I have decided to do something in 2009 that I have never done before: set some concrete goals for the year. They live in most of the aspects of my life: Family, Spiritual, Career, and Development.

I have always said that ‘I sure would like to do X this year’ or ‘learn Y’, but I have never formalized them into concrete goals. This year I decided to sit down and come up with at least one goal in each of the main areas of my life.

One of the most important things to recall when you create a goal for yourself (and obviously, this does not have to be a New Year’s thing) is to create S.M.A.R.T. goals.

S.M.A.R.T. goals are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

Specific goals are always going to have a much higher chance of success than any generalized version that you can come up with. When setting your goals, think about what you are trying to achieve with your goal, and use that as the basis of your final goal statement.

Measurable goals are needed so that you know exactly when you have attained your goal. You can have any number of measurable steps within each goal, but you have to have some identifiable steps that can be measured.

Attainable goals will help your mindset regarding your goal by making you break down the achievements on the way to completing your goal. By planning your steps to goal achievement wisely and creating time frames to completing those steps, you will make any goal on your list attainable.

Realistic goals will always allow you to keep on task to completion. If your goal is far too absurd to be completed, what motivation do you have to try to attain it? NONE! So make your goals something that you want to complete, as well as something that you can complete.

Timely goals are essential so that you have a time frame to work in. If you do not attach a time frame to a goal then there is no urgency to get it completed. By setting a time frame, you get your mind to start mapping out the steps you will need to take to achieve it.

One other thing that I think is very important to successful completion of any goal you have is to WRITE IT DOWN somewhere, anywhere, that you are going to see it. If you don’t you will never remember the exact goal that you are trying to achieve. You also need to look at your goals everyday if possible. This will always keep you thinking about what you need to complete your goal.

As I said, this is the first year that I have attempted to set goals for myself. I am pretty pleased with the goals that I have set thus far, and may be adding some during the year.

My Goals for 2009:

• Read the entire Bible in 2009 (Spiritual)
• Start a daily journal (Development)
• Become proficient in Linux Operating System (Career)
• Some family goals that are personal

I am still trying to come up with some metrics for the linux proficiency, but I think that it is going to revolve around attaining or at least passing practice test for a linux certification. I am still investigating the options for that one.

As I said, this exercise is not a New Year’s thing. You should remember these steps whenever you want to set a goal in any facet of your life.

I hope that this helps because reading over the S.M.A.R.T. goals ideas really helped me when setting my goals.

What is your process for setting goals? What are some of your goals for this month? This quarter? This year? Let’s discuss them in our forums.

Michael