Goal setting is an important part of making progress no matter what you are trying to do. Small incremental steps are needed to both boost confidence and to measure progress. No company can go from nothing to a powerhouse overnight. There are a multitude of tiny steps in between. This is how we run our company. We know that we aren’t the most successful company on the planet, but we have a vision in our heads of where we want to be in 2 years. The only way to reach that huge goal is to set smaller goals along the way for us to achieve. I like to think of it as a ladder. If you’re climbing a ladder up to a high point, you can’t take one step and skip the rest to the top. It’s impossible to do this with a ladder, and it’s impossible to do this in business. There is no easy way to reach the top; it takes hard work and discipline.

A similar way that I look at goal setting is in weightlifting. Weightlifting is a hobby that I have enjoyed now for over a year. It’s lots of fun and it keeps me in shape. Goal setting is a crucial part of any weightlifter’s training. If I wanted to lift a heavy weight that was beyond my ability, I can’t just lift it anyway. My body simply won’t allow me to do this. The way I can do it is to lift slightly heavier weights each time until my muscles have adapted sufficiently. These smaller increases are goals that lead me to my much bigger goals. Each time I reach these smaller goals, my confidence increases and it drives me to my ultimate goal. This can be applied to sports, business or anything else in life. I feel this confidence drive me in business. When I set a goal of increasing the number of people in my network by 10 in one month, and I make it, it makes me wonder if I can do even better. I find myself wanting to top myself each and every time. Every small goal that I achieve gives me more drive to do better.

If there is one thing we know about kids, it’s that they have short attention spans and prefer now to later. Teachers, more than any district or schoolwide programs, have the most power to motivate students because they’re on the front lines. They can influence students in a way that kids can actually understand: here, now, today, in this room.

***Obviously, not enough can be said about parent involvement, but that’s a Top 12 list for another day***

In Your Classroom or School

1. Praise Students in Ways Big and Small

Recognize work in class, display good work in the classroom and send positive notes home to parents, hold weekly awards in your classroom, organize academic pep rallies to honor the honor roll, and even sponsor a Teacher Shoutout section in the student newspaper to acknowledge student’s hard work.

2. Expect Excellence

Set high, yet realistic expectations. Make sure to voice those expectations. Set short terms goals and celebrate when they are achieved.

3. Spread Excitement Like a Virus

Show your enthusiasm in the subject & use appropriate, concrete and understandable examples to help students grasp it. For example, I love alliteration. Before I explain the concept to students, we “improv” subjects they’re interested in. After learning about alliteration, they brainstorm alliterative titles for their chosen subjects.

4. Mix It Up

It’s a classic concept and the basis for differentiated instruction, but it needs to be said: using a variety of teaching methods caters to all types of learners. By doing this in an orderly way, you can also maintain order in your classroom. In a generic example for daily instruction, journal for 10 minutes to open class; introduce the concept for 15 minutes; discuss/group work for 15 minutes; Q&A or guided work time to finish the class. This way, students know what to expect everyday and have less opportunity to act up.

5. Assign Classroom Jobs

With students, create a list of jobs for the week. Using the criteria of your choosing, let students earn the opportunity to pick their classroom jobs for the next week. These jobs can cater to their interests and skills. Some possibilities include:

• Post to the Class blog

• Update Calendar

• Moderate review games

• Pick start of class music

• Watch class pet

• Public relations officer (address people who visit class)

• Standard class jobs like Attendance, Cleaning the boards, putting up chairs, etc.

6. Hand Over Some Control

If students take ownership of what you do in class, then they have less room to complain (though we all know, it’ll never stop completely). Take an audit of your class, asking what they enjoy doing, what helps them learn, what they’re excited about after class. Multiple choice might be the best way to start if you predict a lot of “nothing” or “watch movies” answers.

After reviewing the answers, integrate their ideas into your lessons or guide a brainstorm session on how these ideas could translate into class.

On a systematic level, let students choose from elective classes in a collegiate format. Again, they can tap into their passion and relate to their subject matter if they have a choice.

7. Open-format Fridays

You can also translate this student empowerment into an incentive program. Students who attended class all week, completed all assignments and obeyed all classroom rules can vote on Friday’s activities (lecture, discussion, watching a video, class jeopardy, acting out a scene from a play or history).

8. Relating Lessons to Students’ Lives

Whether it is budgeting for family Christmas gifts, choosing short stories about your town, tying in the war of 1812 with Iraq, rapping about ions, or using Pop Culture Printables, students will care more if they identify themselves or their everyday lives in what they’re learning.

9. Track Improvement

In those difficult classes, it can feel like a never-ending uphill battle, so try to remind students that they’ve come a long way. Set achievable, short-term goals, emphasis improvement, keep self-evaluation forms to fill out and compare throughout the year, or revisit mastered concepts that they once struggled with to refresh their confidence.

10. Reward Positive Behavior Outside the Classroom

Tie service opportunities, cultural experiences, extracurricular activities into the curriculum for extra credit or as alternative options on assignments. Have students doing Habitat for Humanity calculate the angle of the freshly cut board, count the nails in each stair and multiply the number of stairs to find the total number of nails; write an essay about their experience volunteering or their how they felt during basketball tryouts; or any other creative option they can come up with.

Beyond the Classroom

The idea of cash incentives is a timely yet controversial topic, so I’d like to look at this attempt to “buy achievement” through a different lens. It seems people are willing to dump some money into schools, so let’s come up with better ways to spend it.

11. Plan Dream Field Trips

With your students, brainstorm potential field trips tiered by budget. Cash incentive money can then be earned toward the field trips for good behavior, performance, etc. The can see their success in the classroom as they move up from the decent zoo field trip to the good state capitol day trip to the unbelievable week-long trip to New York City. Even though the reward is delayed, tracking progress will give students that immediate reward.

12. College Fund Accounts

College dreams motivate athletes; why not adapt the academic track to be just as tangible for hard-working student. One way is to keep a tally of both the cash value and the potential school choice each student has earned. As freshman, they see they’ve earned one semester at the local junior college. By second semester of junior year, they’re going to four-years at State for half the price. By graduation, watch out free ride to their dream school.

In 1953, a study on the effectiveness of goals was done with students at Yale University in Connecticut. Only 3% of the graduating class reported that they had specific written goals.

When these same class members were surveyed twenty years later, it was discovered that the 3% group with written goals had financial income exceeding the total of the remaining 97%.

A goal is a dream with a deadline. If it is not written down, it is just a wish. We need to have desire and vision. We need to follow our spirit to where we want to be, and know what we want to achieve.We need to know where we want to go.

There is a saying that,”If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” If our goals are just indefinite dreams, then we have no clear expectations for them to become reality.

When our goals are defined, our thoughts, energies, and creative talents focus on their achievement. Whatever we are fascinated by, whatever we define as an objective and focus our attention on,we tend to bring into our lives.

Work on your inner qualities first, and be committed to personal growth. The things that help us to grow are:

Personal growth takes effort and commitment. Growth and change only happen when we venture out of our comfort zones. The answers to your life are within you. Are you growing and learning? Meditate, and dwell on your questions, and the answers will come to you.

Goals are many and varied, but they must be real. Goals can be short-term, medium-term, and long-term. They can be internal and external.

To formulate and define your goals, start brainstorming without qualification, and write each one down.

Next, divide your list into categories such as: spiritual, social, health, material, career, recreational, financial, and relationship, identifying what value each one fulfills.

Next, look at your listing within categories to see if you have balance in your life. Do the majority fall into one, or into a few categories? What is the motivation behind each goal? What are you trying to accomplish?

In order to be effective in leading us toward a sense of lasting fulfillment, our goals and visions must be:

Finally, goals focus our activities so we can achieve objectives. But remember, your life focus should also be enjoyable. Goals are there to give direction. Use them as a guide, without allowing them to be so set that you become a slave to them. Slavery in any form is a curse, and counterproductive to the pursuit of happiness and health.

Planning

Making a plan is a process of taking a goal we want to achieve and breaking it down into its simplest action steps. A good method of planning is to start with the end result or goal we want to achieve and then work backwards to where we are now.

Having identified the path backwards, we can then map out step by step, with time objectives for each step, the plan that we think will best lead to the achievement we want.

Good planning takes into consideration the priority of activities in terms of our values and needs. This is an important identification process to go through so that we are making an efficient and profitable use of our time. In other words, it is good time management.

The saying “more haste, less speed” is often true. If we just bolt ahead without much thought to get the job done, we often either complete the task or project at a poorer standard than we are capable of,or we subsequently have to redo parts of it.

Similarly, if we have several tasks to complete,and we just start working on them more or less at random,we are probably not making the best use of our time.

When we are able to sort our activities into priorities, we can reduce our stress level, increase efficiency and the quality of our output, as well as accomplish more of what is really important in our lives.

Moving Toward Your Purpose

Once you have a clear vision of your purpose, have defined your values, priorities, and goals, and have formulated a step-by-step plan, you can begin to put the plan into action.

Having a clear outline in our conscious minds and going over it periodically prepares our subconscious to begin creating the future we envision.

Our lives can move forward. We have motivation to improve. We are in a better position to make the attitude changes that are needed, which will assist us in achieving our goals.

We can adopt attitudes that will help us, such as being relaxed, assertive, patient, confident, determined, calm, and caring.

You must be able to focus your attention to create and achieve your purpose. Focus on, and stay committed to a particular project, career, or relationship. It is a universal law that we attract to ourselves what we focus on. Focus on progress, achievement, abundance, and success.

Spending time judging, resisting, complaining, criticizing, fearing, or worrying is counterproductive and does not contribute to achieving a positive purpose, nor to a healthy physical body.

A statement by Vladimir Kuskoff summarizes this truth: “Where the majority of your thoughts lie, there lies your destiny.”

A new and improved life – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – is there for your making. Start with a vision that gives you a picture of what you want.

Create a plan of how you will move toward it. Work each step of your plan with determination and commitment. Enjoy the challenges, successes, and progress along the way.

As you do these things for yourself, you are consciously making a new reality, creating your own enthusiasm for life.

Motivation and Goal Setting delivers concise, how to information in a friendly, interactive format ideal for team or individual use. This book will help one clearly define their values, maintain flexibility by setting realistic goals, and stay motivated in the face of setbacks. With tools that can be immediately incorporated, goals will soon become realities.

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In the year 1952, at Yale University, researchers decided to do a survey on the graduating batch of students .They asked these batch of students this question, “How many of you have got your goals written down?”
In other words, “How many of you have actually designed your life in the next five, ten to fifteen years?” And out of all these students from Yale which is supposed to be an Ivy League school in the United States, only three percent of the students had their goals written down, they knew exactly what they wanted to do.
However the ninety-seven percent students had literally no goals. They had no idea what they were going to do five years, ten years down the road. They did not know how much they were going to earn and they did not know what lay ahead of them.
The scenario was totally different for the 3 percent of students who had their goals and written down.This three percent of students had the attitude of ‘We design our life and we begin to manifest it in our reality’.
This is unlike the ninety-seven percent of the students who had the attitude, ‘You know what ever will be will be, let us just make a living and we will see how’.
Twenty years later, there was a follow up research on the same batch of students who had been asked this question.
Here’s what they found.
They found out that the three percent of the students who had set their goals, their combined income was three times greater than the combined income of ninety-seven percent of that people combined!
Now, this research and example clearly shows the process or the power of goal setting; getting clear on what you want in life. It is the same for anyone whom you see is a great success in their life. Here are some examples.
Tiger Woods, arguably the world’s best golfer, decided that he wanted to be the number one golfer in the world at the age of 8.
Steven Spielberg, one of the world’s most well known directors in the movie making industry, he was very clear about being in a movie business at the tender age of 12
The above examples show that everyone you who succeeds at a significant level has done it because they began to decide on what it is they want.
So that is the first thing you go to do. Get clear about what you want in life.Start setting your goals today.

The New Year is usually the time to take the usual resolutions in all fields of life. It’s initially a very exciting concept – one is filled with enthusiasm in the New Year and resolves to become a ‘better person’ that particular year, but what happens finally? As the weeks wear on, we lose the initial gusto and keep losing it in the coming months, till complete apathy sets in.

Have you ever felt frustrated by these circumstances and wished you could stay self-motivated, stick to your goals and achieve the success you so desire? Well, the good news is, your goals are truly achievable and you most certainly can get that sweet taste of success, if you follow some simple, but nifty tricks. Here are a few tips that can help anyone and everyone realize their personal dream.

BE SPECIFIC AND VISUALIZE

Set your goal clearly. Don’t be vague or hazy about what you want. For instance, if you want to purchase a new home, be specific and certain about the kind of pad you want. Decide on the size of the house, the location etc. Visualize the house as if it were in front of you right now. The idea is to give the subconscious a suggestion of the idea, so that it will start working towards the goal. The mind is a complex entity and giving it a clear input sets it working towards the goal, thereby increasing the chances of success. As they say, ‘thinking is being’.

IS IT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

Have you set your goal because that is what you really want or is it because of some other reason? If your heart is not in what you’re aiming for, then the chances of success are very, very slim. Discover what your heart really wants you to do and set your target accordingly. You might want to pursue a course in the Fine Arts, but becoming an engineer or doctor might seem to be more prestigious. If you’re still going to enroll for engineering or medicine when you have no inclination for it, you’ll only end up being a dismal failure.

PRIORITIZE

We all have multiple goals to deal with at any given point of time. One effective way to attain success at all levels is to decide the level of importance of each ambition. Write your goals down on a piece of paper and prioritize them, with the most important one at the top.

THINK POSITIVE

Once your objective has been set, think positive and think big. Aim for the stars and you shall land on top of the tree. Try not to discuss your personal ambition with anyone else – keep it to yourself. Your ambition is yours and ONLY yours. No one else has a say in the matter. This will block negative feedback coming in from other people. Even a hint of pessimism can mar all your chances of success.

GET REAL

Be realistic with your dreams and know exactly how much you can achieve. Though stretching your ambitions is a good thing, don’t go too far with the exercise. Setting goals way above your capabilities and limitations only leads to defeatism.

SET DEADLINES

Instead of merely aiming to study well in the coming academic year, students would do very well to set deadlines or a time-frame to excel in their studies. Aiming to finish, say, 2 chapters a day, is very specific and planned, so that has a better success rate.

KEEP SELF-MOTIVATED

In spite of all the above techniques, chances are that the initial fervor starts flagging and diminishing. The key here is to keep oneself motivated by thinking of the several good consequences that are bound to follow with the self-discipline. It might be a good idea to jot down the pros and the cons of pursuing a goal on a piece of paper. When you see that the former weighs more than the latter, you begin to realize the exercise is well worth the effort. Then the goal automatically comes into sharp focus and 100% success is assured!

Provided that you follow all the above rules and keep sticking to them, you are bound to succeed in all aspects of your life!

“My dream is to be independently wealthy.”

“I’m going to find the man of my dreams.”

“My dream car is a Lexus ES-300.”

“I visited Newport Beach and saw my dream house!”

How many times have you heard similar statements from friends?  And maybe you’ve even voiced a few wonderful ‘dreams’ yourself.  (I know I have!)  It’s great to have dreams!

According to millionaire author, Michael Masterson, any dream can become a goal if it meets the following criteria:

It must be Specific: Being independently wealthy is a dream. Developing a $3 million net worth in 5 years is a goal.

It must be Actionable: Winning the lottery is a dream. Building a successful business is a goal.

It must be Time-Oriented: “I’m going to be rich someday” is a dream.  “I’m going to develop a $3 million net worth in five years is a goal.

It must be Realistic: Developing a $3 million net worth in five years is reasonable (with a great action plan).  Developing a $3 million net worth in 3 months is not.  Although winning the lottery is possible, it is not at all realistic.  (Statistically, your odds of being struck by lightening are greater than your chance of winning the lottery.)

Dreaming feels good – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with dreaming.  But if you’d like to ‘live your dream’ it MUST be turned into a goal.  Without goals, dreams seldom become reality.

A Harvard Business School study followed the financial status of a group of students 10 years after their graduation and found that:

- As many as 27 percent needed financial assistance.

- 60 percent were living paycheck to paycheck.

- Only 10 percent were living comfortably.

- A mere 3 percent of them were financially independent.

The study also found these interesting goal setting correlations:

- The 27 percent that needed financial assistance never set goals for themselves.

- The 10 percent that were living comfortably only had general goals.  

- The 3 percent that were financially independent had not only written out their goals – they also outlined and followed the steps required to reach those goals.

Even with a Harvard Business School degree, 97% were not wealthy.  The critical difference was goal setting.  To learn more about this click here http://www.abundance-of-wealth.cup-of-life.com/Wealth-Creation.html .

So hold on to your dreams!  Dreams are a wonderful thing.  But if you’d like to turn any of those dreams into reality, you must first turn the dream into a goal.