Bite-Sized Training™

Personal Goal Setting

Personal Goal Setting
Bite-Sized Training

This e-book is published by Mind Tools Ltd.

Copyright © Mind Tools Ltd 2007-2013. All rights reserved.

Version 2.0.

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You may use it only if you are a member of the Mind
Tools Club™. If you have any queries, please contact us at
members.helpdesk@mindtools.com.

Cover image © iStockphoto/ermingut.

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Why Set Goals? 2

3. Setting and Managing Goals 3

4. SMART Goal Setting 7

5. Staying on Top of Goals 9

6. Key Learning Points 10

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1.  Introduction

A
lmost everyone wants to make progress in life, in some way. We have
career ambitions and family goals, places that we’d like to visit and things
we’d like to own, along with a host of other aspirations.
These ambitions can be large or small – you might want to become CEO,
or you might want to own a pet dog.
Unfortunately, though, people often fail to achieve their ambitions, and this is
often because they haven’t made and followed a conscious plan.
In this Bite-Sized Training™ session, you’ll learn how to create this plan, by setting
personal goals that will guide you to the success that you desire and deserve.
Goal setting is not a difficult concept, but with careful thought and a rigorous
sequential process, it will power you towards achieving your ambitions.
This training session will show you how to:
• Understand the value of goal setting, not simply as a means to achieve
your personal and professional ambitions, but also as a tool that you can
use to build self-confidence and increase your motivation.
• Break your lifetime goals down into shorter-term, manageable goals.
• Set SMART goals that help you get maximum reward from your
goal-setting process.
• Understand why it’s important to review and stay on top of your goals.

Note:
This Bite-Sized Training™ session will take around an hour to complete, and
the exercises show you how to use the technique of goal setting.

However, you should spend more time than this when you actually set
your goals – set aside 2-3 hours to do this properly.

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2.  Why Set Goals?

G
oal setting gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It helps
you to organize your time and your resources, so that you can make the
most of your life.
You can also measure and take pride in the achievement of the goals that
you’ve set for yourself, and you’ll be able to recognize the progress that you make
as you go through your life. All of this boosts your self-confidence.
For instance, let’s take a fiction writer: if she doesn’t set herself goals, she may never
actually write a book. Without focus or self-motivation, it’s unlikely that she’ll make
any progress. Her confidence will ebb, and, eventually, her editor will stop calling.
However, if she sets herself a goal to complete a three-book series in two years,
and then breaks that down into shorter-term tasks – such as to complete the first
book within nine months, to write the first chapter in two months, to complete her
research in one month, to define the characters in two weeks, and so on – she will
see her progress clearly, gain confidence in her abilities, and be more motivated.
In addition, if she sets these goals in collaboration with her editor, the editor can
easily monitor progress, and he can be confident that she’ll meet her deadlines.
Both the writer and editor benefit from this.
Whether you realize it or not, you probably already set some goals. For example:
“arrange a meeting with Julie,” or “finish sales report.” It’s only when you crystallize
them carefully, however, that goals provide the focus and motivation that leads
to success.

Action:
Give two examples of goals (tasks) that you needed to achieve yesterday.
Check the box if you did them.

Tasks that you needed to do yesterday: Completed?

1.

2.

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3.  Setting and Managing Goals

W
ith goal setting, you do need to invest a small amount of time at the
outset. However, once you’ve set your goals, you’ll find them easy to
manage, and you’ll save time (as well as increase your confidence and
self-motivation), as you identify and reject activities that distract you
from your ultimate aims.

Setting Lifetime Goals

When you set goals, your first task is to consider the “big picture.” Where do you
want to be in the distant future?
Brainstorm the important areas of your personal and professional life, and set
yourself goals in each area. Crucially, you must write your goals down.

Action:
Note down lifetime goals for the important areas of your life. These could be:

Life Category Lifetime Goal

Career What level do you want to reach?

Family What family do you want to have (partner, children, and so on)?

Finance What do you want your financial position to be (salary, savings, and so on)?

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 Education What knowledge do you want to acquire, and what skills do you need?

Artistic What artistic goals do you want to achieve?

Attitude Is any part of your mindset holding you back? If so, what?

Physical What athletic goals do you want to achieve?

Pleasure How do you want to enjoy yourself?

Public Service Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?

Note:
Make sure that these are your goals, and that they aren’t what other people
want you to achieve!

If you’re struggling with setting Lifetime Goals, download and use our Life
Plan Workbook ($), which will help you through this process.

Once you have established long-term goals for various areas of your life, look
through them carefully to see if you can either trim them (because they are
not truly significant in light of the other goals), or combine them, to reduce the
overall number.
For example, if your financial goal is strongly linked to your career goal, you might
be able to merge them easily.

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Setting Smaller Goals
Lifetime goals, by definition, involve a long-term plan. You cannot achieve them
in one action. Instead, you will need to complete quite a number of dedicated
smaller actions first. Once you have crystallized your lifetime goals, however, these
smaller steps are quite easy to identify. As you take each step, you will gain the
sense of wellbeing that makes goal setting such a powerful technique.
Goal setting is a sequential process. For each of your lifetime goals, you need to
set gradually shorter-term goals that, as they are met, will help you achieve your
lifetime goals.

Note:
In the early stages of a goal plan, short-term goals are often research-based.
You might also enroll on courses, or ask for training.

Action:
Consider someone leaving school who wants to be a chef. His lifetime career
goal is to own a successful fish restaurant. In five years, his goal is to become a
Head Chef. Suggest a one-year and six-month goal for him, in the table below.

Time Frame Career Goal

Lifetime Manage a fish restaurant.

Five Years Become a Head Chef.

One Year

Six Months

Action:
Consider your lifetime career goal from the earlier exercise. Break this down
into a five-year and one-year goal, on the next page.

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Time Frame Career Goal

Lifetime

Five-Year

One-Year

The actual timeframes that you use to break your goals down can be flexible. For
instance, if you are about to start a six-year degree course, a six-year goal might be
more appropriate than a five-year one.
One you’ve broken down your goals into specific timeframes, think about the
individual actions that you need to take to achieve them. Break large tasks down
into smaller action steps to make them manageable – ideally, action steps should
take no longer than 1-2 hours to complete.
Whatever time frames you use, make sure that you keep your next actions on a
To-Do List or Action Program. By using them, you’ll remember to carry out all your
tasks, you’ll tackle your most important actions first, and you won’t get stressed by
unimportant jobs.
This helps you work with purpose, and get satisfaction when you complete
each action.

Setting Non-Work Goals

It’s very easy to become engrossed in career and financial goals. However, do you
get so focused on these that you miss a friend’s birthday?
Occasionally, it’s useful to take a “helicopter view” of your life in order to highlight
which areas are off-balance and in need of some attention. Take a step back
and brainstorm the areas of your life that are important. Is there anything that
you’ve neglected?
If so, use goal setting to ensure that you address these needs, as well as your career
and financial goals. This direction helps you avoid distractions, and ensures that
you’re doing everything in your power to achieve your long-term vision.

Tip:
Life coaches often use the idea of the “Wheel of Life” to do this. Take some time
to explore this idea.

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4.  SMART Goal Setting

A
useful way to make goals more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic.
While there are plenty of variants (some of which we’ve included in
parenthesis), SMART usually stands for:

• S – Specific (or Significant).

• M – Measurable (or Meaningful).
• A – Attainable (or Action-oriented).
• R – Relevant (or Rewarding).
• T – Time-bound (or Trackable).
Let’s look at each letter in more detail:

Letter Implications

S Specific goals are unambiguous and behavioral. They state precisely what is
expected, without leaving any “wiggle room.”

M Measurable goals have a clear statement of what the end-point is, so that you
know when you have achieved them.

A Attainable goals are those which are possible to achieve.

Note: Challenge must be part of this – you’ll gain little motivation, or satisfaction,
when you complete a task that’s too easy!

R Relevant goals are those that support your life plan.

T Time-bound goals state exactly how long the goal should take to complete.
Note: If you don’t achieve a goal in the time-frame you specified, you should
amend it, or dismiss it and move on.

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An example of a non-SMART goal might be: “Get a promotion.” When written like
this, it isn’t a very useful goal.
However, this becomes much more powerful when you write it as: “Get promoted
to product manager at the January review meeting.” This is specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Action:
Look again at your lifetime, five-year, and one-year career goals. Are they
SMART? Check the table on page 7 to say whether they meet the SMART
criteria. If they do not meet all of the criteria, re-write them as SMART goals in
the box provided:

Goal SMART Goal

Lifetime

Five-Year

One-Year

Tip:
There’s more information on how to use SMART in this article.

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5.  Staying on Top of Goals

O
nce you’ve set your goals, you can start to achieve them!
Although this is largely beyond the scope of this Bite-Sized Training
session, it’s worth mentioning that the key to this is review. You should
review and update your To-Do List or Action Program every day to
ensure that tasks are relevant, and that you stay on track.
You should also review longer-term goals periodically, so that you can modify
them to reflect changes in knowledge, ambition, or circumstance, and, most
importantly, so that you can reward yourself when you have met your goals.

Note:
It’s useful to record your goals electronically. For example, you could use a
word processor document, cloud-based software, or an app. This makes it
easy to review, edit, print, back up, and access your goals.

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6.  Key Learning Points

G
oal setting is a sequential process that takes some initial time investment.
The return on that investment is a long-term vision, increased focus, and
higher self-confidence and motivation. Indeed, goal setting is widely
considered to be the most powerful process for personal planning.
The process is not constrained to a professional setting. You should brainstorm
and set lifetime goals for all the areas of your life that are important. You can then
break them down into five-year goals, one-year goals, and shorter-term targets.
When you have direction, you can avoid distractions, and you can be sure you’re
doing everything that you can to achieve your long-term vision.
When setting goals, remember that they should be SMART. The value of SMART
goal setting is supported by detailed research, and it helps you ensure that you
gain the greatest possible reward in terms of success from your goals.
Once you start to set formalized goals, you will see your career, and life in general,
accelerating in the direction you have chosen. You’ll wonder how you ever
managed without them!

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