Goal Cards for Faster Progress

I’ve been setting goals for some time now and I am always experimenting with optimal way to keep my top goals in front of me. I’ve tried writing them out, printing them out in big fonts, keeping them on 3×5 cards. Recently I’ve tried something else that has so far proved it self to be working great. Maybe this will help you.

The idea is to have a different goal card for every goal. (See end of post for example). A goal card should be a regular piece of paper and contain the following information.

Previous successful goals or tasks – this section contains a one sentence summary of previous goals or tasks that you successfully completed that are related to the goal that you are trying to achieve. These goals or tasks should be the ones that provided you with the most emotional satisfaction, something worth calling mom about.

The actual goal – the actual goal needs to be stated in a positive, personal and present tense format. This is not some crazy “fuzzy thinking� idea, but comes from the fact that your brain can’t tell past/present/future programming, it only knows NOW. You have to work with the existing wiring. Another component is setting a timeline; this will make the goal more critical and important.

The first steps – the last section of your goal card should contain the next 5 to 10 steps that you will take that are critical to gaining momentum for your goal. As each step is completed you should check it off, this will give you a visual indicator that you goal is moving forward and it’s only a matter of time and you will have achieved what you set out.

How do you set and keep track of goals?

Goal Cards for Faster Progress was written by Andre Nosalsky.