top of page
Back to Top 7


 

Whether you want to get a handle on cluttered closets or break a bad habit, whether you want to re-organize your home office or re-organize your entire life, effective goal-setting will be your key to success.

​

Our goal here at Augusta Home Organizing Services is to help our clients not only organize their homes but to the extent possible, organize their lives. The two go hand in hand. It's hard to have an organized home if your life is in chaos and it's hard to have an organized life if your home is in chaos.

​

It has been our experience that those whose homes have gotten out of control are often struggling with one or more difficult life-issues that have caused them to lose focus and motivation, which has undermined their ability to get things done.

​

So if you feel stuck in trying to get your home organized, or in overcoming any other challenges you are currently facing, review the following tips on effective goal-setting and give then a try.

​

​

​

 

​

​

​

Effective Goal-Setting
images (9).jpg

​

Listed below are the key steps necessary for successful goal achievement. If you follow them faithfully they will take you where you want to go. They will help you achieve your dreams, big or small. In a nutshell these key steps are: 1) Figure out what's important to you; 2) Identify specific goals to help you achieve what's important to you; 3) Break big goals down into smaller subgoals; 4) Prioritize your goals; 5) Visualize your goals coming true; 6) Set timelines and deadlines for your goals; 7) Stay goal-conscious; 8) Use daily To-Do lists; 9) Enlist the help of others in pursuing your goals; 10) Make your life compatible with your goals; 11) Maintain a balanced life.

The Secret to Setting and Achieving Goals

1) Figure Out What's Important to You

 

The very first thing you have to do is get clear on what you want out of life, what's important to you, what do you value: Family? Education? Career? Health? Religion? Hobbies? Travel? Activism? Do you want security or adventure? Do you desire power, fame, fortune, or love, community, and authenticity? Write down a list of the most important things to you in life. Get clear on what you really want.

2) Identify Specific Goals to Help You Achieve what's Important to You

 

Compile a list of actions (goals) you can pursue to fulfill your needs and values. It is crucial that you not just mull these goals over in your mind; you need to actually write them down. Many people under-estimate the importance and power of creating written goals. When you put them down on paper (or a computer screen) you are forced to think about them more deeply and in a much more specific way. Just like you can't hit a target unless you can see it, you can't achieve a goal unless you have spelled out very clearly and precisely what the goal is. Vague goals don't work. Specific goals do.

3) Break Big Goals Down into Smaller Sub-goals

 

Almost any goal can be broken down into smaller, more manageable steps. Do this for each of your goals and make sure you write these sub-goals down as well.

 

Creating sub-goals is another key to successful goal achievement. Why? Because many people tend to feel overwhelmed when they consider all the things they want or need to get done, especially the bigger, more difficult goals they have set for themselves. Feeling overwhelmed leads to fear and despair, which leads to inaction. That's why breaking challenging goals down into simpler baby-steps is important. It allows you to see that achieving a big goal is possible because you can now see that each of the smaller intermediate steps that lead to it are doable.

 

There is an old riddle: How do you eat an elephant? The answer: One bite at a time. The same is true of big and difficult goals. How do you achieve them? One small step at a time. So make sure you break each of your goals down into however many smaller sub-goals is necessary and useful.

4) Prioritize Your Goals

 

Now prioritize your goals, from most important to least important and re-write them in that new order. You can also prioritize your goals in terms of which ones are more doable at the present moment or which ones are more time-urgent. The point is to focus on first, which ones require the most time and energy overall.

5) Visualize Your Goals coming True

 

Take time to reflect on the list of goals you have created. Read it over carefully and remind yourself why each goal you've identified is important to you, what need, what value, what dream it will help you fulfill. Now, one by one, visualize yourself achieving each and every goal you have set for yourself. Imagine it coming true - see yourself making it come true.

 

Studies have shown that visualizing the achievement of goals help make the possibility of success seem more real and compelling to the visualizer and this, in turn, serves to intensify the visualizer's motivation and determination to pursue the goal. So visualize your goals coming true, and believe in yourself and your ability to make it happen.

6) Set Time-Lines and Deadlines for Your Goals

 

Many a success expert has observed that the difference between a dream and a goal is that a goal has a deadline. And something with a deadline is more likely to be achieved than something without one. Timelines and deadlines focus the mind, give a sense of urgency, and motivate us to take action now and keep taking action as we race to beat the clock and calendar.

 

No goal or dream can be achieved without action. Timelines and deadlines make you take action. Don't fall into the procrastination trap. Set timelines and deadlines and start taking action on your goals right now! 

7) Stay Goal-Conscious

 

Post a copy of your goals up where you will see them every day - the front of the refrigerator, the bedroom or bathroom mirror, the top of your desk. Keep a copy handy in your pocket or purse too. You can post a copy on your laptop or phone as well. The old saying is true: Out of sight, out of mind. Keep your goals always in sight.

8) Use Daily To-Do Lists

 

If you have a lot of goals or any big complicated ones that require many steps (subgoals) to complete, it helps to keep a daily To-Do list in addition to your master list of goals. Each new daily To-Do list should contain only those items you plan to work on that day. This technique allows you to focus very clearly and precisely on what you need to do day in and day out as time goes by. It keeps you moving steadily forward toward the final achievement of each goal.

9) Enlist the Help of Others in Pursuing Your Goals

 

It was the poet John Donne who said that no man is an island entire unto himself. We are social beings and need the love and support of those around us. Your goals are important to you. Let your family and friends know that and ask for their help in pursuing them. Marshaling people to your side who are willing to assist you in working towards your goals is a tremendous asset. It can dramatically increase your ability to achieve whatever you have set out to do.

10) Make Your Life Compatible with Your Goals

 

Not every goal is possible. If you have two goals that conflict, for example, you must give one up, or at least defer it to another day. Are there at present any circumstances in your life that are incompatible with the pursuit and achievement of any of the goals you have set for yourself? If so, you have to make a choice. Will you keep your life as it is and abandon that goal or will you make whatever changes are necessary to open up a path for the goal to be realized?

 

You can't indulge in a cigarette habit and become a serious athlete (or achieve a healthy body). You can't cling to a low-stress, low-risk lifestyle if your dream is to quit your day job and take the plunge into starting your own business.

11) Maintain Balance in Your Life

 

While it is true that those who accomplish the most in this world tend to be goal-oriented people, not everything in life is or should be about goal-seeking. Not everything should be planned and scheduled. The relentless pursuit of goals is a prescription for eventual burn-out.

 

We need an element of spontaneity in our lives. We need space and freedom to just "be" from time to time, to live in the moment. So find the balance for yourself that includes both the determined pursuit of worthy goals and the joyful embrace of life in the here and now, with all its beauty and mystery and surprises.

download (5).jpg
Quotations on Goal-Setting and Taking Control of Your Life

My philosophy of life is the philosophy of heroic action. We must take bold action in life to make it meaningful, to make it a worthy and noble existence. -Antoine de Saint-

 

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but a person with a certain set of attitudes.                                -Hugh Downs-

 

The important thing is not what happens to us, but what we do about what happens to us.  -George H. Allen-

 

It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end. -Ursula K. LeGuin-

 

Everyday is my best day. This is my life. I'm not going to have this moment again.  -Bernie Siegel- 

 

When you look at life, the greatest happiness is family happiness. -Dr. Joyce Brothers-


The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost. -G.K. Chesterton- 

 

Live as you will wish to have live  -Christian Gellert-



 

bottom of page