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If you want to be successful, you need good goals. Whether losing weight, starting a business, or leading your church or ministry, you need a set of goals to serve as a catalyst towards achievement. Earl Nightingale taught us that a lack of vision is similar to setting a ship with no captain loose on the open sea.  Ninety nine out of one hundred times,that ship will become lost at sea or a derelict ship washed up on a beach somewhere.  By contrast, a ship with a captain at the helm, pointing the ship towards a specific port, maintaining a heading towards a specific destination is likely to arrive at that destination ninety nine out of one hundred times.  A lack of clear goals in your life will lead to a life of wandering, personally, finically, in your family, in your business, and otherwise. Generally speaking, without goals, any accomplishments that come your way will be the product of pure luck.  Conversely though, if you will learn to set goals for your life, then more often than not, your life will by characterized by success, and not failure.  So how do you set good goals for yourself…whether it involves losing a few pounds or earning an academic degree?

Here are seven questions to answer for successful goal setting.

 
Is your goal specific and clearly defined?  Goals should contain specifics and not be laden with generalities.  For example, a poor goal would be stated as follows: “I want to lose weight.”  The problem with this goal is that it is too general and unspecific.  A better way to state this goal is: “I want to lose ten pounds over the next six months.”  Notice the difference when specific goals are stated.  A clearly defined goal that specifically and precisely defines what you want to do, and when, is the first step to success.

 
Is your goal significant?  Your goal should be worthwhile.  Ask yourself, is this goal significant enough that it warrants the attention of my time.  Not everything that we can devote our attention to is worth devoting our attention to.  For example, your goal may be to keep a sharp point on all the pencils in your desk, but if keeping the pencils sharpened becomes so consuming that it detracts from your productivity at work, then an insignificant goal has dominated over significant and productive goals. Your goal should help to better your life and should not serve as a distraction from more significant priorities.

 
Is your goal values driven?  Those core values that are precious to us, that define who we are, how we think, the use of our time, etc., are the catalysts for passion in our lives.  A good goal is one that is advanced and consistently informed by the values, morals, ethics, and passions of your life.  Without passion, goals turn to dust and those who pursue them fizzle out.  Values are both personal and corporate.  For example, your personal values may impact business dealings with your customers. An ethic of fairness, honesty, hard work, and service to your customer should direct your goal so that these values are enhanced and never compromised.  If you are tempted to violate a personal value to achieve your goal, such as misleading a customer to move a few extra units, your values will restrict such an unethical behavior. Further, corporate goals should also drive your goals.  If the corporation that you serve holds a set of uncompromising values, then you should allow those values to impact your goals within the organization.  Of course, this also means that your personal values and the values of the corporation that you serve should be congruent values.  Therefore, before taking a job with the corporation, you should be able to clearly define your own core values, so that these may be compared with the values of the corporation for the sake of capability.

 
Are your goals measurable?  How will you know when the goal is met?  There needs to be an instrument (or series of instruments) to measure success as you attempt to reach your goal.  For example, if your goal is to lose ten pounds in the next six months, then it is not enough to merely start dieting, join the gym, and exercise more.  Without a plan to step on the scale, to have your body mass index analyzed, to check your heart rate periodically, perhaps even a physical exam, there is no measurability that you are achieving your goal.  Without a means to evaluate your progress, you may or may not achieve your goal, but how would you know?

 
What are the milestones to your goal?  As you work towards completing your goal, you will need milestones along the way. Milestones are more frequent evaluators that indicate progress, or the lack thereof.  If your goal is to lose ten pounds over the next six months, then in order to meet that goal you need to lose a little over a pound and a half per month.  You will need to keep track of your starting weight, and weigh yourself at least monthly to determine if you are successfully reaching your goal.  Should you find that you have failed to progress towards your goal, then adjustments can be made mid course so that success does not become allusive.

 
Is your goal sustainable?  If you are able to meet your goal, is it a goal that you can continue to meet?  Certainly some goals are fulfilled only once, like learning to tie your own necktie.  Once you have accomplished this goal, you need not re-achieve this goal, but only live with the rewards of having achieved the goal. Nonetheless, many of our goals bear the need for sustainability. It is far from impressive if you meet a sales goal to become top salesperson in January at your firm, but are unable to sustain the practices and principles that earned you that position.  One of my first jobs was as a salesman with a pest control company.  My colleague and I learned very quickly that we could sell a high volume of our services in very poor sections of town where residents were quick to sign a service contract.  We enjoyed calling in our sales over the radio to the home office and requesting that our sales figures by written on the “sales board.” There was pride in coming into the office and seeing our sales figures above those of the other salesmen.  However, we learned a hard lesson when our new clients were unable to pay for the services that we had delivered, and the cost of those services was demanded from our commissions.  For a few weeks, we sold more services than any one else in the office, but our sales were not sustainable. In fact, the cost to us in the long run far outweighed the accolades that we enjoyed for those three weeks.  Make sure that when you set a goal, that the goal is one that can be met, and sustained.

 
Is your goal beneficial?  Your goal should be of some clear benefit to your corporation, your church, your family, to society, or to yourself.  Working towards a goal that doesn’t benefit anyone is a waste of time, and may be detrimental. Think through your goals to determine how the achieving of them will impact people around you.  When I was younger and newly married, one of my goals was to be a professional traveling musician.  I had begun to work towards that goal by starting a band, rehearsing hard, booking gigs that allowed us to travel, incorporating the band, acquiring resources, and things like these.  I was so encapsulated with my goal that I never stopped to think about how being away from home would affect my wife.  When we started to have children a number of years ago, my goals completely changed.  I lost all desire to be a traveling musician, because that was a goal that would do more harm than good. For me, it was more beneficial for my family that I be home to raise the children and to support and nurture my wife, than it was to play rock star in a different city every night.  So look at the big picture and determine if your goal benefits those you love most, your corporation, your community, your church, and yourself.  If the only person who benefits is you, then your goal may not be a good one.

So, now that you have answered these questions about your goal, what now?  Remember to get a GRIP on your goal!

 
G-Game Plan.  What is my game plan to accomplish my goal?  This is your strategy.  Now that you have defined your goal, what will be your plan/strategy to accomplish it?  What steps or process will be necessary to accomplish your goal?

R-Resources.  What resources will you need in order to accomplish your goal?  Your goal may require you to attain more education, devote more time, invest more finances, obtain facilities and stock, to advertise, etc.  Determining the necessary resources up front will prevent you from falling short of your goal when the accomplishing of it requires more than personal effort.

I-Influence.  What persons of influence will be necessary to accomplish your goal?  It may be very important to enlist the support, permission, or influence of a particular leader, a supervisor, a board of directors, an expert, a civic committee, a governmental office, etc. It is important to do some research in advance and to communicate with others about your goal who can help you to achieve your goal.  Be advised that there are people who can stop the success of your goal, and if they are not in support of you or your goal in advance, they may hold more influence that you do to defeat your goal.  I once saw a very good proposal with 99 percent support overturned because of one man; a very influential gentleman who offered not one good reason to defeat the proposal, but merely stated that he did not think it was a good idea.  The proposal was almost unanimously defeated.

P-Personnel.  Who needs to be actively involved to complete your goal?  Will you need to hire employees, have help from family or friends, utilize a superior or a mentor? Defining who is critical to the success of your goal will ensure that you are properly staffed for success.