Tapping into the power of personal goal-setting

by Des Squire | May 23, 2019 | General

GOAL-SETTING is a powerful process for personal planning. It is a means of setting a direction in life or business. By setting goals, you have a track to run on and a specific direction in life or career to follow. Goal-setting allows you to plan your course, identifying in advance obstacles you might have to overcome. Setting goals correctly can be exciting and motivating. As you get into the habit of setting goals and, more importantly, achieving them, you will find that it builds your self-confidence and grows your self-belief.

From business people to top athletes, there are no successful people who do not have specific goals and objectives to achieve. Most people will set goals of an individual nature or ones that involve others. The reason these people achieve so much is because they have a long-term vision and use goal-setting as a means to achieving and sustaining short-term motivation. They are organised in what they want to achieve and when they want to achieve it by.

How to go about goal-setting

Identify what it is that you want to achieve in life or business, then break it down in smaller more achievable tasks.
After you have done that, you can plan how you will go about achieving those tasks. What is most important of course is that once you have a plan, you must work to it. A good way of going about this is by mind mapping and visualisation. Consider a goal that you wish to achieve and picture in your mind that you have achieved it. Your mind map might be the picture of a mountain and various obstacles you might encounter on the climb.

The starting point

Decide on the goals you want to achieve and set them out in their order of importance. Chose one or two of the most important goals and set them out on the mind map as indicated above. Consider the first set of obstacles or difficulties you might have to face and write them down. Write down what you will do to overcome the obstacles and plan your course from that point to Camp 2 (refer to diagram) At Camp 2, you need to review your goals and the progress made so far.

Look up at the pinnacle of the mountain and reconsider the goal. This is a remotivation phase. Again, consider obstacles and/or difficulties you might still have to deal with and prepare yourself mentally to overcome them. Continue your climb and stay with your plan of action until you reach Camp 3. Rest and reassess your goal. How are you progressing? You are already a long way on the road to achieving your goal, so why give up now?

Consider the next set of obstacles and how you will overcome them. Begin the climb to achievement and conquering the peak. The obstacles you encounter may be more difficult than anticipated, but you are ready and prepared to deal with them. Should you hit any unforeseen weather conditions, or obstacles you have not prepared for, you can go back to Camp 3 to reassess the situation. After you have done this, you can proceed forward and upward to your goal. Finally, celebrate the achievement of your goal and consider the obstacles you have overcome. What have you learnt on the way? What might you avoid in the future?

This approach to mapping your life can be applied to any area of life or work. What I like about it is that I can see what I have planned on paper. Each stage of reassessment can refer to any period of time you want. It can represent a day, a month, six months or whatever you wish it to represent. The smaller the stages the better the chances of success. The following guidelines may help you set effective goals:

State each goal as a positive statement. For example, “I am the best customer service consultant because I always listen and treat the client with respect.”;

• Be precise:

Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know when you have achieved the goal;

• Set priorities:

When you have several goals, direct your attention to the most important ones;

• Write goals down:

This crystallises them and gives them more force;

• Keep goals small and achievable:

Keep the goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too big, it can hamper your progress;

• Break larger goals down to smaller segments:

Keeping goals small and incremental make them achievable. Make today’s small goals part of a bigger one;

• Set goals you have control over:

There is nothing worse than failing to achieve a goal for reasons beyond your control;

• BE realistic:

Set goals within your range of capabilities and experience.

When you have achieved a goal, take time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so. Consider what you have achieved and what it means to you. Will this achievement assist you in achieving some greater goal? Have the obstacles encountered highlighted a shortcoming or lack? Can this lack of something become another goal? Are there goals you can achieve that will help in the achievement of greater goals?

Des Squire is a managing member at AMSI and Associates. Call 082 800 9057 or email [email protected]

Boost your career with a personal business trainer

by Des Squire | May 16, 2019 | General

PROGRESSION in your career, like in any aspect in life, may need the assistance of others. Some people have a personal trainer at the
gym to help them with physical development. Other people have spiritual advisers to assist with spiritual development. We have doctors
who take care of our health and advise us on medical matters and so on.
But how many people have a personal business trainer to help with business and work issues?

It is common for companies to hire mentors to help employees, managers and even directors with work-related issues. This is a form of
hands-on training and personal business coaching.

What is a personal business trainer?
Personal business training is a relationship where an experienced person is given an opportunity to share professional and personal
skills with a less experienced person.
If you consider your personal career needs and aspirations, you will admit that there are many areas in business where you sometimes
feel it would be useful to have someone to turn to for advice and assistance.
You should of course be able to talk to your manager or supervisor, but it is not always possible.
If you are serious about your career, irrespective of your level in an organisation, perhaps the answer is to invest in yourself and engage
the services of a business personal trainer.

Why go through your daily, weekly or monthly tasks floundering in the dark, afraid to make decisions and being unsure of yourself when
you could benefit from having a professional personal business trainer?
Over time, you will develop a relationship of mutual trust, openness and respect with your personal trainer or coach. His or her function
will be to encourage you, to be there to help you, to offer his/her professional opinion and constructive comments and to share business
experiences.
You will develop a relationship where your personal business trainer will assist with your career development outside of the normal
manager-subordinate relationship.
Companies introduced formal mentoring programmes to help key employees over the past few years, so the concept of mentoring
and coaching is relatively new.

It is time for the introduction of the concept of “personal business trainers” and there is a need for it in the workplace. Under normal
circumstances, it should not be at the expense of the company, but rather at the expense of the individual employee who has a desire
for career progression.
However, companies may wish to consider subsidising employees with the cost. After all, there are benefits to be gained by the
company.

What are the benefits?