NPA 031: Make Success a Habit – Set Goals the SMART Way

In this episode, I talk with Steve Scott who is the author of many books including, “Level Up Your Day: How to Maximize the 6 Essential Areas of Your Daily Routine”, “To-Do List Makeover: A Simple Guide to Getting the Important Things Done” and “S.M.A.R.T. Goals Made Simple – 10 Steps to Master Your Personal and Career Goals”. Steve talks about goal setting and how change your habits to get the most our of everyday. Steve recommends against making too many long term goals. Instead focus on the short term goals (three to six months) and then set your goals based on the actions it would take to achieve these short term goals. He advocates following the SMART goal format (see video on SMART Goals) which is to make goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound. One way to set yourself up for goal setting success is to stay focused on the purpose. Let’s admit it, sometimes the actions it takes to achieve a goal can seem overwhelming and just flat out no fun. So to help reach your goals start by chunking down the goal into small task. And then when completing these task stay focused on the “purpose (goal)” of the task. This will help you check of the to-do’s from your task list. Another thing Steve stresses in this interview is to stay focused on your 80/20. That is, focus on the 20 percent of your actions that produce 80 percent of your results. Each day make a short list of the most important things you need to accomplish that will help you with your 80/20. During the podcast we use Steve’s goal setting method and applied it to writing a grant. Here is what we came up with: Research (find organizations that fit your grant needs) Contact agencies Create database (track conversations, emails, deadlines) Gather content Outline grant (rough ideas of what you want to say) Write grant (flush out content with full details) Refine grant (edit and proofread) Finalize grant (complete final draft) Print, package, deliver Followup (call grantors to follow up on grant submission) Resource Steve Scott’s website: DevelopGoodHabits.com Steve’s books: DevelopGoodHabits.com/my-books Steve’s (NP Ally Steve) SMART Goal Video: Are you Planning to Reach your Goals? Mentioned in this Podcast: Pomodoro Technique Passion Planner The Spark Notebook Goals on Track Productivity Software WasteNoTime, browser productivity app ColdTurkey, productivity software  The post NPA 031: Make Success a Habit – Set Goals the SMART Way first appeared on Nonprofit Ally.