Yep….goals are important to me and they should be for you.  No matter, if you are 18 or 80 you shouldn’t stop making goals. The reason for those goals are personal to each of us and important to making a difference in our lives and being part of advancing quality of life for ourselves and those around us.

We all have set goals using the SMART method and probably many other formats.  This year I decided to do something a little different. Hopefully, you are going to join me in this journey as we work together with the HARD method for goal setting and accomplishing in 2018. Visit Forbes article for more information. The article looks at goals on a professional career oriented level. If you are in your golden years that isn’t that important.  But, your life goals are very important.  How do you spend your days, motivate yourself, leave your legacy?  Yes, this goal setting is for you on a personal level.

For 2018 I am going to set my goals for both personal and professional. I just celebrated my 57th birthday and have so much to do. Don’t you feel the same way? Of course you do! You want to make a difference in your family’s lives, in your spiritual life, and in your professional or personal life.  But, if you don’t set goals you will be getting up each morning saying “What is on my to do list today? Do I have a purpose?” That is not life…..that is EXISTING!

So, join with me in setting your goals for 2018 using the HARD method as outlined in the Forbes article. Don’t overdo things.  Just set a couple goals for the personal, professional, spiritual, and/or the legacy side of your life this year. You may have other area.  Forbes article included the following in their article that will be very helpful as we move forward in developing and writing our plans out:

Question #1: Animated. “Think about where you want your career to be, and describe to me exactly what you’re doing (what kind of work you’re doing, who you’re working with, what your days look like, etc.) one year, three years, and five years from now.”

Question #2: Heartfelt. “Describe at least three reasons why you want this goal (note: the reasons can be intrinsic, personal, and/or extrinsic).”

Question #3: Difficult. “What are the three to five most important skills you’ll need to develop to achieve this goal? How will you develop those skills?”

Question #4: Required. “What do you need to have accomplished by the end of the next six months to keep on track toward achieving this goal? What about by the end of the next 90 days? The next 30 days? What’s one thing you can accomplish today?” (M. Murphy, 2017, Forbes)

You will immediately see that the HARD questions have been listed out of order.  There is a reason…..

Let’s get to work together today.  Get that planner and note pad out and start planning.  Life is to short not to have a plan!