Goal Setting Strategy

Plan Goal Setting Strategy Before Organizing

It may be tempting to jump into an organizing project without giving any thought to your goal setting strategy.

Warning: Don't give into this tempation!

It's important to determine your goals and how you want to reach them before you begin any home organization project. It takes a little bit of time to put your goals on paper, but it'll spare you a lot of frustration down the road!

The following L-E-S-S-O-N-S will help you put your goal setting strategy into motion, so that you can prioritize, focus, and accomplish your organizing goals…one step at a time!

"L" Is For...

List every task you must complete or want to complete.

Grab 2 sheets of paper and a pen. On the 1st sheet, write down whatever comes to mind, no matter how big or how small it is, how long you have wanted to do it, or who wants you to do it.

Pay no mind to priority or importance of each item at this stage of strategizing. This is your brainstorming session!

(You'll weed through the pile in the next two steps, and that's when your goal setting strategy will start to really take shape.)

"E" Is For...

Establish priority order for all tasks.

Look at the list you just created in the previous step. Really examine it.

What items are most important to your family, your livelihood, or yourself? What must be accomplished quickly? Those should be your top concerns.

Which thing will be the most or the least fun? Which thing will be the most or least stressful? As you begin to create your prioritized list of tasks, order it so that you fluctuate between the better tasks and the worse tasks.

This serves as a small motivator; you know that when you are working on a rather unpleasant job, that the upcoming one will not be nearly as bad!

Since you have given the list a little thought, it’s time to use the 2nd sheet of paper. Number each line. Choose the most crucial “To Do” of the lot and place it in the #1 position, and then continue through all the numbers until you are finished ranking the tasks.

"S" Is For...

Select the most important task of all and start with it.

Your focus should be whatever task made it into the #1 spot on your list.

Once you are done with #1, move onto #2.

"S" Is For...

Set a *reasonable* time limit to carry out each task.

There are two parts to this step.

(1) Set a long-term goal, such as “Cleaning out my garage will take me two full weeks.”

Give yourself double the time you think it will take you. If you believe a project will take you 4 days, give yourself 8 days.

The extra time never hurts! If something comes up and you need the extra time, you will not be stressed out because you are missing the deadline. If you finish early, you can pat yourself on the back for reaching your goal ahead of schedule.

The key is to set a deadline and stick to it.

(2) Divide the long-term goal into smaller chunks, such as ”I will work on my garage on Saturday mornings from 8-1130 AM and Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 8-10 PM.”

What’s even more important than making the appointment with yourself? Keeping it.

Decide that you have the discipline to follow-through; your mentality is half the battle!

"O" Is For...

Omit distractions of any kind.

Put the kids to bed.

Send your wife out shopping.

Send your hubby to shoot some hoops.

Put the dog outside.

Turn off the ringer on the home phone.

Power down your cell.

Turn off the TV.

Turn off the computer. (No emails!)

Close the front door and don’t answer the doorbell.

By eliminating factors that could cause disruptions, you are using smart goal setting strategy and priming yourself for success in the next step.

"N" Is For...

Never lose focus on the task at hand.

Keep on keeping on. Don’t allow yourself unnecessary breaks, as they will deplete your time and energy, and may even divert your attention away from the goal and onto something else completely.

Set an alarm to go off when your session will be over and remain attentive until the alarm sounds.

If you find that you are having trouble staying focused, then decrease the time allotted for the smaller sessions. Instead of working 4 hours, try 3 hours.

Be flexible with your goal setting strategy until you find what works best for you!

"S" Is For...

Show yourself some love.

When you complete a goal, you should reward yourself.

Get a pedicure, play a round of golf, go shopping – whatever makes you happy and relaxed. And you will enjoy the moment even more knowing that you have taken another giant step toward getting organized!