Tee Up in life, but first know where you want to hit to.

I remember the first time I seriously pondered time management skills and goal achievement planning. It was in high school and a teacher was telling the class that her simple plan for achieving a goal would work regardless of the goal. It was your basic skeleton- 1. Have a Goal 2. Make Plan 3. Work the Plan. The implication was that this was the road to success and happiness.

I remember thinking that she was wrong, partly because she didn’t include any provision for testing the morality and desirability of the goal. It seemed to me that unless you spent some serious time in evaluating the desirability of your goal, you could easily wind up wasting a lot of time and energy, or worst, wind up achieving something truly dreadful with your life. (Yes Virginia, there are moral absolutes and you ignore them at your peril.)

If you haven’t sat down and figured out what you want for yourself in 2011, and over the next five years to twenty years; I would encourage you to take the time do so this month. The start of a new year is always a good time for introspection.

Below is my version of a simple skeleton for planning. Please feel free to use it or modify in any way you find useful. I still think the key to goal setting is self-awareness. If you have that, the planning and execution are simply journeyman skills, skills that can be acquired as you learn.

“Whatever you do, do it with all your heart and might, for soon the night cometh where no man works.”- Ecclesiastes


I. Set Goal(s)
Know what you want. This requires self-awareness.

What you want should be moral, consistent with who you are, and realistic given your time and resources. What are the unintended consequences associated with this goal?

Conduct a realistic analysis of your environment, your capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Seek counsel from people you trust or who have been successful in your goal area.

Tell the people you love what you’re up to.

II. Plan
Set deadline(s) - a goal without a deadline is meaningless.
Allocate time and resources
Internal- Provide for production capacity and production within yourself.
External- Provide for CE (communication) and C3 (coordination).
Establish Benchmarks and Review Periods.

III. Execute (self mastery)
Take daily/weekly Action towards your goal.
Keep yourself honest and track of your time and activities.
Review and Evaluate the effectiveness of your actions, and change approach as required.
If it's a long-term goal, periodically ask yourself if you still want it.

If you think about, most things come down to what we want and how we execute. It seems to me that a little time spent evaluating both these things is a good thing.

-JP