How is your 2012 going? We’re past the half way mark. Are you on track to accomplish your goals? How much progress have you made? As I’ve previously written, I have New Years resolutions. I love goals.

But goals that can’t be measured are worthless. Goals that are vague and nebulous don’t help.

Did you set goals for 2012? Did you want to lose weight? Did you want to save money or write a novel? Do you even remember what your goals were?

Maybe you didn’t set any.

Maybe it’s time to reset your goals or start planning for the second half of this year. If you do here is some helpful hints on goal setting.

  1. Write them down. This seems like a no brainer but so many of us don’t actually write our goals down. I always tell my friends, that if it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.
  2. Make them measurable.
    • I want to lose weight = bad goal (no way to really measure it)
    • I want to lose 20 pounds = better goal (measurable)
    • I want to work out for twenty minutes three times a week for six months = best goal (goes to activity not results)
  3. Determine your pay off. Why do you want from this activity? Why are you doing whatever it is you are attempting to do?
  4. Share them with someone. Accountability is a huge motivator for many people. Having someone to share your goals with not only provides this, it makes it more fun. There are scores of studies that show people who share their goals have a higher success rate.
  5. Revisit them often but not too much. Come back to your goals often enough to be motivated but not so much that you demotivate yourself. Revisit your goals to be able to measure your progress. Breaking them down into small subgoals cant help but don’t go crazy making a long list of sub goals.

What about you? What have you found to be helpful in keeping goals? How has 2012 gone for you in this area? What advice would you share?

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