Robert Mallon

As we stated in Session 5, Steps 1-4 are all about actually setting the goal.  If you’ve not read that session yet, please hit the link and review those before continuing with this post.  Session 5

Let’s begin to explore what to do after you’ve set the goal by learning steps 5 and 6.

Step 5: LIST ACTIONS

Now that you’ve determined exactly what you want and you’ve written that goal down, I want you to begin thinking about how you’re going to accomplish it.

At this point, you’ll grab a piece of paper or a legal pad and begin thinking about what steps you’re going to take.  As you do this, I want you to write down anything that comes to mind.  There is no order here—just write it down.  Many times you’ll find that doing this with someone else is a good idea.  It’s true that two heads are better than one.

Also, write down everything, no matter how strange it might sound at first.  I’ve found that many of the “strange” things end up being some of the “best” things!  Just keep writing.

As a side note, I’ve also done this step on a dry erase board when I’m working with a larger group.  You could also use a flip chart if you have one handy.

There are times when I’ll also set a timer for 10 minutes, as I do this.  Don’t stop for anything before the timer goes off–just keep writing and let the ideas flow.

Step 6: ORGANIZE THE ACTIONS

With the list of actions in front of you., it’s time to start thinking about time frames.  So I want you to start putting completion dates by each of the actions you’ve written down.

In the picture below, you’ll see the actions steps that one of my clients and I created this week.  She’s a Landscape Architect.  As you can see, one of her goals was to organize her office and file all the projects that she’s working on by February 29^th, 2012.

Once we clarified the goal, I started asking her how she was going to accomplish it.  We went into her office and started making a list of actions.  As she spoke, I typed them into the Excel spreadsheet that you see.

Then we sat down with a calendar and she started telling me when she was going to complete each task.  I typed in the dates as she told them to me.

When we finished, I did a “sort” function on the dates so they they were in order from newest to oldest.

Then we hit print, and she was on her way.

It’s that easy!!!

Hopefully the process makes sense to you.  If you have any questions, please send them to  Robert@RMallon.com and I’ll be happy to answer them.

If you’ve read each of the six posts so far, you probably know more about goal setting than 95% of the people on the planet.

But we’re not done yet.  See you in the next post!

Tá an deireadh seachtaine iontach!

Over the last four sessions, we’ve begun to define what a great goal is, and we’ve started exploring what it means to build a goal.

Today we’re going to begin talking about some of the steps you’re going to take when crafting a goal.

Over the years, I’ve devised some very specific steps to be used when you’re creating a goal.  I’ve taught these to thousands of people over the years, and have witnessed some very dramatic results.  They work—if you work them!

Here’s what I call the “9-Steps of Setting Goals:”  Continue reading →

In the last session, we came up with a simple, easy-to-use definition for goals.  If you’ve not read that one yet, you can find it here (Session 3).

Today, we’re going to discuss SMART goals.

I’m quite sure that many of you have heard of this acronym before.  Even if you have, I want you to keep an open mind about learning a little more on the subject.

Whenever you’re setting a goal, you want to make sure it’s SMART.  Here’s what that means:  Continue reading →

Today I want to take a couple of minutes to discuss how we’re going to define goals.

As we talked about in Session 1, there are many reasons that people don’t like goals. Two of these were Fear of Failure and Intimidation.

Many times we’re afraid of goals because they seem so big that we fear that we can’t possibly accomplish them. I want to change that for you by giving you a clear, practical definition of goals:  Continue reading →

In our last session, we discussed some of the reasons why people DON’T like goals. Hopefully you discovered a reason or two that might be getting in your way.  Self-awareness is key.

(If you missed that session, hit this link: Session 1 )

Today, I want to begin showing you what your goals are going to look like.  And remember, we’re taking baby steps.

The way I want you to think about goals from today forward: Continue reading →