Help! I've got goals, now what!

Hi there!
You came back! Good for you for being serious about your life's business. You can give yourself a pat on the back! Fantastic!

Now, think about the goals you set yesterday. Write each one of them down on a piece of paper. Preferably separate pieces of paper, you can do a tidy version afterwards. Take one goal in front of you now and we'll walk through the steps to take. Let me give you an example, something simple and to do with housekeeping. I could have chosen a business goal, but this one jumped of the page of my diary. The advantage of running your business from home is, not only your business gets systemised but you develop systems for keeping house as well :-). 
Okay, my mealplan, I want to make a mealplan for the month of October. 

• First thing to do is to make my goal SPECIFIC: for every day of the month of October I want to know what I am going to cook for dinner, so I know what to shop for and what to take out of the freezer (and I don't clog up mindspace, for thinking about dinner takes just as long as making it...sometimes).
• Second step is: I am going to make my goal MEASURABLE. I am going to write down each meal (just what it is, no recipe) in my diary. I can count on my family for accountability!
• Then, check if my goal is ACHIEVABLE (or alternatively: Action-Oriented). The achievability of my little project is not in question, but to make it easier I will gather my former mealplans and my recipebooks before I sit down to make the list. For bigger goals: It's important to honestly evaluate yourself. Do you have the ability and commitment to make your dream come true? Or does it need a little adjustment? For example, you may love to play tennis, but do you have the time, talent and commitment to become a pro? Be honest.
• Fourth step is to evaluate if my goal is REALISTIC (or alternatively: Results-Oriented), now that I have indentified that I have the ability and commitment to make it happen, is there anything else that would effect the end-result or even stop it from happening at all? Hmmm, tomorrow half my day is spent in meetings and the children will be home early, that effects my time-frame. However, making this list only takes me 20minutes, if I do it straight after the school-run, before the first meeting I can make it happen.
• Last step is giving my goal a TIME-FRAME (alternatively: time-based, trackable). Tomorrow, by 9.30am  I will have meals planned for the month of October and written down in my diary! I feel good about it already!

This was a short and simple explanation of the SMART acronym, did you recognize it? Keep this in front of you when you brainstorm about your other goals, it just helps you to make your goals achievable. You can do more than you think! And faster too!

Now, I realise that most goals are more complicated then my mealplan, to make your goals achievable you may have to brake them down into smaller steps or sub-goals if you will. Please, don't be shy to ask for help (mathilde.noordzy@gmail.com) I am more than happy to take you through the process (and I won't charge you for this one :-)).

Okay, I won't jabber on for much longer but I do want you to give some thought to your support system: are there any friends or colleagues that can keep you accountable? Is there a network you can join? A sportsclub or special interest group? You need some cheering on on the way!

That's it for today! I am looking forward to hearing from you!
Mathilde