How you manage and respond to desires and responsibilities is a critical part of your life. There are basically two approaches. One is to eagerly await the opportunities, hoping that the timing will be good and that you have the energy and focus when opportunity arises. The other approach is to actively participate in the outcome consistently.

The other half of it is then having a bi-weekly report which reflects the culmination of your efforts as well as lessons learned. As the leader of your team, how you manage, excite and direct these efforts is critical to the success of your program. (Team??? Yes, see below)

Here are a few suggestions for setting and achieving goals:

1. Set Goals – First and foremost it’s important to actually set bi-weekly goals for your life. Considerations for these goals should include annual and life goals. The key is to set reasonable goals. If they are too high, then you set yourself up to fail; if they are too low, even though you may succeed, the success is not nearly as sweet as if there is a strong effort needed! Setting goals with “doing” and “being” parts also yields sweeter rewards than just “doing” goals.
2. Get your team involved – Even though you could do it all, it’s not necessary or most productive. Who’s on your team? People to whom you delegate. People to call for support. People with whom you share ideas and get meaningful feedback. Even when you are playing “alone”…engage your different sides. How can that critical voice become an ally? What is your gut telling you? What does your analytical self say? What does your creativity create?
3. Get excited about these goals – Check in with your goals regularly. Most people like to read their list daily. For quantitative goals, make sure to create a way to note achievement. Color in boxes for completion, put a sticker on the list (remember how excited you got about gold stars as a kid?) or build in rewards. Decorate your goals list. Draw your goals in pictures instead of writing words. What might your personal Frequent Goal-Maker program look like?
4. Devise strategies for achieving your targets – Pointing to the top of the mountain is quite different from getting to the top of the mountain. Goals are usually posts along the way to a larger target. Make sure that your goals are in complete alignment with your target.
5. State your goals as the smallest possible pieces towards your target. Sometimes changing perspective is helpful. Suppose your target is to plan Mary’s baby shower. Part of that is hiring a caterer. Part of that is calling and getting prices and information. You might set a goal of calling 5 caterers. Or you might set a goal of getting 3 recommendations where they’d rate it 4 out of 5 stars or higher. You could post the request on your neighborhood listserve or research the Better Business Bureau. (Posting is a different goal from getting the recommendations.)