Setting Goals and Accomplishing Them

I feel that when an interviewer asks me where do I see myself in five years, it is a trick question. Being unemployed at the moment, I would have never of guessed a year ago or even two that I would be unemployed today.  I don’t answer their question in the conventional way – I merely tell them there is only one today, and I want to make the most of the position I am interviewing for. Life has unfolded in a way I would have never of guessed, and I am making the most of my free time to set goals and do things I would have never of dreamed of. Setting goals may sometimes seem daunting, and it’s easy for a procrastinator to, well, procrastinate. The saying is true – you are your toughest critic. With that being said, you can make your own goals as attainable as you want them to be.

With certain goals, it’s easy to see the finish line.  Say you want to paint your room. Well, either you paint your room or you don’t. The goal is either completed or not.

If you tend to be hard on yourself, you may want to set goals that have a little more wiggle room so you don’t disappoint yourself and can keep on moving. You might decide you want to start a new hobby. You have a list of things you want to try. This doesn’t mean that you have to be an expert in 60 seconds flat. But trying is believing. And when you believe in yourself, you set your own limits, and in turn never fail.

One of your hobbies to try may be to learn how to knit. You take a class, learn the basics, but decide you aren’t passionate about knitting. Since you are a creative and thrifty person, you may say, well – now I’m going to try sewing. You take a class and love it. You learn to sew, buy a machine on eBay, and start making novelty items for friends and family. With a new hobby in hand, you have also figured out how to set a goal, accomplish it, and make your friends and family birthday/holiday gifts for a lifetime (or until they get sick of your homemade gifts).

OK guys, I know what you’re saying, I don’t want to learn to sew or knit, all I care about is winning my fantasy football league. Now if I had the tips on which quarterback, running back or tight end for you to pick, well, I’d be in Vegas and not writing this article. You may want to become a better golfer. So you decide to get out to the course or driving range once a week. Your schedule and bank account may not allow you such weekly luxuries (especially since it is also football season, and your QB is now on the DL). So you have to rework this goal, you decide to try to play golf once or twice a month, take a lesson, and challenge your friends to the occasional Wii game. Before you know it, you are par-ing each hole by Spring.

Accomplishing goals can come in many different packages, they can be wrapped in a box that is goal set- goal accomplished, goal set- goal reworked - reworked goal accomplished, goal set- goal didn’t like- goal now known not your cup of tea. I firmly believe you never fail until you stop trying. It is OK to learn you don’t like something – at least  you tried and you don’t have to bother with it again. If there is one thing I have learned about setting goals, it is to create a list. My list gets reworked everyday with new things that come up. I might not accomplish everything, but I keep trying.

Rachel is the founder and blogger at Kicked Forward – a great place for daily inspirations in goal-setting and the job hunt.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.