Personal goal setting with a twist

Personal goal setting with a twist


Today my theme relates to personal goal setting. I was thinking about goal setting and how important it is to write our goals down. This not only helps in simply remembering the goals, but also there seems to be some magic to writing out goals. This is described quite regularly in self-help books and articles on personal growth and success.


In thinking about today's theme, I began pondering other areas where I write things down so that I am sure not to forget them and this led me to the preparation of grocery shopping lists. The twist came when I considered the relative importance of certain items on the shopping list. I thought, "what items, if I were I to leave the store without them, would most certainly prompt a return visit to the store to purchase them?" Would it be the milk, the bread, the bathroom tissue? The items that would prompt a return visit are, from my perspective, the most critical ones on that list.


As a personal example, I might have on my list of tasks for the day to have the oil changed in the car and also to do some research on a business idea that I have. At the end of the day, if I accomplished the task of changing the oil, but I didn't do the research on the business, my car may be in better shape, but my business has to wait for another day. Is it okay that my business has to wait another day, or another day, or until I finally get around to that research? Will I ever get to it at all?


If we make a list of goals for the day or the week, just like our shopping list, We should also decide which goals must be accomplished today? Especially if, like my lists, there are more items every day than time to accomplish them all. What goals, if we look back at our list at the end of the day, or the end of the month, or the end of the year, were the most important to accomplish? Did we accomplish the most important things on our list? Or did we spend too much time on the less important items?


By considering the relative importance of each goal or task that we strive to accomplish, we have a better chance of achieving what is really important to us in whatever we do, without worrying about whether or not we need to return to the store for the forgotten milk.


RJ Clement 
Entrepreneur