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When Do You Set Your Goals?

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Pete Brindle

New Member
For those of you who work to goals, when do you set them? Yearly? Monthly? I do two sets - termly (three times a year) and yearly. Yearly, I am doing now, because it is the end of another year! They are usually all to do with exam results and I was particularly pleased with this year's, so it will be difficult to top that.

The termly ones tend to be more to do with the business side of things.

How about you? When do you set targets for yourself?
 
Gemma Rowlands

Gemma Rowlands

New Member
At the beginning of each year, January, at the same time as I set my personal resolutions. Most of which are broken by day 2. But I make them anyway!
 
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Pete Brindle

New Member
At the beginning of each year, January, at the same time as I set my personal resolutions. Most of which are broken by day 2. But I make them anyway!

What kind of things do you set yourself to do that get broken so easily? Perhaps you should try to make things more achievable? Part of the idea of goal setting it to break things up into things that you can do, not just set one big, eventual goal with no way to get there.
 
Gemma Rowlands

Gemma Rowlands

New Member
What kind of things do you set yourself to do that get broken so easily? Perhaps you should try to make things more achievable? Part of the idea of goal setting it to break things up into things that you can do, not just set one big, eventual goal with no way to get there.

Oh mostly personal things like diet, no chocolate etc. Or "I will be at my desk every morning and will not do anything else during the day, just like I would have to if I had a proper job" ha ha.
 
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Pete Brindle

New Member
Oh mostly personal things like diet, no chocolate etc. Or "I will be at my desk every morning and will not do anything else during the day, just like I would have to if I had a proper job" ha ha.

Well it's not realistic to set such a huge goal if you're not used to it. It's much better to set smaller goals. Write things like "by January I will be working for four hours a day uninterrupted" and add an hour each month, or 15 minutes each week. It won't even feel half as bad if you do it like that.
 
Gemma Rowlands

Gemma Rowlands

New Member
Well it's not realistic to set such a huge goal if you're not used to it. It's much better to set smaller goals. Write things like "by January I will be working for four hours a day uninterrupted" and add an hour each month, or 15 minutes each week. It won't even feel half as bad if you do it like that.

That sounds as though it could work much better. My resolutions this year were a bit of a shock to my system. Heck, I should just not bother with resolutions and just try to do the right thing from when I realise it's the right thing! Why set a deadline just because it's the beginning of the year!
 
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Pete Brindle

New Member
Why set a deadline just because it's the beginning of the year!

Well, it would be a whole lot easier if more people had that attitude. People just see a new year as a new start, and they're quite right, it is, but if you only do things better at that time of year, then you're pretty much just writing off the rest of the year, which is a shame really.
 
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Mike Turner

New Member
I'm a January person. If I thought of something that I wanted to do now, I would put it on my resolutions lists and wait for a few months. It really doesn't make sense, but for some reason I just manage to stick to my goals much better if they're at the beginning of a year.
 
Gemma Rowlands

Gemma Rowlands

New Member
I'm a January person. If I thought of something that I wanted to do now, I would put it on my resolutions lists and wait for a few months. It really doesn't make sense, but for some reason I just manage to stick to my goals much better if they're at the beginning of a year.

My brother has always been like that. He decided that he wanted to do better in his exams (he's just finished university) so was putting a new revision schedule in place, but decided that instead of doing it that April, which would have affected his exams THAT year, he was going to make it his new year's resolution so it would only improve things the following year. He did get a good degree classification in the end, but it did make me wonder why people feel like that, when they know that there are things that they want to change so much earlier in the year!
 
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Lauren Turner

New Member
All of the time, to tell you the truth. I don't really have a certain time that I like to set goals, instead I just choose to do things as and when they need to be done, and whenever I think of them. I usually find that it's the best way to go about things anyway.
 
Gemma Rowlands

Gemma Rowlands

New Member
All of the time, to tell you the truth. I don't really have a certain time that I like to set goals, instead I just choose to do things as and when they need to be done, and whenever I think of them. I usually find that it's the best way to go about things anyway.

That's the way to be. Being able to adapt to new situations and needs is essential if you own your own business, and regular goal setting certainly goes in line with that. At least it should mean that you never feel as though you're falling behind with things.
 
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Pete Brindle

New Member
That's the way to be. Being able to adapt to new situations and needs is essential if you own your own business, and regular goal setting certainly goes in line with that. At least it should mean that you never feel as though you're falling behind with things.

This is one thing I've learned from working with the kids we teach. Because their progress often changes we have to readapt to what we want to do, and that can often mean changing goals mid term. So they have to be just as adaptable. Personal goals I work differently with, but when it comes to the kids I adapt much more quickly.
 
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Mike Turner

New Member
All of the time, to tell you the truth. I don't really have a certain time that I like to set goals, instead I just choose to do things as and when they need to be done, and whenever I think of them. I usually find that it's the best way to go about things anyway.

Just to let everyone know.. Lauren has a progress wall :D. She has photos of what she's made, some step by step progress files, and she sticks little stars next to her goals when they're achieved! I may try to get a photo of it, because to be honest, it's brilliant. It keeps her so motivated, and I think that's amazing.
 
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hubmag12

New Member
I set my target at the beginning of the year and try as much as possible to review it from time to time.

Goal type, the timescale for completion, and personal choice are just a few of the variables that affect how frequently goals are made. In general, goals may be established on an annual, quarterly, monthly, or even daily basis.

Yearly goals, which can be divided into more manageable milestones or sub-goals, are frequently used for long-term planning.

Monthly objectives can be good for people or teams who wish to concentrate on short-term development, whereas quarterly goals might be helpful for companies or organizations that function on a quarterly basis. People who desire to maintain their daily routines or advance toward their broader goals may find it helpful to set daily goals.
 
manaman

manaman

New Member
I typically set my personal and business goals each year, but I also then break those down.

In fact, I set goals at these levels :

1. 1-5 year goals (big goals that go beyond a year)
2. 12-month goals (big goals I want to achieve in the year)
3. Monthly goals (at the beginning of each month I look at my 12-month goals and work out what I'll do that month to work towards them)
4. Weekly goals (at the beginning of each week I look at my monthly goals and workout which of those I will achieve in the coming week - this also includes things I just have to get done that week, like admin stuff)
 
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