Part I: Set Achievable Goals
Revised and Updated | The Ten Domains of Effective Goal Setting: Achieve Your Dreams in the Essential Areas of Life
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PART I
SET ACHIEVABLE GOALS
If not achieved as intended, a goal is merely that.
Whether it's an aspiration, ambition, dream, target, purpose, or objective—whatever you choose to call it—a goal is perhaps one of life’s most exhilarating and frustrating experiences. Achieving a goal can be one of the most rewarding moments. In contrast, failing to reach a dream is one of life’s more disheartening personal or professional experiences.
That is why it is crucial to set goals that you believe are attainable, thus providing you with an increased opportunity for joy while mitigating unwanted disappointment.
That said, genuine goals are indeed challenging. However, the relative difficulty level of achieving a goal makes it worthwhile to set in the first place. “I hope to wake up tomorrow,” for most individuals is not a goal but a simple reality. For someone with a chronic illness or life-threatening injury, it may be an accomplishment like no other.
Thus, each reader must identify what is significant to them. What is the game changer? The elusive, yet attainable dream? The simple achievement? The purpose of one’s life?
Goals are one-way private contracts that determine the perceived value of our existence, often serving as a measure of our self-worth. Therefore, it is essential to maintain perspective and not let failure define us or success spoil us. Goals keep us moving forward in this sometimes crazy thing called life. Nonetheless, never allow a failure—or an achievement for that matter—to become more important than life itself.
Remember to be humble in both defeat and victory.
Practical goal setting requires three general rules of thumb: planning, simplicity, and structure.
Next in The Ten Domains of Effective Goal Setting | Chapter One: Have a Plan and Work the Plan
Part I: Set Achievable Goals is copyright 2016 and 2025 by David J. Waldron. All rights reserved worldwide.
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