Your very own Goals Template

Finally, the holidays are over and for some of us, there's a little time to relax and do some clean up and observation. It's at this time that I find the most success in deciding what my goals for the new year will be and appreciate what I've accomplished in the last 12 months. Dorothy just wrote an article about goal planning, so I thought I'd extend the conversation by giving you my own Goals Template.

My Goals Template consists of three parts: Career, Personal and Health; and is typically used for my annual goal setting and long range planning (up to 5 years).

Planning for the future
Below are subsections found within the three major areas that I feel are important to me.

• Describe your 2009 career, personal and health plan. Essentially a job description in your own words that is focused on where 2009 will take you based on the three main sections, Career, Personal and Health. For example, this can describe certain specializations in your industry or act as a reality check into what you're doing right/wrong at your stage of career. Your statement (about 4 sentences) should be written as if you've accomplished your goal at the end of 2009. Re-Reading what you've put here always gives me affirmation about what I've set out to do.


• Names of people who I should be networking more with. I list all of their strengths and weaknesses (if known) and describe what my own strengths are to be able to fit in nicely with this person. Developing excellent social skills in this area is important in order to build a stronger network and potentially get a better job or better friends.


• Training. Listing all the kinds of training and classes that I should be engaged in throughout the year. Taking the job description you wrote above, will this training help you achieve this goal?


• Projects, Assignments and Extra Curricular. Are there a list of projects, assignments or extra curricular activities that you can be more involved with? I use this section as a way to plan out all of the activities that I have on the go including my involvement with professional organizations.


• Time Management. This is a newer section for me as I've found that in the recent months, my time has started to become spread too thinly. This year, I will use this section as a way to decide how I will be delegating more work to others instead of doing everything myself.


• Habits. I typically list only a few good habits that I'd like to build on to make changes in my life. Items such as: Learning a new word every day, taking a 15 minute walk before work or committing to regular visits to the parents or grandparents.

Just like what Dorothy said: "make sure it is realistic for you". If this is your first time making your list, write down how you will START your goal in addition to your list. The hardest part about accomplishing a goal is keeping them. My next post (on the week of January 4th), I will write about how to keep those goals in the months ahead to ensure that you are on track.