The 6 Criteria of Powerful Goals

[email from Adam Khoo sent on 08 Jan 2007]

To set powerful goals that drive you to manifest them into reality, you must set goals that have 6 criteria! You can remember this by the acronym SMSPDA. What does this stand for?

Specific. Your goals must be specific! A goal of losing weight or making more money is not powerful. You have to be specific like saying, ' I will lose 14 kg' or ' I will increase my income from $2,000 to $4,000 a month.'

Many people are afraid to commit to a specific figure because they are afraid that it will not be achieved. So instead, they set a very general goal or give themselves a range. Unfortunately, unspecific goals never get achieved because there is nothing clear to focus on.

When you set specific goal, you are then able to develop an effective strategy. When you set a goal of losing 14kg, you can then develop an effective strategy of the number of calories you can afford per meal, the number of calories to burn a week, the number of exercise sessions and how many kilograms to lose a month.

Even if you don't achieve the loss of 14kg, you can bet that you will get somewhere around that figure!

Measurable. Your goals must be measurable. Being healthy is NOT a measurable goal. Losing 14kg or having a body-fat ratio of 4.3% is measurable.

Most people never achieve their goals because they are not measurable enough. Again, when you make your goals measurable, your mind will have something definite to focus on!

Stretch. Puny, incremental goals will not excite and motivate you. As a result, you will probably not take the massive action necessary to achieve it.

However, when you set a huge, stretch goal that pushes you out of your comfort zone (like doubling your income in 6 months), the thought generates a lot more excitement and energy within us.

Setting stretch goals may seem 'unrealistic' at the time, but it forces you to think out of the box for new strategies to make it happen. Remember that everything is possible, it is only a question of how!

Purpose. Have you ever set a goal, only to lack the motivation to achieve it? You see, goals by themselves do not motivate you. Goals merely provide you with a direction and target to hit. What truly motivates you is the purpose behind the goal.

The 'why' is very important! (Read more about this in the next success tip). So, after setting a goal (e.g. like losing 14kg), you must then think of and write down all the reasons WHY it is important for you. Only when the why is strong enough will you get the motivation to take action.

Deadline. Another main reason why people never achieve their goals is because they have no definite deadline or time frame. Most people tell themselves that 'someday' they will start that business, so they continue waiting for that 'someday' to come. Many people are still waiting.

To get yourself moving, you must set a deadline and make it real by having a self penalty for exceeding it. For example, make a bet with some friends that if it is not done by then, you will pay $500 penalty. You can bet that this will get you going.

Action Plan
Finally, goals are nothing but pipedreams unless you develop an action plan to make it happen. You action plan must specify all the steps to be done (as well as the deadline) to achieve the goal. My personal secret is that I get myself to take 3 action step within 36 hours that will set the goal into motion.

For example, if my goal was to write a book with a 1-year deadline, I would write a table of contents, make an appointment with a publisher and hire a book cover designer within 36 hours. Once you take the first few steps, you will gain the momentum to continue until the goal is achieved.

To Your Success,

Adam Khoo
www.SecretsOfSelf-MadeMillionaires.com