The first 11 months of 2019 have come and gone. As a manager, by now you’ve set your primary strategic goals for 2020 and the start of the new decade, pinpointed the destination, and painted a clear picture of what winning looks like for yourself and your organisation. The next step involves one of the most important leadership roles and skills, setting everyone else in the organisation up for success.

After setting the target, compare your current reality with your destination to identify any gaps. Then constantly define and redefine what you’re trying to accomplish and where you’re trying to go as the world around you changes.

To help people stay focused, help your team set clear individual goals that link directly to the organisation’s key strategies for winning. Then give ongoing feedback throughout the year on how individuals and the organisation are doing. A great way of setting your team and your organisation up for success is by helping them live their best life in 2020 and beyond.

Many people feel as if they are adrift and lost in the world. They work hard, but they don’t seem to get anywhere worthwhile.

A key reason that they feel this way is that they have not spent enough time thinking about what they want from life and have not set themselves formal goals. After all, would you set out on a major journey with no real idea of your destination? I don’t think so. Take the team through the steps outlined below:

How to set a goal

First consider what you want to achieve, then commit to it. Set SMART (specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) goals that motivate you and write them down to make them feel tangible, then plan the steps you must take to realise your goal and cross off each one as you work through them.
The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You’ll also quickly spot the distractions that can easily lead you astray.

Why set goals?

Top-level athletes, successful businesspeople and achievers all set goals. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organise your time and your resources so that you can make the most of your life.
By setting sharp and clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. 

Starting to set personal goals.

You set your goals on a number of levels. First you create your bigger picture of what you want to do with your life, then identify the large-scale goals that you want to achieve.
Break them down into the smaller targets that you must meet to reach your lifetime goals. Finally, once you have your plan, you start working on it to achieve these goals.
This is why you need to start the process of setting goals by looking at your lifetime goals. Work down to the things that you can do in, say, the next two years, then next year, next month, next week and today, to start moving towards them.

Step 1: Setting lifetime goals
The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime. Setting lifetime goals gives you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision making.

To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in some of the following:

Career
What level do you want to reach in your career or what do you want to achieve?

• Financial 

How much do you want to earn, by what stage? How is this related to your career goals?

• Education 

Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and skills will you need to achieve other goals?

• Attitude 

Is any part of your mind set holding you back? Is there any part of how you behave that upsets you? If so, set a goal to improve your behaviour or find a solution to the problem.

•  Physical 

Are there any athletic goals that you want to achieve or do you want good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve it?
Spend some time brainstorming these things. Choose one or more goals in each category that best reflects what you want to do. Consider trimming the list down again so that you have a handful of really significant goals that you can focus on.

As you do this, make sure that the goals that you have set are ones that you genuinely want to achieve. If you have a partner, you probably want to consider what he or she wants. However, make sure that you also remain true to yourself.

Step 2: Setting smaller goals

Once you have set your lifetime goals, set a two-year plan of smaller goals that you need to complete if you are to reach your lifetime plan.
Create a one-year plan, six-month plan and a one-month plan of progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your lifetime goals. Each of them should be based on the previous plan.

Then create a daily to-do list of things that you should do today to work towards your lifetime goals. At an early stage, your smaller goals might be gather information on the achievement of your higher level goals. This will help you to improve the quality and realism of your goal setting. 

Finally, review your plans to make sure that they fit the way in which you want to live your life.

Step 3: Staying on course

Once you’ve decided on your goals, keep the process going by reviewing and updating your to-do list daily. Review the longer term plans regularly to modify them to reflect your changing priorities and experience.

Supplied by Fried Tomato.

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