Take Charge of Your Life

By: Kimber Weckel L.M.S.W.

It is important to have goals because they are good for your physical and mental health. You can have goals for all areas of your life in order to be successful. Here are a few ideas:

Career                   Learning

Clubs                    Money

Community           Politics

Contribution         Professional

Emotional             Reading

Family                  Relationships

Health                   Service

Home                    Spiritual

Interests                Travel

What Makes an Effective Goal?

Not all goals are motivating. If a goal is too vague, hard to measure, or impossible to achieve, it will lack effectiveness and ultimately be a wasted exercise. Goal statements should be:

• Stated with action verbs
• Specific
• Measurable
• Challenging
• Written down, with completion dates

Effective goals have all five ingredients.

The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule (also known as Pareto’s Principle) says that 20% of what we do produces 80% of the results. Here are a few examples:

• 20% of the area in your house requires 80% of the cleaning.
• 20% of the stocks in an investor’s portfolio produce 80% of the results.
• 20% of the kids in a class cause 80% of the problems.
• 20% of the books in a bookstore account for 80% of the sales.+