Personal+Goal+Setting

== =Chapter 3 - **Personal Goal Setting**=

Personal Goal Setting
A goal is defined as the end toward which efforts are directed. Personal goal setting can be defined as the wisdom that comes out of a lot of practical experience and psychology research to help you direct your conscious and subconscious decisions towards success, building up your motivation to achieve your personal or business goals.

Personal goal setting maximizes time by giving direction to people's lives. Goal setting also helps people to feel secure and purposeful. From the time management perspective, your life is a sequence of big and small choices and decisions. It is those choices that you really manage, not the flow of time. You can learn how to write personal goals at http://www.time-management-guide.com/personal-goal-setting.html.

According to Brian Tracy's book **//Focal Point//**, the main difference in successful and unsuccessful people is the way they think. "Successful people clearly know what they want and they think about how to get it. In contrast, unsuccessful people tend to think and talk about what they don't want most of the time. They think about who they are mad at and who is to blame for their problems."

Types of Goals
There are three types of goals: specific, measureable, and written.

A specific goal is a goal that incorporates an action plan that outlines how you will achieve the goal, and a performance measure that tells you how you will evaluate the goal.

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as......How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Writing down your goals makes them happen; written goals make time for big thinking up front, they give you focus and clarity, and they prepare you for the best and the worst.