Personality Development : Goal setting strategies

[sk_kireeti]

OVERVIEW

For many years, people lived with the mistaken belief that their home life and their work could be totally separate. Many people gave their families and personal lives a back seat to their careers, chasing only the carrot of success while other facets of their lives suffered.
In the 1960's the pendulum began to swing in the other direction. Young people in our country started questioning the traditional values of the "establishment." They denounced the work ethic and advocated recognizing people as individuals with needs that extended beyond work alone. They had a good point but perhaps they pushed the pendulum too far. It is undeniable that a person's needs and identity encompass more than what he or she does for a living.
Balance

We all need to keep our lives in balance. It is important to realize and accept the fact that many needs must be fulfilled if we are to be well adjusted and happy. Our basic needs fall into seven categories:

• Mental: The functions of your mind memory, concentration, learning, creativity, reasoning, mathematical ability, etc.
• Physical: The many functions of your body overall fitness, percent of body fat, skills and abilities, agility, endurance, etc.
• Family: Your relationships with the special people you consider part of your family
• Social: Your relationships with others outside the family and outside your business
• Spiritual: Your relationship between you and your Creator; also defined as the philosophical and humanitarian areas of your life
• Career: Your involvement in your chosen field, both on and off the job
• Financial: The management of your financial resources and obligations

In many ways we are like the fragile ecosystem of the environment in which we live. The different elements of our lives are interdependent. One need affects the others, especially when it is grossly neglected. For example, we all know that financial problems affect personal outlook, health, social life, and family life. It is for this reason that practitioners of holistic medicine examine all facets of a person's life when they search for the cause of a physical illness.
There is no escaping the fact that we are complex beings with complex needs. Our needs are dynamic rather than static that is, they change. At one point in our lives the development of a career may require more time than our spiritual or family needs. At some other time, physical needs may be emphasized more than social or financial needs. Just because one need is more urgent than others does not mean that the others disappear. They, too, must receive at least a minimal amount of attention. Rarely can a need be completely neglected without unpleasant consequences.
To begin your career effectively, you need to work at bringing your life into balance. This requires goal setting identifying the end results you would like to achieve for each facet of your life. Only then can you plan the concrete steps and intermediate goals that stand between your present situation and your ideal concept of yourself.

The Importance of Goals

"Most people aim at nothing in life… and hit it with amazing accuracy." (Anonymous)
Such a statement is a sad commentary about people, but it is true. It is the striving for and the attainment of goals that makes life meaningful. Lewis Carroll stated this point beautifully in Alice in Wonderland (Through the Looking Glass):
Alice: Mr. Cat, which of these paths shall I take?
Cheshire Cat: Well, my dear, where do you want to go?
Alice: I don't suppose it really matters.
Cheshire Cat: Then, my dear, any path will do!
No matter what kind of traveling you are doing whether it is through your life or across the country by car if you do not know where you are going, you will never know if you have arrived. Taking "any" road will leave your fulfillment to chance and that is not good enough!
People who have no goals walk around feeling emotionally, socially, spiritually, physically, and professionally unbalanced. This can only cause anxiety. People who have goals are taken seriously and are respected by their peers. It is a sign of strength to you make decisions that positively affect the direction of your life.
History demonstrates innumerable examples of the importance of goal setting. Can you imagine the following exchange taking place after Sir Edmund Hillary returned from Mount Everest?
Reporter: Congratulations, Sir Hillary! Tell me, why did you become the first man to conquer Mount Everest?
Sir Hillary: I was just wandering around trying to become inspired when I ended up on the top of this mountain.
Reporter: Really! Did it work?
Sir Hillary: Yes, but by the time I got back I forgot what my brilliant idea was!
Of course, this scenario is absurd because such a monumental feat such as climbing Mount Everest would take some serious goal setting and planning. Naturally, Sir Hillary had to work hard to gain the knowledge and physical skill necessary for the climb. He also had to acquire the help of a team of experts and procure all the equipment. The planning stages must have taken an enormous amount of time longer, no doubt, than the climb itself.
The same principles apply to success in your career. You must identify your goal and map out the steps that will take you there.
Goals, when earnestly pursued, give people reasons to do some things and to avoid other things. We know a young man who has never been involved with drugs or in trouble with the law. We marvel at his good fortune and strength of character. When he was ten years old, he set himself a goal, to be an astronaut. At last report, he had graduated from the U. S. Air Force Academy with a degree in engineering. His goal was so important that he avoided doing anything to hurt his chances of success. Goals give us purpose and channel our energies.
It is easy to spot a person who has a clear set of goals. That person is the one who exudes a sense of purpose and determination. He or she has abundant energy and is willing to put more time and effort into any given task. Being goal oriented helps one become more positive, optimistic, and assertive.
We can think of ourselves as bodies of water. Someone without goals is like a stagnant lake, spread out, with no movement. The lake just sits there motionless at the bottom of a mountain. A goal-oriented person is like a river forging its way through obstacles in its way, the mountains. The river has movement. It is exciting and it carries things with it in its flow of enthusiasm.
In recent years many studies have focused on productivity. One finding repeatedly confirmed is that people who continuously set, pursue, and monitor their career goals are more productive than people who just "work at a job." Pride in and ownership of one's choices are important ingredients in career satisfaction and success. In contrast, the uninspired worker goes home at the end of the day, having gained nothing more than a few dollars and a lot of aggravation.
Even on the factory-worker level, it has been shown that productivity will increase if a better incentive (goal) is provided for the worker. We all know that piece workers are more productive than salaried employees. This proves the "WIIFM" principle: What's In It For Me? The greater the rewards are, the higher the drive is to attain the goals set. The individual chooses the goals with the most desirable payoff.
Almost every speaker, writer, and educator in the area of personal success agrees that committing your goals to paper is a necessary step in committing one's life to attaining those goals. If you take the time to do this, you will stack the odds in your favor and be on your way to becoming more successful than those who do not commit their goals to writing.
The dividends reaped by investing in yourself are unlike any found in the financial world. When you clarify your values and set goals in all the major areas of your life, the right roads appear in front of you like mirages in the desert. Yet, rather than mirages, they are real! Choices become infinitely easier to make and you have taken a giant step toward living a balanced life.

Foundation Development

Unfortunately, our society is externally oriented. We judge books by their covers, people by their wealth or beauty, and jeans by their designers. Our culture teaches us superficial values by which to live and judge others. These values are not conducive to the development of the qualities of inner strength, sensitivity, patience, thoughtfulness, compassion, or other virtues necessary for well-adjusted, happy individuals. Yet to strive long and hard toward an important goal one should possess a firm foundation of these inner qualities. This is true for any endeavor requiring inner fortitude.
The same principle applies to psychotherapy. Before a client can start on the path to being well-adjusted (balanced), his or her basic values must be explored and clarified.
Building a successful career is like building a house. If your foundation of inner qualities is strong, you can continue to rise on each completed accomplishment. If your foundation is weak, however, it could all crumble in a storm, such as a personal slump or weak economy.

Assumptions and Their Effect on Behavior

When you stop operating under the assumption that things will go on forever as they are, you can then initiate some changes. More often than not, it is our assumptions that limit our perceived options. Negative assumptions set up internal obstacles that automatically defeat us.
One of the most common negative assumptions is, "I'll never accomplish that, so why should I waste my time?" If you assume that you will not achieve a certain objective, then you won't! Either you will pass it by or you will predetermine the outcome by your attitude. Predetermining the outcome could be saying to the buyer, "You're not interested in this product, are you?" Ninety-nine times out of 100 she will prove you right by saying, "No."
Some common negative assumptions are:

• "The economy is bad so people aren't buying."
• "I'll never make as much money as I want."
• "I'll never find a job I can honestly be enthusiastic about."
• "They don't need me."
• "They won't like me."
• "I'm not smart enough."
• "They won't be able to pay me what I'm worth."
• "I'll never be able to work X number of hours per week."
• "People don't like me."

Such negative assumptions usually become a self-fulfilling prophecy. You assume you cannot do something and then you act in ways that guarantee your failure. You have then reinforced your original assumption. This could go on and on until you quit trying altogether.
Dr. Eden Ryl, in her film, "You Pack Your Own Chute," conceptualized the relationship between assumptions and behaviors in a different way. She said: A1→B1 where "A" stands for assumption, "B" stands for behavior, and the arrow is read as "leads to." When you assume that you are capable of a certain behavior and only that behavior, then your actions will be consistent with and limited by that assumption. If you want new behaviors and higher achievements, it is doubtful that you will ever achieve them until you expand your assumptions about what you can do.

Positive Thinking

In recent years there has been much criticism levied at positive thinking, probably because it has been exploited and over-commercialized. The fact remains, however, that positive thinking works. If you are serious about succeeding in your chosen field, it will be necessary for you to cultivate positive thinking as a habit.

Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is the food that feeds our personal growth. It is an absolutely indispensable part of achievement. Self-confidence stems from the self-awareness of our intrinsic worth as individuals. We are blessed with an incredible amount of potential; most of which is untapped. George Santayana once wrote, "Man is as full of potentiality as he is of importance." Santayana's thought also implies that the choice is ours, which it is.
Self-confidence works best when based on your own knowledge and self-respect, rather than on comparisons of yourself with others. A wise friend once said, "Don't compare yourself to other people because you will feel either pompous or bitter… and neither one is desirable." So our self-confidence has to exist in a vacuum, which it can. It feeds on the knowledge gained from discovering one's inner potential.

Model for Achievement

After you have discovered your potential and taken responsibility for it, you can begin to become aware. Awareness starts with evaluating your strengths and weaknesses in the light of your current situation. You then expand your assumptions to accept more possible goals for yourself. This leads you to expand your actions and eventually to achieve your goals. The model for this process is:

One step leads sequentially to another. After an achievement you reevaluate yourself and find that each new feather in your cap makes you feel capable of accomplishing more and more. Your beliefs (assumptions) then expand, making more goals possible. The effect gains momentum and grows like a snowball rolling downhill. In this way, greatness is achieved through small "stepping stones."
The Filter of One's Self-Concept

Ideally, all new ideas could start at the awareness stage and move on to the belief stage. However, something called a self-concept may get in the way. Our self-concept is the image we hold of ourselves. It is the evaluation we justly or unjustly make based on everything we have known about ourselves.
Most of us arrive at an inaccurate self-concept. We are negative thinkers by habit. This limited self-concept acts as a filter to limit the amount of new things that we feel we are capable of doing. What happens is this: A new thought or feeling comes into our awareness. It comes up against the filter, which compares it to our self-concept. If the idea is consistent with our self-concept then the new idea is accepted and becomes a belief. If the idea is not consistent with our self-concept, however, it is rejected. It is for this reason that the development of a healthy self-concept is one of the most valuable things you can do for yourself.


Brainstorming

A valuable way of exploring your values and goals is through brainstorming. In brainstorming, you give free flight to your ideas on a specific problem to be solved. Opening your mind in this way can be valuable. By just letting ideas flow without judging them, you will generate many times the ideas produced through the normal reasoning process. After the abundant ideas have been generated, you can go back to evaluate their usefulness.
Brainstorming unleashes all the creative capacities in our minds. It does this by removing the restrictions and guidelines under which we have been taught to operate. The "rules" for brainstorming are as follows:

• Suspend all judgement. This is a time to remove your internal censor. Nothing is unimportant or too silly to include when brainstorming.
• Think quantity, not quality. The more ideas you generate, the better the chances are of hitting upon something new and useful. Bad ideas can always be thrown out later.
• Extrapolate and cross-fertilize. No matter how nonsensical it may seem, take your ideas to the nth degree. Combine ideas in unusual ways to stimulate new ideas.
• The wilder, the better. This is a time to be "way out." Some of the best ideas are unconventional ones.
• Evaluate later. Do not close your mind to any suggestions. Let the ideas percolate. An idea that seemed ridiculous yesterday may be ingenious tomorrow.

To brainstorm, find a time when you will not be distracted. Sit comfortably with a pencil and paper. The purpose of the brainstorming session should be stated in the form of a question or a problem to be dealt with. The question must be specific, such as, "How can I increase my inventory of prospective buyers?" Once the question has been posed, you should immediately begin jotting down ideas. It is important to record the first thing that comes to your mind. Do not judge, write! Make notes in brief phrases to save time. After a pre-determined time limit, you can fill in the details of your notes.
Brainstorming can be done alone or in groups. If you are working alone, a tape recorder is faster than taking notes. Again, speak only key words and phrases. Do not worry about explanations now. You will know what you were talking about when you listen to the tape later.
After you have finished, review your notes. Examine all the possibilities as they come up. Discard unusable ideas only at the end. It is important and worth repeating that you should suspend all judgment during this exercise. Often wild and crazy ideas, when put together or altered slightly, turn out to be novel, effective solutions. So let yourself go. This is a time to have fun with a creative challenge. You will find that you have a broader range of choices after brainstorming than you thought possible before.
Now that you see how the process works, try it out. Pose a question to yourself. Write it at the top of a sheet of paper and then take three to five minutes to come up with as many ideas as possible. Be sure to put yourself on a time limit and aim for quantity, not quality. Take the time now to complete this exercise. Have fun with it!
Can you see how the ideas flow when you let down your defensive censor? Perhaps you even felt a little silly writing down some of the ideas. Would you feel self-conscious if someone read what you wrote? Fear not, we all have those feelings when we first try brainstorming.

Goal Setting Rules

When you have uncovered some goals, it is important to put them in a workable form. Certain rules need to be observed in order to make them effective. Goals must be:

• Personal
• Specific
• Positive
• Challenging
• Written
• Realistic

When most people are asked, "What are your goals in life?" they respond with something like, "To be happy, healthy, and have plenty of money." On the surface this may seem fine, but as goals which lead to actions, however, they are not sufficient. For goals to be effective and workable, they must meet the following rules:

1. A goal must be personal.
   This means that your goal must be something you want to do rather than something that you think you should do. Know your reasons for having the goal. Whether you want to achieve something for status, money, or good health is secondary as long as you want it badly enough to work hard for it.
2. Your goal must be positive.
   It is an automatic response to think of the thing you are told not to think about. This is because the mind cannot not think of something when told to do so. We tend to focus on ideas and actions from a positive framework. When you think a negative thought such as, "I will not smoke today," your mind perceives it as "I will smoke today." You end up thinking more about smoking than if you had phrased it differently. "I will breathe only clean air today," is a statement that serves the same purpose and is more effective.
3. Your goal must be written.
   Written goals take a jump in status from being nebulous thoughts to bona fide entities on paper. Their being written serves as a visual reminder and thus continually reconfirms their importance. They gain credibility just from being written. We have been trained from childhood to give credibility to written statements. This can be seen in the statement from the movie, The Ten Commandments: "So let it be written, so let it be done." When things are "put in writing" they become official in our minds. A written goal strengthens our commitment to accomplish it.
4. Your goal must be specific.
   If you set your goal by saying, "I will increase my income next year," the chances are that you will not do it. You must be specific in order to avoid the lack of commitment that comes with being vague. A more workable and motivating goal would be, "I will increase my income next year by 10 to 15 percent." This revised statement has several advantages. It defines the increase for which you are striving as well as the range of the desired increase. Giving yourself some leeway is more realistic than expecting to hit your goal exactly on the mark. If you increase your income 13 percent instead of 15 percent, you have still succeeded.
5. Your goal must be a challenge.
   A goal must motivate you to work harder than you have in the past. It must move you forward. Set your goals beyond your reach so that you will have to stretch a bit. The more you stretch, the more limber your goal-achieving abilities will become.
6. Your goal must be realistic.
   Everything is relative to time and space. What is unrealistic today may be totally within reason five years from now. For years it was believed that the fastest a man could run a mile was in four minutes. It was unrealistic to aspire to running any faster until Dr. Roger Banister broke the four-minute mile in 1954. Since then hundreds of runners have done the same. In any field, we never really know what the upper limits are. How, then, do we define realistic?

For our purposes, the best definition must come from you and your values. You must ask yourself, "What price am I willing to pay to accomplish this goal?" You should always weigh the payoffs and the sacrifices involved before coming to a conclusion. Realistic is ultimately your decision.
Now that you know the rules for setting goals, you can apply them to the goals you set for yourself. It would be a good idea to make some worksheets and use them for every primary and secondary goal you want to achieve. For each goal, do the following:

1. Define your goal.
   Your first task is to determine whether your goal meets all the requirements of the rules listed above. If it does, then write it as clearly as possible at the top of your worksheet.
2. Examine obstacles that stand in your way.
   This is a time to guard against negative assumptions and other self-defeating thoughts. Remember the definition of realistic. An obstacle blocks you only if you let it. You should also write down your innovative ways of overcoming obstacles.
3. W.I.I.F.M. - What's in it for me?
   Write down why you want to achieve the goal. What kind of payoff is motivating you?
4. Plan your action.
   You need to carefully list the steps you will take to bring you closer to your goal. The smaller the increments, the easier they will be to accomplish. There is a German proverb that says, "He who begins too much accomplishes little."
5. Project a target date for your goal.
   State your deadline in a range, such as, "between March 15th and April 1st." Think carefully about the amount of time you need. Too little time will increase the pressure and frustrate you. Too much time may reduce your drive.
6. Know how you will measure your success.
   Goals should be described in terms of the final outcome of an activity rather than as the activity itself. This is part of being specific. Instead of saying, "I will be running more in four to six months," you could say "I'll be running three miles instead of two miles in four to six months."

When using your worksheets,

• Fill them out completely and keep them visible!
• Put them in a place where you will see them every day.
• Check off items as you complete them.
• Use them to chart your progress and take pride in your accomplishments.

[sk_kireeti]

Visualizing

Visualization is an indispensable tool in helping people attain their goals. Musicians and athletes have proven that visualization is an effective substitute for real practice. In visualizing your goals, you will live your accomplishments in your mind's eye. The more of the five senses that you can involve in this exercise, the greater your chances are of accomplishment.
For example, you may want to be the Employee of the Year in your company. You know that each year an awards banquet is given during which a plaque is presented to the year's top employee. You may choose to focus on this banquet for your visualization exercise. Here is what you do:
Make yourself comfortable. Close your eyes and relax. Slowly and systematically go through all of the five senses. Imagine what you would be experiencing at the banquet.
Sight. Imagine what you would see there. You would see other employees and their spouses. Imagine what they are wearing. You would see tables decorated and waiters scurrying about. You would see the bar and people standing around talking. Keep expanding what you "see" for several minutes.
Sound. What would you hear? You would hear the chapter of people. You would hear laughter, the tinkling of glasses, music from a band, and people talking. You would also continually hear people coming up to congratulate you. Imagine that!
Smell. Imagine all the smells you would experience: women's perfume, food, alcohol, men's cologne, the smell of floral decorations. What else?
Feel. What would your tactile sensations be? You would feel people rubbing up against you in the crowded room. You would feel others shaking your hand. What else?
Taste. Taste in your mind the champagne you will be drinking. Taste the food you will be eating. Experience the sweet taste of success - in advance!
Most importantly, imagine the exhilaration you will feel when your name is called to receive the award! Take your time during this exercise and enjoy it. The more you can "visually" attend this banquet, the more motivated you will become.
To aid in your visualization exercise, you might want to start a visualization file. This is an envelope or file into which you put pictures, clippings, letters, and other reminders of what it will be like to succeed. Your file should also contain letters or awards that you have received in the past. Anything that makes you feel good about yourself can be included in the file. It can then be used as a source of motivation and inspiration, especially if you begin to feel a little down or demotivated. We all need to be reminded of our past accomplishments once in a while. Be your own best friend - remind yourself!

Role Models

Many people concentrate only on the goal they wish to attain - but there is more to the picture. Successful people in every field have certain characteristics in common. These common characteristics do not occur by chance; they are an integral part of goal attainment. It is worth your time to analyze the constructive characteristics of people who are now where you would like to be.
One effective method is to choose role models. These are people to admire and emulate. Your choices can include people who are dead or living as long as you are familiar with their personalities and accomplishments.
Harry Truman knew the value of role models. When he was in the White House he reportedly went into the Lincoln bedroom, looked at the late president's picture and asked, "What would Lincoln have done if he were in my situation?" The answers to this question gave Truman the insight and direction he was seeking. It worked because Truman felt Lincoln was a man worth emulating.
In choosing a role model, several things must be kept in mind:

1. Keep them off the pedestal.
   There is no doubt that you will choose people who you see as being "above" you because of what they have accomplished. That is good. What is not good is to put them on a pedestal, thereby making them larger than life. We are all human. We all have strengths and weaknesses. You must not lose this perspective on people. Putting them on pedestals only further separates you from them.
2. Isolate their strong points.
   You need to look at that person you wish to emulate and analyze the precise qualities he or she possesses which you need to acquire. Sit down and write out the characteristics that seem to encourage their success. Use concrete examples of their behaviors that you can adapt to our own situation.
3. Remain yourself.
   Quite often the tendency when admiring someone is to try to become his or her clone. People who seem to "have it all together" have done all the "work" for you. It seems that all you have to do is imitate them. This is a dangerous way to think because you are not working on your own personality. In the final analysis, you are you. It is impossible to become exactly like someone else. And why should you want to? Remain yourself while you acquire new traits to help you achieve your goals.

Sometimes it is helpful to have a symbol of another person's virtues. This symbol will actually remind you of that person and his or her qualities. It can take the form of a picture, a possession (e.g., your father's pocket watch), or some abstract thing such as a rock. It will be useful as long as it makes the association in your mind.
Multiple models

A workable system of role modeling is to examine the traits of several people whom you admire. This will help you avoid hero-worshipping. Write down their virtues as you did before, without identifying to whom they belong. When you are with these people, look for more behaviors that reflect their success. The best models are successful people in your own field. Their behaviors are directly translatable to your life and will have more meaning to you.
Questions to ask. Acquiring good habits from others will accelerate you towards your goal. Ask yourself these questions to get the most out of your role models:

1. What would they do in my situation?
2. What do they do every day to encourage growth and move closer to a goal?
3. How do they think in general? In specific situations?
4. Do they have other facets of life in balance? What effect does that have on their well-being?
5. How do their traits apply to me?
6. Which traits are worth working on first? Later?

Mentors

A mentor is someone you admire and under whom you can study. Throughout history the mentor-protege relationship has proven quite fruitful. Socrates was one of the early mentors. Plato and Aristotle studied under him and later emerged as great philosophers in their own right. Mentors are worth cultivating if you can find them.
The same cautions hold true here as for any role model. It is better to adapt their philosophies to your life than to adopt them. Be suspicious of any mentor who seeks to make you dependent on him. It is better to have him teach you how to fish than to have him catch the fish for you. That way you will remain in control.
Under the right circumstances mentors make excellent role models. The one-on-one setting is highly conducive to learning as well as to friendship.

Role Playing

Role-playing is like acting. You define a desirable behavior and then act it out for practice. Since "practice makes permanent," role-playing will help you master new behaviors. It can be done alone or with a partner and need not take more than a few minutes. Like anything else, the more you do it, the better you will become.
One form of role-playing would be to get together with a friend and "play-act." Define a situation and the desired behaviors. Then run through it, trying your best to act as you would like to in real life. For example, let's say you want to learn to relax more as a salesperson. You and your friend would set up a situation in which you play the salesperson and your friend plays the buyer. You would then interact with the "buyer" in ways that allowed you to relax more than you have in the past. You would practice using more eye contact, holding your body in a relaxed posture, listening more, joking with the "buyer," and so on. Afterward, you and your friend would discuss how each of you felt during the exercise. You would repeat this over and over until you have made some progress. Role-playing is an excellent way to introduce new behaviors in a relaxed, non-threatening atmosphere.
It seems that we are forever returning to the fact that we need to change our thinking. Perhaps this is so because our obsession with negative thinking is so great (and such great an impediment to our progress).
Role-playing through visualization is an effective way to change our thoughts. Basically, you imagine a situation and how you previously felt in it. You then think of more positive thoughts and feelings and practice using them in the problematic situation.
For example, we knew someone who had a fear of asking people for appointments. His typical thoughts in that situation were, "Why should I ask, he's going to reject me," or, "If he rejects me, I will be devastated." He started Role-playing new thoughts in the old situation. Instead of his negative assumptions and negative thinking, he substituted, "I'm going to ask because I have as much of a chance of being accepted as rejected. I'm going to expect acceptance and will get it. I'm not going to invite rejection through my attitude. And if I do get rejected, no big deal! It's not the worst thing in the world!" He practiced through visualization and in real life became able to relax and approach more people for appointments.
Role-playing new behaviors can also be done through visualization. Instead of imagining what you would think and feel in a situation, you imagine what you would do. In your mind you can change the undesirable behaviors and have the new behaviors carry over into real life.

The Thought Diet Card

The Thought Diet is a tool, developed by Jim Cathcart, that you can use on a daily basis to help you become the person who will achieve your goals. It breaks down those goals into daily actions that are bite-sized and easy to do. By showing you the steps along the way, the thought diet will keep you from being overwhelmed by your lofty goals.

Creating the Thought Diet Card

Primary Goal

In the first section of the Thought Diet Card, write your primary goal. Write out as explicitly as possible the goal that is strongest and affects your motivation the most at this point in time.

Daily Growth

The second section of the card is for writing in the characteristics that you are developing. Write out five key characteristics that you need to develop to achieve your goal. State these personal characteristics in ways that adhere to the rules of goal setting.

Action Plan

The third section of the card is the action section. Here you will write out the "minimum daily standards" that you will perform every day to move you closer to your goal. Again, be specific.
The following are some examples of minimum daily standards:

Mental: I will spend 15 minutes every evening doing visualization exercises.
Physical: I will do a minimum of five push-ups and ten sit-ups every morning.
Career: I will read something related to my career for at least 15 minutes before going to bed.
Financial: I will keep a complete record of every expense.
Spiritual: Each day I will do one good deed to help someone less fortunate than I.
Family: I will relax over dinner and enjoy a meaningful conversation with my family.
Social: I will take time to call one of my new friends.

Read the thought diet card twice a day until everything becomes a habit. Once you have developed constructive habits you can move on to new behaviors. Fill out a new card and practice the new challenges every day until they become habits. In this way you will painlessly move closer and closer to your goals.


Using the Thought Diet Card

• Read the Thought Diet Card every day. It is best to read it both in the morning when you rise and in the evening when you retire. Repetition is an integral part of learning and will help you stay on target.
• Avoid associating with people who drag you down emotionally. Associate with people who are positive and from whom your optimism can grow.
• Make it meaningful. Read and fill out the card sincerely; do not just go through the motions. You will be kidding no one but yourself.

There is more to life than constantly working, although we all know many managers who would argue that point. The fact is that having a balanced life will not only make you happier, it will make you a better well-rounded person.
Ultimately it all comes down to something Benjamin Disraeli once wrote: "The secret of success is constancy of purpose."

[naveen_welcomes]

Good one

[vjsreevs]

nice post kireeti .....

[Spoorthi]

long..but nice one

[kiran2710]

Nice........

[AjayKumar.Kataram]

Nice Post...