The Goal Setting Process

The link between a structured goal setting process and success was shown in a Harvard MBA program.

It was found that 3 percent of the graduates actually wrote their goals down and had a plan to reach them. Another 13 percent had goals which weren’t written down and 84 percent had not goals at all (McCormack, 1979).

Ten years later these same people were interviewed and those that had an unwritten goal, were making twice as much as those that had not set goals. But more astonishing was the 3 percent of people that had set written goals and actions to achieve them. These people were earning 10 times as much as the remaining 97 percent of the class.

So with manual goal setting you are well ahead of most of the general population, but goal setting software can open up a number of possibilities that can maximize your chances of goal setting success.

Goal setting is best understood and most effective when understood as a process.

In my practice, often athletes, students and business professionals do a good job of setting long range goals but then ignore the rest of the goal setting process.

In the diagram below is a goal setting plan to maximize the chances that today’s vision becomes tomorrow’s reality.

Goal setting starts with identifying your values and having a personal vision of where you want to go.

Setting long-term goals as an extension of your vision provides you with motivation and energy to achieve your goals.

Your vision is likely to extend across a number of different areas of your life, so it is important to choose those goals that are most important for you.

You have probably heard of SMART goals, but our goals are SMARTer. Using SMARTER goals is a proven way to maximize your chances of goal setting success.

When you have SMARTER goals, it is important to create more immediate objectives with your free action plan, and then to schedule your time with a To Do List.