3 Simple Ways to Make Goal Setting Effective

Goal Setting really is the secret to success, once you get over the hurdle of initially thinking of what you want to do in life thoughts and ideas flow freely.

1. Just Do It. I always used to procrastinate with my goals. "It's ok, the goals are in my head" or "What if I don't achieve my set goals?". Before you start making excuses for yourself, just start writing stuff down. Your first one or two may seem a bit stupid, but you will get better at writing your goals after a while.

2. Review your goals everyday. One of the worst things you can do with goal setting is write them once and forget about them. If the goals are out of your mind you will find it hard to achieve them, obviously. When I started goal setting, I used to write the headings of my goals out on a bit of scrap paper, eg. Better Paying Job
or Make $50000 Cash. This is an excellent way to keep focused, the goals can be written on anything, a napkin, whiteboard, back of an envelope etc. The best thing is that you don't need to keep what you have written, you can throw it away afterwards!

The idea behind this is that every time you write those goals, your awareness is shifting to thoughts on how you can achieve the goals and you are effectively brainstorming solutions for those goals.

3. Take action! Obviously if you just write "Win $5 Million in the lottery" and never go and buy a ticket you will have a 0% chance of actually winning the lottery. The same applies to your standard goal setting. Identify your goals and really work for them, eg. If I were to have "Higher Income" for a goal, I obviously would be looking around for opportunities to do so, be it a raise, another job or an investment.

Set your goals in concrete, but make your path in sand.

Look to the Future, Not the Past!

Why are people concentrating so much on history? Especially in presentations.

Change is imminent, have the ability to learn from the past and quickly move on to adapt for the future.

Being in the military I am all too familiar with its obsession with history, namely in presentations and briefs. Almost ¼ of the time spent in most corporate presentations is where they have been and who is involved. This is outdated 'ego feeding' and is in need of a change.

Having said this history is somewhat important, we learn from mistakes and are becoming increasingly efficient at it. The time has come to learn quickly and incorporate the changes, not to dwell on them. If your company's history delivers a point for change, use it in the body of the presentation, not the introduction. Example.

In 2006 shipping had a major problem with [loyalty/timings/marketing etc]. We identified this and are employing the following process for combating it.

If delivering a presentation to clients, perhaps you need to include proof of what your company has done. If this is the case, keep it sharp and focused on how you delivered the solution.

Joes Car Yard needed [xyz] to operate more efficiently. We allowed them to thrive by [abc].

This delivers a sharp, concise point which includes the history.

Carefully think about your target audience, how much attention would you give to a presenter's whole speech if he or she droned on about his or her accomplishments for the first 15 minutes?

5 tips to advertise your desired position more effectively

Baby Boomers are looking towards retirement, Generation X are taking time off for family commitments and Generation Y are interested in self-employment. Soon there will be more jobs available than there are people to fill it. Great for employees, bad for employers.

Generation Y are becoming the majority demographic in the workforce today. Y have different requirements and expectations than other employees. They expect recognition and rewards for their achievements and if given so they will perform exceedingly. They are creative, motivated and embrace change willingly - which is becoming a big requirement in today's workforce. What turns them away is micro management, chastity and lack of respect for their abilities.

When an employer is writing a job ad, they need to consider the following for the younger generation:

• Be as honest as you can be. Because more positions are becoming available, job seekers have the freedom to seriously apply for multiple jobs. Therefore if they find something that may not appeal or that seems suspicious in an advertisement they will pass it on in favour of another.
  

• Put the salary up front. This ties in with the previous point. Most generation Y'ers are hesitant to ask the salary rate up front. Thus are not as likely to go to an interview if the salary is not given to them in their comfort zone.
  

  
  

• Think long and hard about what skills you require in the position. All positions will have a requirement of skills, that's why you're advertising the job in the first place isn't it? Simply, like any negotiation, both parties have to benefit from the deal. Money is important, however, development is just as important, applicants will want to know what further education and development they can get out of your advertised job. This may sound dangerous to an employer – spending money on training only to have your employee leave for another company is a bad investment (Gen Y are more likely to do this). This could be solved by introducing retention benefits, and on the extreme a contract or signed document stating that the company will get its money's worth from the employee.
  

  
  

• Educational Requirements? How about Emotional Requirements. Of course most positions will require a degree or educational qualification, but have you thought of their emotional qualifications? The ability to work well with other people, teamwork and leadership qualities are becoming more of an asset than a framed piece of card with your name on it. In most cases these emotional qualifications aren't learned in University (however they are being seen more regularly) so these qualities would have to be investigated in the interview (perhaps include a phone call phase before your face to face).
  

  
  

• Your employees are not gods. So why advertise for one? Yes you want to get the best of what is out there, but refer to the first paragraph – more positions, less position fillers. If the job seeker finds one positions easier to jump into its obvious what they will do. Look at a star performer in your work place (and/or review evaluation reports), they are what you want in the position right? I bet that there are some qualifications/experience that you are advertising for the position that that person can't logically fill. Include the skills/personality that that person possesses, maybe you need to hire someone that can complement your current team and/or add a personality that will not cause (or will eliminate) conflict.
  

  
  

The workforce is changing ever more rapidly, its the ability to predict what, when and who will change your company and the resources to implement that change that will put you in front of the pack.