Flexible Working Life

I always find I work better if I have a list of goals to work towards.
I decide what I want to achieve, pick a time when the goal will be completed and I write it down.
For a long time my goals were done at the beginning of a New Year or on my birthday, they were ‘lifetime goals,’ but I’ve found that if I create goals on a week by week basis, then I’m much more productive.

I concentrate on what I want to achieve in the week both on a personal and professional level and I write it down. Then I pin it up on a board in front of my PC so I see them every time I sit down to work.

As well as keeping me on track, I found it’s useful for thinking about what exactly I need to achieve in the week ahead.  So all round it’s  a useful tool that I’m going to keep doing.

Here’s some pointers from various sources that I’ve found over the years on how to effectively set goals.  I once did a course on  life-coaching, and goal setting was a big part of that, so most of the stuff here is what I learnt whilst studying.

Write the goal in the positive – ‘I will do such-and-such’ rather than ‘I will stop doing such-and-such’

Make them measureable – Always give a set time and date of when the goal will be completed. This really helps me focus and think about what is achievable and what isn’t.  It also helps me to get it done – if I write ‘I will have completed such-and-such by 5pm Wednesday, then I know there’s a much greater chance of me doing that rather than if I just wrote, ‘I will have completed such-and-such.’

Be realistic – This is hard for me, but if you don’t keep realistic about your goals then there’s a chance that it won’t be achieved, and there is nothing that’s more dispiriting.

Write them down and read them everyday – If you read your goals daily you have a far greater chance of achieving them.  Also, it helps keep me on track.