It’s the 1st quarter of the New Year and time for us to set our goals for 2008. For most of us its just another one of those documents we need to fill up. We do it because we are asked to; because everyone else is doing it. It’s not that we don’t see the value in it. We don’t care enough about it. I hated goal setting too. I hated it because it made me think about my wishes and wants that I haven’t yet fulfilled, those that I fear to pursue. As we climb that ladder of growth in our organization, setting goals become an integral part of our everyday professional life with a direct impact on our personal life. In others words, our lives have to become goal-oriented. We cannot afford to not care. We must care enough to set Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Result-oriented and Time-based goals – SMART goals.
One of my goals for 2008 is to become PMP certified. It is a SMART goal because I know “specifically” what I want to do. I want to enroll, learn and get certified. I will take mock tests that will help me “measure” my progress towards my final test, which will measure my success. The fact that I am setting it as my annual goal, sharing it with my family and with you, shows “accountability”. It is “result-oriented” not because I will be certified, but because the certification will help me be better at what I do – project management. It is “time-based” because it has a deadline – August ’08.
I’ve always believed that if I wish for something and want it badly enough, then someday that wish will come true. We don’t always get what we wished for simply because our ‘wishes’ don’t turn into ‘wants’. The first step is to convert those wishes into wants because when we really want something, we set our mind to it and when our mind is focused on something, we are thinking goals. So don’t delay. Set some goals. Remember, it’s a simple as making a wish.
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