Grumpamoose Wednesday II: Grumpamoose on goals

Years ago, when I was beginning my career, I was given two pieces of advice that has stood me in good stead. The first one is that I should not call a goal a goal unless it has these five characteristics. If not, it is a daydream. The five characteristics are:

Specific,
Measurable,
Achievable,
Realistic, and
Time limited.

The second piece of advice is that a goal is not a good goal unless it is also a stretch to meet it - otherwise it is a routine.

I have since discovered that these characteristics do not only make a goal a goal in the business world, but should be also applied to personal goals as well. This is why I have not taken part in the New Year's resolution game for many years. However, I have been given some thought this month to goals I plan to achieve this year in 2008.

#1 - I am going to, by the end of April, be able to go for a one 12 - hour period without deliberately doing things that will piss off Bungirl. This includes not complaining, not lying about stuff to get me out of trouble, etc. This will not include things that are accidental or inadvertent, so that should take care of the realistic and achievable criteria. Time limited is taken care of deadline of April 30. Measurability is admittedly vaque, but if she is not mad at me in a set 12 hour period, that will have to do.

#2 - By December 31st, save enough money to cover 6 months of expenses. Having had a blowout quarter in the end of 2007 will help tremendously toward achieving this goal, since quarterly bonuses are "off budget"

#3 Also by Dec 31st, I will have done the exercises I started this year on at least 65% of the days I agreed to do them.


So, these all will be stretching, and also have the characteristics of what a goal is. Good luck to me.

(Since I hope to make Grumpamoose Wednesdays an ongoing series, please leave a comment suggesting a topic for next time. If it will be a good goal, I will endeavour to post on it, and give mad props to the suggester...perhaps also some Entrecard credits as well...)