Goal Setting & My Major Goal For Next Year

We all set goals all of the time, whether we realise it or not.  There are 2 types of goal, there's the necessary ones and personal ones.

For example, I need to get the kids in fed by 18:30, or I need to finish this report before my meeting.  These goals are necessary goals.  It is necessary to feed the kids (if you don't want to hearing them crying because their hungry), or to finish that report (in order to make your meeting go smoothly).

Personal goals could be, I want to drive a convertible car or live in a wealthier part of town.  These goals are the ones we desire and dream about.  It is these goals we need help with achieving.

To make our desirable goals that much more achievable we need to know how to set them properly.

For each goal I set I use the following criteria -

Goal Name
Deadline
Metrics

For example, my main objective next year is to replace my salary income with income from my online businesses.  I have a clear goal (I want to replace my job salary with my online salary).  I have a deadline (end of 2010) and I have some metrics (I can measure how well I'm doing by comparing my job salary with my online salary).

This main goal is huge and daunting.  Leaving it as it is would seem like climbing up a mountain and in the past I would've either started and stopped at the first obstacle or not started at all because it felt too big.  This year though I broken my main goal into smaller goals.

I've looked into how much I need to earn everyday to be able to replace my job salary.  I have then set a smaller, bite sized, goal which when I achieve that means I'm part way towards my major goal.

For example, I know that to be able to give up working for someone else I need to be able to earn $100 per day everyday.  That to me at the moment seems a lot and very difficult to achieve, however my first smaller goal is to be earning $25 per day by 31st March 2010.

Using my criteria from earlier I have a goal name (earn $25 per day), I have a deadline (31st March 2010) and I have my metrics (will I have $25 per day coming into my account).

I shall be using this technique for all the goals I set myself for next year.

I'm looking forward to the progress I'm going to make next year.