Goal Setting

We all have goals we would like to accomplish in our life time.  Often time it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

NLP provides a very effective tool for setting goals.

SMART goals have to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. This approach is a great start to effective goalsetting

S.M.A.R.T. goals:

S – Specific

M -Measurable

A – Attainable/Assignable

R – Realistic/Rewarding

T – Timeable/Tangible

I had a conversation with a lady the other day about a difficult situation she was in. She told me she had a dream to move out of the place she lived in to some where better as she was very unhappy with her room mates and the area she was living.

As an NLP practitioner I know I should not be judgemental or get involved emotionally but I could not help it… Thinking back to the conversation I believe it was the word dream that got me in the state I was in.  I asked her what are you going to do with this dream you have, she did not answer she just steered blankly into space. The thing is dreams are like clouds in the sky, good to look at but something you would never make any effort to get to.  I asked her what would happen if she turned her dream into a plan.  How would you feel about that? She looked at me and smiled that would be better. The word plan often invokes images of piece of paper with directions on it or maybe an image of a blue print. She has now changed the weight and meaning to what she needs to do to bring about change in her life.  Sooooo… you have plans to move out and get a better job, I asked her.  What would those plans look like to you?  It looks ok she replies with a smile. She gave me an outline of what she wanted to achieve. She told me her first step was to find a new place to live.  I asked her to be more specific about where she was going to live. I asked her to paint me a picture of every little detail about this new place she was going to live.  I asked her to describe to me how she felt when she walk thought her each room of her new place. I asked what would make this new place even better.  I asked her what would happen if she closed her eyes now and imagined if she was standing right there, how she felt.  She expressed great joy, and safety.

I asked her to list all the resources and skills she needed to find a new place to live. I asked her if she had all the resources she listed.  She said yes.  If she told me no I would ask her who she knew with the resources.  Ok I said putting those resources to good use -list the steps she needed to take to find a new place to live and put a timeline on it example next Tuesday you go on the internet find and list 20 places that matches the image of the place both inside and out she would like to live to be completed in 2 days time at 8:00pm. We sat for the next 20 mins setting times/deadlines to each task she needed. She even wrote it down to remind of the things that need to be done.

Three weeks later she moved into her new place and was very happy.

The story above of is a good example on how to set good goals. I hope it helps you in setting your future goals.