As I prepare to write this column, I note that the year is half over and it would be a good idea to review the goals I set myself. Where am I on track, and where have I fallen behind? As I look them over, I realize I’ve broken some of my cardinal goal-setting rules! Let’s take a look, hoping you can learn from my mistakes.

Goal-Setting Principle #1 - be SPECIFIC

My first goal is to increase the buzz factor around my career search services. I’ve definitely made progress, but I don’t know whether to celebrate my progress or prod myself to do more. While that’s a familiar perfectionist’s dilemma, goal-setting do’s and don’ts give us a way around it: be SPECIFIC. If I had set out specific tasks that would accomplish my goal, I would know what I had accomplished and whether to prod or celebrate. Does that sound like a familiar oversight? It’s particularly important for the more formidable goals (and most of us 50+ have already completed the easy ones!). Taking time to celebrate – treating ourselves, or sharing our accomplishment with friends and asking for acknowledgement – plays an important part in staying motivated for the next goal.

Goal-Setting Principle #2 - TRACK

There’s another goal on my list that I seem to have stalled out on. I honestly don’t know whether I’m doing a duck-and-dodge on myself, or whether my commitment to the goal has changed. Actually, what’s even closer to the truth is that that goal has receded to the back of the stove, where it’s dangling precariously. What to do? TRACK! Ideally you revisit and review your goals at least weekly: all of them, not just the ones that stay lodged in your memory. It’s often helpful to write down a percentage of completion beside the goal. If I had done that for consecutive weeks and seen the percentage stay the same, it would have been time to get real. No matter what I tell myself, I know that actions speak louder than words. Chances are, if I keep putting other things ahead of that goal, I’m not committed to it and I need to go back to the drawing board. Either modify it (see below) or delete it. I don’t believe in letting goals sit on a to-do list without progress for more than three months. It’s bad for morale!

Goal-Setting Principle #3 - REVISE AND RENEW

What if I’m not doing something that I’m sure I want to do? Maybe some part of the goal needs clarifying: it’s time to REVISE AND RENEW. Here are some questions to ask myself:

• What do I want as the end result of this goal? If my goal was to update my resume, a “better job” is presumably the ultimate goal. But how clear am I about exactly what I want in that job? Are there other obstacles in my way? All this may filter through as procrastination about the resume, but the solution is to shine a light on what’s behind the procrastination rather than just push myself to get the resume done. Once I’ve done that, I can renew my commitment to doing it.
• Have I created the conditions needed to complete my goal? Do I have the necessary resources: information, support, and time? If the goal in question relates to a significant shift in your career path, blocking out the time to think it through at a “big picture” level, as well as to plan action steps, may free you to move forward. I often recommend taking a personal retreat, a weekend away, to do the focused, in-depth reflecting and thinking that’s necessary.

Goal-Setting Principle #4 – Find the FEAR, and GET CURIOUS

And if I’m still not doing it? Look for the FEAR, and GET CURIOUS. Circle it, sniff it, scratch it, make it talk: specifically, what is the fear trying to say? Yes, it probably says “don’t go there”, but why not? One of the things I’ve learned through years of helping people move through change is that fear often has a point. Maybe it’s that you’re kidding yourself about the degree of risk, and you’d better get realistic and find some ways to manage the risk. Maybe it’s that you don’t have enough support, or the necessary financial buffer, to make a change. It isn’t that these fears necessarily speak “the truth”, but they may be nudging you to look more closely at some factors you haven’t wanted to consider. In any event, trying to silence fear rarely works, in my experience. Listening respectfully to it and then coming to your own conclusions is often the more productive path.

Good luck, and see you at Year’s End with your goals proudly completed!