Goal Setting? Be Flexible and Prepared to Change

In the last few weeks, my son has moved in with us to start afresh, and one of my stepsons has just announced that after four years of being together, he and his lovely girlfriend are getting married - in two weeks time!

If you've ever had that feeling of standing on shifting sand, you'll know how we're feeling. Plans are ripping themselves out of the pad and flying out of the window.

I guess there are many people who will empathise and think that it's pointless making plans and having goals when other people's actions can mean they have to be redrawn. Why bother!

Well, I think it's only by having goals that you will have some order in your life when everything around you is changing. It does mean however that you might have to tweak them, but measuring success, reviewing and making changes to your goals are all part of the process.

It might be better for you to have daily goals which may be easier to achieve. For example you could say that by the end of the day you will have rung 10 people, decluttered your office, spent an hour tackling some of your mounting paperwork and picked up your dry cleaning.

Maybe these could turn into weekly goals, so that by the end of the week you would have contacted a number of people, finished decluttering your office, got your paperwork in order and tackled some of your domestic chores such as setting up internet shopping.

If that works, try monthly goals next, but be prepared to be flexible. Set the goal, set a measure of success, review and be prepared to tweak along the way.

We can't predict everything in our lives but it seems to me that rolling with the changes and being prepared to review and modify your goals can still help you to feel you're in control.

Pam Stokes is a Business & Personal Development Coach. She also provides e-learning solutions for busy people, supervises newly qualified and trainee coaches, runs workshops in stress management and a Diploma Course in NLP. Free downloads and blog http://www.pamstokesassociates.co.uk