The trouble with goal setting

We're knee deep into 2011 by now, and most of us are barely making progress on the goals or aspirations we tend to identify at the beginning of the year. I'm not a huge fan of big, audacious new year resolutions, but most likely due to my business background I am accustomed to annual/quarterly goal setting.

So far, we probably fit into these two categories:

Overscheduled
Juggling work, managing the house, running the kids, etc? We're trapped in an unending list of things and people that depend on us...maybe for everything.

Understructured
Most or all of our time is spent managing our home and children. Somehow we've gotten too far away from the structured worklife we once had and certain things fail to get done or continually get pushed to the next day on our to-do list.

I read some simple, yet powerful (aren't these always the best?) advice about motivation and how it relates to obtaining goals. If you fall into either category, this strategy can work.

Tackle goals by developing simple if-then statements. We all typically have larger goals/aspirations, and if we can identify key things that we HAVE to do in order to reach these goals, then we can make progress. For me, one of my if-then statements looks like this:

"If it is Tues/Thurs between 9-11am then I am working on freelance writing projects."

By identifying what I intend to do with this time in a very direct way, it creates focus; and it addresses a challenge I have dealt with unsuccessfully for quite a while. It means that during these timeframes (all three kids are in school/preschool) I am NOT doing laundry, fussing with email, meeting a friend for coffee, running an errand or working out. I clearly know what I should be doing and stick to it.

Since acquiring 4 hours per week of "free" time for me that does not require a sitter or grandma, I have literally covered the map with what I have chosen to do with this time, being allowed to commit to whatever sounded good that day (and heaven knows that my list of possibilities runs long). When it came to making progress on goals that were truly meaningful to me and my family's life, this just could no longer do!

So, whether you are carving out time in a hectic schedule watching chunks of time disappear or needing to identify time that might get pulled in too many directions because of a lack of structure, try this strategy and watch your progress begin to take shape. Stop being pulled around by the life you have designed and start molding the dreams and aspirations for the life you envision!