Goal Setting Exercise – A 10 point exercise for daily goal setting

Keeping up with your goals and setting achievable measures can be a daunting task if you don’t have a system to keep you on track. I have found that if you want to achieve any goal you need measures, milestones, and ways to keep you on track. You need to stay motivated with your goals. Even if you have properly set your goals with a realistic view it is natural for us to lose focus or have our attention pulled in many directions.

Daily Measure of Progress

Here is a daily system that was introduced to me in a book by a fitness expert several years ago in a book called “Body for Life”, by Bill Phillips. Although this system was introduced within context of fitness goals, I have found that it applies well with to all goal setting categories. Within this system, you set ten goal items for yourself to be achieved during your day. As with all your daily goals, the ten tasks that you choose should be items and tasks that are part of your one year set of objectives and have an additive effect to your long term goals as well.

For example your list might look like this:

1. Arrive at work 15 minutes early
2. Work 30 minutes (before getting my coffee)
3. Choose healthy meals
4. Drink 8 cups of water
5. Read 10 minutes (in your field)
6. 15 minutes of quite time by myself
7. Spend time with family
8. Plan your next vacation
9. Sleep 8 hours
10. Write out my 10 point list for tomorrow

As you finish each objective cross it off your list and right add 1 point to you daily tally. If you get ten points then you know you can rest assured that you are that much closer to your set of goals and you have had a “ten point day”. If you have not reached your ten points there is no penalty and no shame, but it will give you a good indicator of how things went for you that day. You may miss points but keep in mind you have probably achieved more in this one day than several days past where you did not create a ten point list.

There are several things that I like about this system. The first thing is that it demands that you keep your priorities in check. When considering your items for the day you should look at your long, medium, and short term goals. These ten items should represent the daily tasks necessary to achieve the longer term goals. For example, if you are trying to finish a certification program it would make sense to study every day for that test. In addition, hopefully that certification goal (short term goal) would be a piece of a long term goal such as gaining a promotion at work or getting a better job which helps you retire at the a level that you are comfortable (longer term goal). This ensures that you are working daily on prioritized goals and not just running through tasks.

If have not tried already, try and write out ten goals for your day. You will most likely find two things. One, if you have trouble coming up with ten you probably have not thought about your goals recently. You should probably spend some time and think about where you want to direct your life. Number two, you could easily write out ten very small tasks and get ten points every day. If you do this you will get your ten points, but you will also still feel like you have not made any progress. My advice is to make your daily ten challenging enough to not always reach a perfect ten day. This way you are always pushing further with your goals and you can truly celebrate your “perfect ten point days”.

Read the last article Benefits of Goal Setting