January’s Theme: Goals

Forgive my tardiness in starting 2012 a few days beyond the official New Year.  We spent New Year’s on the beach visiting Ruly Ruth and family.  When we returned, I needed to do a bit of organizing on my blog to finish my December 2011 posts and theme and to add a new feature, a quick annual summary of last year’s themes and posts.

Now that that is done, it is time to move on to a new year, a new month and a new theme!  Goals.  It’s actually not a new theme, though.  We have done this before but this time we will add new perspectives.

The topic of goals and goal-setting is a crucial one in my view and it bears repeating again and again because it is often the first stage of any change process.  It is probably one of the healthiest traditions that we have to make New Year’s resolutions.  Sure, people are already complaining that they have broken their New Year’s resolutions and many people refuse to make any more resolutions because they never achieved any in the past, but the problem may lie in part with the resolutions themselves.

Most of us don’t know how to set achievable goals.

When I was thinking about my own resolutions for 2012, it actually took me several days of thinking to get to a resolution that I knew I had a chance at achieving.

Some people may not even know where to start in terms of goal setting.  This month at Ruly, we will walk through the process of goal-setting, looking at both personal and professional goals.

Today, we will look at where to start when setting a goal.  Some people get writer’s block when it comes to resolutions.  What would be a good topic for a resolution?  Here are a few suggestions:

Personal Goal Discovery Questions

• In addition to diet and exercise (that everyone can benefit from) what could you do to dramatically improve your health?
• What action could you take that would have a huge positive impact on your financial stability?  If you don’t know, what might you learn more about?
• What could you do to improve your relationships with your significant other, family and friends?
• What would you like to explore just for fun?
• What have you always wanted to learn more about?
• What could you do to help others or improve society at large?

Professional Goal Discovery Questions

• How could you improve the quality of your work?
• How could you get more work done?
• How can you ensure that all of your work is delivered on time or early?
• What could you learn to enhance your effectiveness at your current job or change into another role?
• How could you improve your communications with your coworkers and others?
• What connections can you make outside of your current job that might help you find another job in case you are ever unemployed?

I hope these suggestions give you some food for thought.  Don’t worry about getting your resolutions exactly right at this moment.  The other tips and guidance this month will help you refine them into achievable goals.

Are you making resolutions/goals this year?  Please share in the comments.