Here I am writing a personal development blog and don’t believe in setting goals. Ah!  Perhaps I don’t know anything about Personal development.  If I did then I would be a big fan of goal setting?

Well no.  I am not.

I should probably say, before I am laughed out of the blogsphere, that I do goal set. But only now and again.

You know as well as I do that almost every Personal development book, self help CD and guru you have listened to on CD or watch on youtube says that you need to set goals.  So why am I saying don’t bother?

Because for most people, including me, doing that doesn’t work.

WASTE OF TIME

Yeah I said it, waste of time.

This blog was always about giving you Personal Development tips and advice that work and don’t take a long time to do.  I have always believed in simplicity and doing things that actually give you results.  When I started reading personal development books and listening to CD’s etc what I noticed was how complex most of the advice was.

Don’t get me wrong, it was great advice.  But wow, was it complicated.  I mean how many ways are there to set a goal?  It was almost like each one of these Personal Development guru’s wanted to be the smartest at goal setting. So they created complex ways to do it.

“First you need to do this, then you need to do that, then you need to visualise, then write down your goals, then set some dates, then, work out what you want then….”

And all you have to do is do this everyday for 6 months and you will have your goals!

Seriously that is how complex some of the goals settings methodologies are.

The challenge with this?  You never use them!  You might start with interest that you are learning a cool new way to set goals but after a week you are no further towards your goal and you are getting tired of doing the exercises.

Now if you are reading this and disagree, great.  You have probably found a way to set goals that works for you.  But can I ask you this? How much time each day to you spend on actually trying to get your goals?  I mean time doing things that will get them?

Again this is the problem with most goal setting methods.  They are complex, require too much time and most people spend more time doing them than actually working towards the goals.

Come on, you know this is true.  Most of my clients think I am mad when I talk to them about this.  They think I don’t know what I am talking about.  But then they start to see the logic in it.  Rather than mess around with your goal setting just pick a goal you think you want to achieve and go for it.

Yes I know.  I know that this could potentially dive you down a way that you don’t want to be.  But better to be moving right than thinking?

So what do I do when goal setting?

Well I believe that we all think about our goals and dreams enough to know what we really want.  The challenge is that we don’t dare to dream enough or block these out.

Well firstly I use my Magic Little Goal Tip.

The once I know what I want I just do it!  Everyday I make sure I am doing something towards my goals.

Sounds simple right?  It is.

Give it a go and see what you achieve in a month.

Matt

Related posts:

1. Why you don’t have to spend hours setting goals
2. “Just Start Walking” – What are your goals for the year?
3. Now is the time to set goals for the New Year

To keep them all on the boil I just have to make a to do list and be very good at going through what needs to be done each day.  If I sat down and started to “project manage” them too much then I think nothing would get done.

In a post I did the other day I said that you just need to “Start walking” towards your goals.  Rather than spend a long time “goal planning” just set what you know is roughly right and go for it.  Now I know for this post and the other one I will get some feedback from those who say that I just don’t realise the power of proper goal setting.  Well to those people I say you might be right but before you reply please know that I do understand why you should goal set properly and also how much you gain from doing it well.

I just think that many people spend a lot of time talking about and thinking about goals rather than doing things to make them happen.

I read a great post from Rosalind Gardner’s Blog.  If you don’t know Rosalind she is a super affiliate (someone who make a lot of money online) and someone who I follow to learn.  I think Rosalind has a great balance on her work/life and she certainly is a “go getter” in life.  She has just written a great post about managing different projects at once.  You can read that post here http://www.netprofitstoday.com/blog/make-your-resolutions-a-reality/.

What I like about this is her “to the point” approach to getting work done.  She marks out a 7 step plan which is almost exactly how I work.

You will see that she does actually mention “Make a plan” and “set goals” etc but she doesn’t say spend a long time doing this.  You see Rosalind is a successful person, she makes money, helps people make money and lives her own life.  What she knows is that you do need to go though the process but you also need to get off your backside and work.

That’s why if you asked me “What is the most important thing to do to achieve what you want?” I would say – “know what you want and just start walking today”.

Go for your goals and dreams.

Matt

Related posts:

1. Why I don’t bother setting goals all the time
2. “Just Start Walking” – What are your goals for the year?
3. Why you may never be Successful

Well I have written down what I want to have as my goals but I have not worked out exactly what I need to achieve them.

Is that bad?

Well actually I don’t think so.  I also don’t think I am justifying my lack of actions either.

Should I worry?  No.

You see I think that much is talked about setting goals, how much time and effort you must put into them and how it’s a detailed process.  That seems to be the only way you can “properly” set goals.

Well I completely disagree. Actually I think the more time you put into setting goals the less time you have to go out there and make them happen!  Please don’t get me wrong here, taking time to set goals is important it’s just that many people feel that you have to spend weeks working out what you want and then what you need to do to get what you want.

I think if you need to spend all that time working out what you want you really don’t know.  Also it’s better to get moving towards your goal rather than spending time thinking about how you should do it.

“Just Start Walking”

I think that is the right way to do it.  Just start walking towards your goals.  Don’t worry about the detail.  You do need to know where you are going but you don’t need a detailed plan…yet.

I did a video on how you work out what you want.  You can look at that goal setting video and see that you can set a goal pretty quickly.

That is the key I think.  Don’t worry if you only have your goals written down but don’t have a plan.  Just start walking.

The fact is you will achieve much more if you do that rather than spending time worrying about what to do next.  Remember “Those who know how always work for those who know why”.

Go for your dreams and goals.

Matt

Related posts:

1. Now is the time to set goals for the New Year
2. Why you don’t have to spend hours setting goals
3. Why I don’t bother setting goals all the time

I sent a mail out to my success newsletter group about why it’s important to Goal Set now before next year.  Well I didn’t think about it that much but someone came back and asked me HOW they should goal set!

That got me thinking about what to say back.  There are so many ways to goal set it can become a challenge to learn all the method.  So I thought I should do a quick video showing how I goal set to get results in 5 minutes!

Related posts:

1. From Dream to Reality: The Power of Goal Setting
2. Why I don’t bother setting goals all the time
3. How do I set a goal? Magic Little Goal Tip.

Now now is the best time to set your goals for the New Year.  I know many of us are busy enough without having to worry about setting goals but I think it’s key you do them now rather than in the new year.

Sitting down now and planning your goals means you have a head start when the year starts.  You don’t have to worry about “what you are going to do” in the new year or think about it while you should be enjoying yourself.

There is also a very powerful benefit to doing this now that is not totally obvious

If you get your goals ready for next year you are giving your subconscious things to think about.  It will work on your goals while you are having fun over Christmas.  This is why it’s so important to set your goals now.

It will start to make plans or ideas that you may never have thought of before.

Also setting goals now means you don’t have to try and fit it in next year.  Let’s be frank, once the year starts our lives take over again.  We don’t have enough time and it’s a challenge to find the time to sit down and really think and plan.

Why make it so hard?

If you do your goals now, you can have a great time over Christmas and look forward to the new year.

Have fun.  I wish you a great Christmas.

Matt

Related posts:

1. “Just Start Walking” – What are your goals for the year?
2. Why I don’t bother setting goals all the time
3. Why you don’t have to spend hours setting goals