Thank you so much for your interest in The Insight, by Sheba. I hope you enjoyed this week’s blogs about “Goals”.

Next week’s topic will be “Love”.

Friday Review: Happy Reading! I know that I need to revisit the goals I set and ask myself the questions we talked about this week. I also need to define my core values and make sure my goals are aligned with them.

Have you created actionable items toward accomplishing your goals? If not, then you may benefit from revisiting them after you read this week’s posts.

1.     Goal And Marriage?

• Creating fulfilling goals takes more thought and energy than simply writing them down on a piece of paper. They must posses the characteristics that foster an environment for success. They should be well defined, measurable, stimulating, desirable, adjustable and yet complex to motivate people to strive for success.

2.     At the Core of Your Values

• Another characteristic a goal must have is to be aligned with your core values.

3.     Are you S.M.A.R.T.?

• To set life changing, rewarding goals we have to begin by writing down each one and making sure we are S.M.A.R.T. about them.

4.     Get Organized!

• You can now see that the path to success is black and white. It is documented in your vision statements, mission statements, goals and objectives. Now it’s up to you to put forth the energy to achieve your desired end results.

The Positive Insight: There is a lot more involved with writing a goal that promotes achievement than choosing a final destination. If we put forth focused energy we will reap the benefits of our success. So let’s do the research and stop procrastinating.

Have a wonderful weekend!

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: You’ve defined your goals and are successfully working toward all of them at the same time. This makes you happy but you also feel overwhelmed and want your life to be more organized and balanced.

What can you do to create balance in your life while organizing your goals?

Open a folder on your computer and in your email calendar. Compartmentalize the areas of your life in which you have goals. The titles might be “work”, “physical well-being”, and “relationship”. Type your life mantra at the top of each page. Type your vision and mission statement, per goal, under the mantra on each page. Then, write your long-term and supporting short-term goals or objectives.

Vision Statement: Describes where you want to be at a specific time in the future.

Mission Statement: Contains the who, what, when, where, why and how to carry out your vision.

The long-term and short-term goals, or objectives, become the road map to achieving your end results.

Use your calendar to block out time to focus on the compartmentalized aspects of your life. Make sure you include downtime.

The Insight: Now you can see that the path to success is black and white. It is documented in your vision statements, mission statements, goals and objectives. Now it’s up to you to put forth the energy to meet your desired end results.

Can you see how some people accomplish what seems impossible to others?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: How do people accomplish the impossible when all the odds are against them? How do they have the vision, confidence and perseverance to push forward with strength and tenacity to achieve their goals? What if achieving those goals did not seem impossible because they had a detailed, well thought-out, realistic and quantifiable plan?

How do you set a goal and achieve it?

Be S.M.A.R.T. about the result you wish to accomplish. Goals must be:

• Specific:  They must be detailed, explicit and define who, what, when, where and why.

• Measurable:  How will you quantify success? How will success be monitored and, finally, measured? Ensure that it is calculable in some capacity. Make sure it is also tangible. You should be able to touch, taste, smell, see or hear your goal.

• Achievable: When you create short-term goals, objectives and milestones, your long-term goals become attainable. Explore your skills, knowledge and resources to reach your end result.

• Realistic:  They must be aligned with your personal mission statement and core values. Only you have to believe that the goals you create for yourself are achievable and attainable with focus and determination.

• Timely:  Set an exact time frame to reach the results you want.

The Insight: To set life changing and rewarding goals we have to begin by writing down each one and making sure we are S.M.A.R.T. about them.

Are you S.M.A.R.T. about your goals?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: If you eat an apple you are left with its core. To you and me there is nothing significant about the remains of an apple. To that apple, the core, its center, is the foundation for life.

Our core values operate in a similar way. They are basic foundations, operating philosophies, and/or sets of principles that guide our behavior and stem from our beliefs. It’s what we stand for.

What does this have to do with your goals? Is achieving a goal more fulfilling when it is aligned with our core values?

Make a list of your core values by answering the question, “What is most important to me as a . . .?” Fill in the blank with one of your life titles such as: wife, mother, husband, CEO, manager, brother, etc.

The values that are most important to me as a wife are respect, equality, honesty, true friendship and happiness. Therefore, if I chose a mate with characteristics that did not complement mine or were not aligned with my core values I would be disappointed with his decision-making process. Our core values must be aligned.

The same theory applies for every aspect of our lives.

The Insight: Another characteristic a goal must have is to be aligned with your core values.

What are the top five core values that are most important to you?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: What requires action or energy, can be the result or intended outcome, and satisfies a need? No, it’s not a marriage. It’s a goal. Like a marriage, the road to accomplishing a goal can be complicated and exhausting. However, when you know with hard work and dedication that the result is achievable, like a successful marriage, you are satisfied and rewarded. If you think about it you (whether you’re married or single) can define the characteristics you think are needed for a successful marriage.

Can you define the characteristics needed for setting a successful goal?

Dr. Edwin Locke and Dr. Gary Latham have created “A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance” where they suggest five principles that goals must have to motivate people.

1.     Clarity: Create clear, concise, measurable goals

2.     Challenge: Create challenging, realistic goals where rewards enhance enthusiasm and drive

3.     Commitment: Goals should be understood and agreed upon by all parties involved

4.    Feedback: Goals can be flexible, re-evaluated, adjusted, measured by milestones or short-term achievements

5.     Complexity: Make sure that the goal is not overwhelming. Allow ample time to successfully achieve it and build in contingencies

The Insight: Creating fulfilling goals takes more thought and energy than simply writing them down on a piece of paper. They must possess characteristics that foster an environment for success. They should be well-defined, measurable, stimulating, desirable, adjustable and complex to motivate people to strive for success.

What other characteristics should your goals have?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships