Setting personal goals is as important as setting career goals...
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About Setting Personal Goals...

Home >> Goal Setting >> Personal Goals

What is personal goal setting?

Well it's about being as serious with your personal life as you are with your career.

It's about knowing how to set goals in both these areas - using smart goals, for example - to help you achieve a good life-balance.

And David Dutch's setting goals article helps, as does the goal-setting YouTube video by Mindtools.com.

And you'll find goal setting examples too - well, my personal goal setting example, anyway.

But if you'd like to contribute your favourite goal setting activities, tips, templates or examples yourself, then feel free. ( Contact us here! )

And, remember, it's all about motivation and goal setting, whether you're setting career goals or personal goals...




Setting personal goals - what I say...

There is no point in setting career goals if you're not setting personal goals and thus leave your personal life aimless and goal-free! Well, that's what David Dutch says, and I'm in agreement with him. (It's all about balance, right?)

And David goes on to say that "those who set goals in each area of their lives have greater life satisfaction than those who only set career goals". (And this 'setting personal goals' philosophy sounds like a recipe for happiness, or at least a recipe for success, yes?)

Anyway, the good news is, according to David, that "you set goals every day of your life" just to get basic things done each and every day.

So we're all used to setting personal goals, actually - we just need a little focussing.

And that's where David's concept of a 'Tower of Life' comes in. (As you'll see when you read David's personal goal setting article, 'Are You Living a Balanced Life?'.)

David provides us with one form of goal setting template and one type of goal setting activity - and there may well be other setting personal goals templates and activities, but David's 'Tower of Life' is a start. It's all about taking a big long look at your life, asking yourself some tough questions, and thus recognising where your life - personal or career - could need some more attention.

And then, of course, it's about taking the necessary action via smart goal setting...

"When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning,
by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs
expressing, then we truly live life."

-- Greg Anderson

(Read more goal quotes here!)




So, having said all that, what could be more personal for setting personal goals than for me to follow the advice that David Dutch gives in his personal goal setting article below. So, personal goal setting examples? Well, here's mine, according to Dave's TOWER OF LIFE notion of a goal for each part of your life:

Setting Personal Goals a la David Dutch's Tower of Life

DAVID
DUTCH'S

'TOWER
OF
LIFE'

goal setting template

Tower Floor Area
of Life
Typical Questions(*)My Score
6th FloorFinancial &
Career
Have you reached your full potential? Have you achieved a good standard of living? etc.7
5th FloorSocial &
Cultural
Does your circle of friends enhance your life? Do you have interests outside of your career? etc.4
4th FloorSpiritual &
Ethical
Do you know what your values are? What is your relationship with religion?
3rd FloorFamily &
Home
Is your family life the way you want it? Have you achieved your dreams?4
2nd FloorMental &
Educational
Have you accomplished your educational goals? Are you educating yourself on a daily basis? etc.8
1st Floor/
Ground Floor
Physical &
Health
Are you satisfied with your current state of health? Are you fit enough to do the things you want to do? etc.7

* For a full list of questions to help you set your goals see David Dutch's article below, but you are free to set your own questions here. Remember this is about setting personal goals - your personal goals!

NOTE:
(1) For this setting personal goals example, I've decided to work on aspects of my life where my score is 7 or less (rather than the the score of 5 or less that David suggests). So I shall be applying smart goals - and thus doing personal and career goal setting - in the following areas of my life: social & cultural, family & home, and physical & health (I do not work out enough each week right now!). And you can read how I get on on this 'smart goal setting' page.

(2) If you're at all interested in personal goal setting tools then I can recommend you take a look at the goal setting workbook (and other life-tools resources on offer at HigherAwareness.com )

(3) When it comes to goal setting, your attitude needs to be right, as this article about having the right goals, but the wrong attitude explains

(4) And, lastly, it would be great if you did this goal setting exercise, too, and shared your setting personal goals experience! :-)

Okay, that's enough from me and my own personal goal setting, let's see what David Dutch has to say on the subject...




Setting Personal Goals - Are You Living a Balanced Life?

Setting personal goals - what David Dutch has to say...

Living a well-balanced life is the target of the majority of people - it is the key to achieving personal and professional goal setting and success in your career. However what is meant by a balanced life? Whilst it is true that goal setting is usually the domain of your career, especially sales and professional careers, to live a balanced life means setting goals in every part of your life - both business and personal.

In fact those who set goals in each area of their lives have greater life satisfaction than those who only set career goals thereby decreasing their odds of having a happy life.

So we need to examine how to write goals and set out a goal setting process so that we can achieve balanced living by achieving goals.

You may have come across the term SMART Goals or even S.M.A.R.T. goals standing for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time related goals. For those who understand goals setting this will be familiar but could look complicated for those who are new to goals setting. I much prefer SMA goals, Specific, Measurable and Attainable; obviously if they are attainable in your eyes they must be realistic.

Whether you realise it or not you set goals every day of your life, for everyone makes decisions as they move through the day, a decision can only be made by a goal setting process. You think of something you want, determine if you think you can do it, and take action to achieve it - that is the goal setting process. Obviously there are a few factors in the process that require expanding.

You need to have a goal for each part of your life in order to achieve a balanced life - I call this the TOWER OF LIFE. So let us first identify the floors in the tower that will benefit from personal goal setting.

Just draw a tower building consisting of six floors having three windows to a floor; I told you goal setting was easy!

On the first floor (the ground floor if you are not in the USA) in the left hand window write the words Physical and Health. On the next floor up write Mental and Educational. The next floor up write Family and Home; on the next Spiritual and Ethical; then Social and Cultural finally on the top floor Financial and Career.

The window alongside each of the categories is for marking where you are now, related to that category. To do this you need to ask yourself some questions, for example working downwards in the window next to where you wrote Financial and Career ask yourself questions such as: Do you enjoy your work? Do you feel you make an effective contribution? Have you reached your full potential? Have you achieved a good standard of living?

Mark yourself against these questions on a scale of 1 to 10. Rate yourself against each question with a score of 1 being lowest and 10 being the highest.

Apply the same rules to each floor of the Tower of Life:-

  • Social and Cultural
    Does your circle of friends enhance your life, and do they contribute to your life or take from your life? Have you got a friend you can have a serious discussion about your life without feeling uncomfortable? Do you have interests outside of your career - sport; theatre; family?

  • Spiritual and Ethical
    Do you know what your values are and what makes your life tick? What is your relationship with religion? Do you accept the idea of an architect of the universe and life itself? (Remember your religion can be based around an invisible deity or a god within yourself.)

  • Family and Home
    Is your family life the way you want it? Have you achieved your dreams?

  • Mental and Educational:
    Have you accomplished your educational goals? Are you educating yourself on a daily basis? Do you invest in your education on an ongoing basis?

  • Physical and Health:
    Are you satisfied with your current state of health? Are you the correct weight for your size and build? Are you fit enough to do the things you want to do?

Having asked yourself questions such as these and others you may add, and marked yourself on the scale of 1 to 10, make a note of all the areas where improvement can be made. I suggest doing so where your score is less than 5. And if you have none below 5 then pick the lowest score, and check also that you have been totally honest with yourself.

Now you need to look at those areas where you could improve your score and set yourself objectives to raise the score towards ten, where you can. As you do this and achieve your goals no matter how small you will begin to enjoy life satisfaction and bring your life in balance. Repeat this goal setting process on a regular basis for as you get to ten on your scale you will think of improvements you can make even when you reach ten and the process starts again.

----------------------------------------------------

Helping people achieve a balance between their work and personal lives has been a priority on Dave's list for many years. He has been able to help hundreds achieve that balance through his seminars and now he wants to help you through his BLOG Articles and Books. All can be accessed at http://inthefootstepsofgiants.com, where you can also get his free e-book 'Creating Tomorrow's Reality Today'


Article source: http://www.submityourarticle.com/a.php?a=55770




Setting personal goals - what YouTube (and Mindtools.com) say..

This setting personal goals video from Mindtools.com pretty much covers everything said above when it comes to personal and career setting goals. The goal setting tips are short and sweet, but Mindtools.com is an extensive resource on self-help, particularly from a career perspective, so you'll find all the goal setting templates, activities and examples you'll ever need. (If you need more than this goal setting page provides, that is...)




Setting personal goals - what YOU say...

Well, what do you say about personal goal setting - I'd love to know. Either contact us or fill in this personal goal setting form.

Thanks. There's a free goals quotes ebook in it, if you do! :-)




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