How To Set Goals

**Speech Given at Toastmasters**

Goals?  What are they and how do I set and achieve them?  Without a set game plan for life, a person will merely drift like pollen in the wind shifting directions with no real aim or purpose.  Find out what your passions are and take on your identity in what drives you as an individual.  Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”  One consistent way to define your goals and to achieve them is through using the S.M.A.R.T. method.  This term stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely or Tangible.

A specific goal is defined by answering a few questions such as: What do I want to accomplish?  Where do I want to accomplish this goal?  How soon do I wish to achieve said goal?  And, for what reasons, purpose(s), or benefits are there in setting up and achieving this goal?  Keep in mind, accomplishing a specific, well-defined goal is greater than a general goal.  For example, one of my goals is to hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  The target date for this goal is August 2020, and I am moving toward that stated goal by saving money, purchasing hiking gear, and striving toward physical fitness in the ability to hike such a great distance.  The next step of goal-setting is how I can measure the progress of the goal.  Such important questions to ask are:  How much?  How many?  And, how will I know when it is accomplished?  In pursuing a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, I had to know the specific requirements for the next rank and how long learning the new material would take.  Moving from first degree brown belt to black belt typically took one year and the learning of new combinations and forms.  Each new rank would move me one step closer to the ultimate goal of earning a black belt.  Looking back I could remember each of the ten ranks I held and the material learned.  On the evening of the black belt exam, I knew the desired goal had been achieved.  A goal must be attainable and realistic.  I firmly believe there is no such thing as a “pipe dream.”  But a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work.  Those are key words to keep in mind.  In addition, do I have the financial resources or means available to pursue a stated goal?  There are quite a few corporations in which the founders were told it was impossible to become successful pursuing their dream.  Many, in fact, started out in the garage of their residence.  Let’s see how many of these names sound familiar: Apple, Amazon, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Mattel, and Microsoft.  What if the founders took the horrible advice given them and simply stated, “Yep, you’re right.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  I must have had a streak of stupidity.”  How different would our world look today?  Finally, a goal must be timely or tangible.  This is the true test of a goal.  To achieve a goal “someday” won’t work.  I must anchor the achievement of a goal in a fixed window of time.  For example, to lose 20 pounds by December 1^st.  This subconsciously sets the mental wheels in motion toward corrective measures in the means of achieving the goal(s) at-hand.  However, I must confess, sometimes life simply doesn’t work out the way we would like it.  On a personal note, I really wanted to attend college right out of high school.  Unfortunately, life circumstances absolutely did not make this a realistic goal.  In fact, I have been out of High School for roughly twenty-five years and have only recently begun to attend school.  In cases such as this, it is important to not give up on your goals but to merely revisit them by tweaking the goal using the S.M.A.R.T. system.  In addition, keep your goals tangible.  If life gets in the way of your goals and it takes twenty-five years instead of two years, then keep your goals at the forefront of your mind.  I post picture of my goals around different spots in the apartment.  One such goal is to win the Pulitzer Prize.  Through the picture reminders I constantly ask myself how I am approaching the implementation of that goal.  What pro-active steps, however small they may be, am I taking in achieving that goal.

In the end, I never advocate scrapping a goal, but sometimes life seems to scream at us, “Cut your losses and move on!”  Using the S.M.A.R.T. method will help us to determine whether to pursue or scrap a goal.  As I close, allow me to ask, “Have you given serious thoughts to your goals and how you will achieve them?  What are your goals?  Are you living out your true destiny and identity in life?”  Good luck and may the wind be at your back in the great adventure of life.