Turn Your Dreams Into Well Formed Goals

This article will help you take your dreams and wishes and turn them into attainable goals just by changing the way they are "built.
" The difference between a wish or a dream and a goal is that the goal has specific features that make it attainable.
Goals become more than just SMART goals when they are "well formed outcomes.
" Well formed outcomes are all stated in positives, individually driven, sensory based, and ecological.
For a goal to be stated in positives it need to address what you really want, not what you want to get rid of or stop doing.
Many people say they "want to quit smoking" even though that is really something they want to stop, be rid of, or do less frequently.
The most powerful way to create a smoke-less life might be to work towards "having control over cigarettes.
" To be individually driven a goal must be something that you have control over.
Statements like "I want my kids to be quiet" takes away your control over the situation.
There is not really any way to make anyone else do something, we can only encourage the behavior we'd like to see.
The kids being loud may not actually be the problem.
It is the reaction to the kids being loud that is the "problem" to address.
This is where we own our responses and recognize that the only way to change someone else's life is to change our own first.
And of course there are always wider ranging effects we need to take into account when making changes.
Ecology is more than tree-hugging, although the same principles apply in goal setting.
Rather than just focusing tightly on a specific behavior ecology means looking at the other places in your life, and the lives of those around you, that will be impacted by you reaching your goals.
So if your goal is to run a marathon you may need to consider the time that would be spent in training rather than being spent with your family.
Sensory based goals are things that we can see, hear, feel, taste, or smell.
They are concrete rather than ephemeral.
Beware the illusion of emotional "feelings" as sensory -- unless you can tie love, respect, patience, and kindness to specific behaviors that you can see/hear/touch/taste/smell they are not actually sensory based.
A good example is "delivering a check for $100,000 to my favorite charity.
" If you need a mnemonic device to remember these four aspects just think PIES -- positive, individual, ecological, and sensory.
As you can tell these adjustments to your goal statements can make it into something reachable.