Common Sense Ideas for Becoming the Career Star You Are Meant to Be

Today is Wednesday, so this post is on outstanding performance. 

As this is the first post of the year on outstanding performance, it’s on goal setting.  I would be drummed out of the coaching blog world if my first post of a new year wasn’t on goal setting.  Just kidding.

Goals are important.  All successful people set and achieve goals.  I always advocate setting S.M.A.R.T. goals.  S.M.A.R.T. goals are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Results Oriented
• Time Bound

Here’s a personal example.  In 2008, my big goal is to generate 33% of my income from the internet.  To do this, I have several sub goals.  One of these sub goals is to write and publish one article a month on www.ezinearticles.com.  Let’s see how well this sub goal does against the S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria.

• Specific – This goal meets this criterion.  It is very specific -- write and publish 12 articles (one per month).
• Measurable – This goal meets this criterion.  At the end of 2008, I will be able to easily tell if I have accomplished it.
• Achievable – This goal meets this criterion.  I can write one article per month.  I do five blog posts a week.
• Results Oriented – This goal meets this criterion.  The result here will be 12 articles (one per month) published on www.ezinearticles.com.  If the goal had said “write one article per month”, it would not have met this criterion.  Writing is an activity.  Publishing is a result.  Don’t fall into the activity trap when writing your goals.
• Time Bound – This goal meets this criterion -- one article per month for all 12 months of 2008.

While I’m at it, let’s take a look at my big goal – generate 33% of my income from the internet in 2008.

• This goal is specific – 33% on income in 2008 generated from the internet.
• It is measurable – I’ll be able to tell by looking at the source of my income monthly.
• It is achievable – I hope.  Originally, I stated this goal as 50% of my income from the internet.  As this is my first real foray into internet marketing, I decided that 50% was too ambitious.
• It is results oriented – 33% of my income is a result.  If I had stated the goal as “begin marketing goods and services on the internet”, I would have fallen into the activity trap.
• It is time bound – 2008 is the period of this goal.

The S.M.A.R.T. goal setting method is a great way to develop your goals.  It’s already January 9.  If you haven’t gotten started on writing your 2008 goals what are you waiting for?

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  I had decided to close down my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com to concentrate on this one.  However, several people have suggested that I leave it up even if I plan no more posts.  It seems as if they feel that what I’ve written there over the past few years is valuable content and deserves its place in cyber space.  So, I am going to leave up www.CommonSenseGuy.com.  I may even post there every once in a while.  If you enjoyed it, don’t cancel your RSS feed.  This means that if you want a free ebook version of my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, you can still get it by logging on to www.CommonSenseGuy.com.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.