Goal Setting 101

Dr. Ken Gee Ehrlich, a chiropractor, contributed a good article on goal setting to the Los Angeles Downtown News a couple of days ago. It addresses a lot of the usual goal-setting tips -- write them down, review them often -- but one part of his piece stood out for me.

"I like to have goals in different areas of my life such as spiritual, diet, financial, marriage, family, travel, business and fitness," he writes. That reminds me of the item I recently posted about points on your compass. Franklin Covey suggests that you do something every day that is physical, social, mental, and spiritual.

What's on your goal-setting checklist?

What's on Your Compass?

I recently started using PlanPlus Online, Franklin Covey's online daily planner. I'm not sure it's better than Google Calendar and Ta-Da List, but I like the combination of calendar, to-do list, and note taking, even if it's not optimized for Firefox yet.

In any event, as part of the subscription, I receive occasional emails with tips and tricks, and the most recent edition contained this little nugget:

Sharpen the Saw each week. You should have one activity in each of the following 4 areas. Physical, social, mental and spiritual. Define the roles you play in your life. For example, Father, Husband, Manager, Community Leader.

It's an intriguing, quick exercise. Every day, do something physical (walked to the library), social (talked on the phone to a friend in LA), mental (worked on a new booklet), and spiritual (sat in meditation -- not yet, today!). And what four primary roles do you play? Father, partner, son, brother, co-worker, neighbor, etc.

Quick, but effective in terms of outlining areas you need to focus on.