worked and what didn't.
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