How often should I revisit/review my goals?
Welcome to this installment of The Weekly Wisdom blog, today's posting is a follow up from last week's entitled,
Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful - having a vision. The response has been overwhelming and I thank you for your support. Why not tell a friend about this site? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and let us go on this journey of personal development together.
Of the responses from last week I got this message from
Kwesi C:
I enjoyed today's blog. Thanks for sharing! A 'vision board/poster' really keeps my attention on my intentions and provides clarity. My question today is, how often should this 'vision board/poster' be updated?
Kwesi C, thank you for this thought provoking question. Let us start off by exploring the fundamentals of goal setting.
For the purpose of this discourse allow me to make an illustration, by differentiating dreams and goals. In the context of building a career, a dream is something that you would like to achieve. It can be any kind of achievement, but the essence of a dream is the fact that you have a strong desire to see it come to pass. One such example; you would like to write a book one day. A goal on the other hand is something you would like to achieve by a certain time. To put it more succinctly, a goal is a dream with a time limit. Using the same example; by the end of next year you would like to have written a book. You see the difference, in the first case years can go by and your dream is still valid. But with a goal, if the end of next year is upon you and you have not yet written a single paragraph then you can be certain that you have failed miserably. But why is this important for us to understand?
Let me further explain by using another example: imagine you are about to go on a road trip. Your dream is to drive across the United States from New York to California and it does not matter to you how long it takes. Statistics show that this drive should take about two full days of direct driving to comfortably complete this journey. However, what would you do if an entire week has passed and you have still not arrived to California? Based on the original guidelines, nothing. You are destined to keep on driving and hopefully get there one day. This is what happens when we chase after a dream, we work and work and hope that one day we get there.
However let us revisit this same example in the context of a goal. You have a desire to drive from New York to California. The first thing you must to do is research by asking questions like:
how long would the trip take? Based on that you can determine what route you take-- will it be the fastest or the more scenic route? Are there stops along the way that you must make? How much will the trip cost? These questions are just the beginning. What they help to do is provide checks and balances so that you can measure your progress along the way. For example, if the trip takes two days, by the end of day one you should be able to determine whether you are on course. If you decided to take the scenic route, and you have already passed two days it gives you an opportunity to re-plan. In response you can return to a more direct route and bypass any remaining stops that you intended on making.
You see, goals allow you to measure your progress, especially in terms of time. If the time has expired and your goal is not done, it forces you to re-plan. If you have completed on time or before schedule, then you move ahead and start planning the next goal. That said, your vision board must reflect the same.
You should revisit your vision board as often as required to ensure that your goals are accurately reflected. When goals have been achieved you can cross them off as completed. And as long as the remaining items things are still relevant then it can remain unchanged. My advice to someone whose goals are very dynamic
(i.e. changes month by month) is that you can use a vision board that is equally as dynamic, like a dry erase board. The idea is to have something that you can put up and regularly update without diminishing its effectiveness.
As you may notice in the goal setting example above, the time factor forces you to implement checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints more readily facilitate regular adjustments to your plan, as opposed to waiting until you get too far off course to make those adjustments.
As I conclude today, be reminded that as long as those items on your vision board are still relevant, then there is no need to change. However, if things have changed so too must your vision board. So after reading both last week’s and today’s blog here is what you need to do:
2. Look online for tips on how to create a vision board that suits you
3. Create a vision board (no need to get too fancy)
4. Tell a friend about this website and ask them to sign up for the mailing list by leaving a message on the “Contact Us” page
5. Share this and other postings from this site that you like on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites
6. Leave a comment or send a message to express how this blog has impacted you
7. Send me questions that you want answered and I will add them to a future posting
Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.
Tags: career,
Deon,
Deon E Duncan,
Duncan,
goals,
How to make it from the classroom to the cubicle,
self development,
self management,
vision,
vision board,
weekly wisdom 
Welcome to this installment of The Weekly Wisdom blog, today's posting is a follow up from last week's entitled, Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful - having a vision. The response has been overwhelming and I thank you for your support. Why not tell a friend about this site? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and let us go on this journey of personal development together.
Of the responses from last week I got this message from Kwesi C: I enjoyed today's blog. Thanks for sharing! A 'vision board/poster' really keeps my attention on my intentions and provides clarity. My question today is, how often should this 'vision board/poster' be updated?
Kwesi C, thank you for this thought provoking question. Let us start off by exploring the fundamentals of goal setting.
For the purpose of this discourse allow me to make an illustration, by differentiating dreams and goals. In the context of building a career, a dream is something that you would like to achieve. It can be any kind of achievement, but the essence of a dream is the fact that you have a strong desire to see it come to pass. One such example; you would like to write a book one day. A goal on the other hand is something you would like to achieve by a certain time. To put it more succinctly, a goal is a dream with a time limit. Using the same example; by the end of next year you would like to have written a book. You see the difference, in the first case years can go by and your dream is still valid. But with a goal, if the end of next year is upon you and you have not yet written a single paragraph then you can be certain that you have failed miserably. But why is this important for us to understand?
Let me further explain by using another example: imagine you are about to go on a road trip. Your dream is to drive across the United States from New York to California and it does not matter to you how long it takes. Statistics show that this drive should take about two full days of direct driving to comfortably complete this journey. However, what would you do if an entire week has passed and you have still not arrived to California? Based on the original guidelines, nothing. You are destined to keep on driving and hopefully get there one day. This is what happens when we chase after a dream, we work and work and hope that one day we get there.
However let us revisit this same example in the context of a goal. You have a desire to drive from New York to California. The first thing you must to do is research by asking questions like: how long would the trip take? Based on that you can determine what route you take-- will it be the fastest or the more scenic route? Are there stops along the way that you must make? How much will the trip cost? These questions are just the beginning. What they help to do is provide checks and balances so that you can measure your progress along the way. For example, if the trip takes two days, by the end of day one you should be able to determine whether you are on course. If you decided to take the scenic route, and you have already passed two days it gives you an opportunity to re-plan. In response you can return to a more direct route and bypass any remaining stops that you intended on making.
You see, goals allow you to measure your progress, especially in terms of time. If the time has expired and your goal is not done, it forces you to re-plan. If you have completed on time or before schedule, then you move ahead and start planning the next goal. That said, your vision board must reflect the same.
You should revisit your vision board as often as required to ensure that your goals are accurately reflected. When goals have been achieved you can cross them off as completed. And as long as the remaining items things are still relevant then it can remain unchanged. My advice to someone whose goals are very dynamic (i.e. changes month by month) is that you can use a vision board that is equally as dynamic, like a dry erase board. The idea is to have something that you can put up and regularly update without diminishing its effectiveness.
As you may notice in the goal setting example above, the time factor forces you to implement checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints more readily facilitate regular adjustments to your plan, as opposed to waiting until you get too far off course to make those adjustments.
As I conclude today, be reminded that as long as those items on your vision board are still relevant, then there is no need to change. However, if things have changed so too must your vision board. So after reading both last week’s and today’s blog here is what you need to do: