Goal Setting and Motivation

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Goal Setting and Motivation

As I type this in my office at Henley beach in South Australia the Winter month are just around the

corner and for a lot of people this can lead to a drop of Motivation.Then again you may live in the

Northern Emisphere and are getting excited about be able to exercise in the warmer weather. Either

way it’s it beneficial to set goals to help you achieve the outcomes you want and to help with your

motivation.

There is a principle called the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. principle where each letter is an acronym of the

principle.

Firstly I think writing down your dreams is a very good thing to do. It gets out what you want to

achieve. It is important to look further than just writing it down though. We need steps for how we are

to get to our goals.

That is where the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. principle comes in. Each acronym is a step in the process to

achieving your goals.

Let's start with S.

S - Specific and measurable

What is it that you want to achieve? Say you want to lose weight. You know you want to lose weight

but how much? Say you want to run further...define how much further.

M - Me focused

It is all good and well to say I want to marry X or I want my son to be a professional golfer. However,

X might not want to marry you and your son might not want to be a professional golfer. Your goals

need to be specific to you and controllable by you. What might be a better goal is to say I will provide

my son with the opportunity to play golf or I will ask X out on a date.

A - Achievable

You might be a B grade tennis player setting yourself a goal to win the U.S Open next year might not

be achievable. If you are a young teenage player who has the potential and drive to succeed on the

competitive tennis circui...

... middle of paper ...

...l to consider why you want to achieve a particular goal - what are your personal

reasons underlying your desire for it? Having powerful reasons for achieving a goal can make a world

of difference in your ability to achieve it - especially when the going gets tough.

Reward yourself along the way. The more you set a positive feedback loop the more you will want to

succeed along the way. A positive feedback loop is having something positive to look forward to once

you have achieved a milestone. This sets up that feeling of looking forward to something at the end of

a challenge. Some suggestions for reward include doing something for yourself such as having a

massage or facial, cooking yourself a meal based on healthy products or enjoying a nice glass of

wine.

So next time you have a goal to achieve you might benefit from using these steps.

Good Luck!

31/05/10

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