How Setting Goals Can Help You Manage Your Time
Many people who want to become better at time management fail to realize the importance of setting goals. Having goals is an important part of planning, and is a key component in your ability to succeed.
When you have goals, you usually have a direction in which you want your life to go. Many of the people who fail to succeed are those that did not set goals to achieve anything. When you have clear goals that are realistic, this allows you to focus on completing tasks which will allow you to achieve them. In addition to this, you will become skilled at detecting things that can keep you from achieving your goals.
For example, if you have a specific goal for your business, you will not want to waste time doing things which will not play a role in your success. To make the most of the time you have, you will need to take the time to set goals, and avoid things that will keep you from achieving them. Many people today are quick to tell you about how busy they are. However, many of them don’t take the time to analyze the things they are busy doing. Often, they are busy doing things that are not important. These people can be compared to pieces of paper that blow in the wind. They have no set goals, and will travel where the wind takes them.
These are the type of people who you will hear say things like "I’ll deal with tomorrow when it gets here." This is not the attitude of someone who will become successful. These people often fail, because they don’t take the time to set goals. They waste large amounts of time, and unfortunately, it sometimes seems as if we live in a society that encourages this. However, society won’t reward you when you do it. Those that are successful set goals, and they stick to them no matter what. However, it will be impossible to achieve your goals if you don’t have the time to work towards it. This is where time management comes into play.
Time is the most valuable thing you can ever have. If you don’t believe me, just talk to someone who is dying of a terminal illness. More than anyone, they understand the value of time. Unfortunately, many people today waste time, and because time has been called money, it could be said that they waste money as well. When you set goals for yourself, it is crucial that you reserve the time to achieve them. Never allow anyone or anything to come between you and your goals. You should be likened to a hypothetical radar machine. When you notice something or someone on your "radar" that is not in tune with your goals, this is something you will want to get away from.
Once you set goals for yourself, it isn’t a matter of "if" you will encounter things that will attempt to waste your time. It is only a matter of "what" form they will come in. It is up to you to avoid them. It is often the small things which will add up over time that will hurt you. Your goals should always be broken down into two or more parts. The reason I say this is because if they aren’t, they will be too vague for your to pursue. Your goals have to be well defined, and to do this, they must be broken down into parts. The first part is called your primary goal. This is the end result of all your efforts. The primary goal will generally be somewhat vague.
For example, you may wish to become the CEO of a company. This is your primary goal, but it doesn’t answer the question of how you will achieve it. This is where minor goals become important. An example of a minor goal could be to start a business in a lucrative industry, and then this can be followed by another goal where you want to research various industries to find out which one is the most lucrative. As you can see, the primary goal is broken down into a large number of smaller goals. The successful completion of the smaller goals will allow you to achieve the primary goal.
