Setting Goals: One Step At A Time

One step at a time... like learning
ballet positions.

Want to read more about setting goals, specifically for dancers and dance teachers?  Check out "Circle Time" at Dance Advantage.  January 2012's topic is "Setting Goals".

January is the perfect time of year to talk about setting goals for the New Year.

As a person who wears "many hats" (dance teacher, studio owner, blogger, wife), its important to set goals in each area of your life.

And what's even more important than setting goals is figuring out how to accomplish them!

Are you serious about wanting to accomplish your goals?

Well, here's an exercise you can do to help SET and ACCOMPLISH your goals for 2012. You will need at least 30 minutes to an hour, so set aside some time for yourself.  This is time for you.  It is important. Do it.

Take out a piece of paper and label columns with all the different areas of your life - don't forget to include a column for personal goals or family!

Here's an example of what your column heading might be

Brainstorm time!

Under each column write down all the goals you'd like to accomplish.. doesn't matter how many you end up with, just keep writing. This is the brainstorming part. Be as specific as you can; instead of "be a better dancer", write "achieve my splits".  Instead of "have a great show", write "sell 600 tickets to the show".

Now keep going... don't worry about how many you have, we'll sort them out in a minute.

Ok?  Got your huge list of goals?  

Now pick your #1 goal under each heading and circle it.  Use a hot pink marker if you want.  Or some sparkles.

Now select the #2 goal under each heading.  Keep going until you have your Top 10 goals for the year.  Put them on one piece of paper and post it somewhere you look each day - on the fridge, on the wall by your computer, do it!  10 goals is a reasonable number. 10 is something you can do.

But we're not done!  Now we have to figure out HOW we're going to accomplish these goals.

Click the picture to download the
12-month calendar at a glance

Here's the fun part.  Take your notebook (or your Word document) and under each goal, make a list of mini-goals or steps that you need to accomplish to get to the big goal.  These should be items you can easily add to your to-do list, for example if your goal was to get your splits, your mini goals might be "1. write down stretches that improve splits", "2.  Stretch on Tuesdays & Thursdays after dance class", etc.

Whip out your calendar or planner and add these mini-goals into your calendar. If you want to see the big picture, use something like this 12 month planner (link downloads a pdf). Some goals are hard to put down into a time-line, but try your best.

By having these major goals split up into mini-goals, you will be able to see your progress and celebrate each mini-goal accomplishment along the way.  The mini-goals help you see that there is a pathway to achieving even the biggest goals!

YOU CAN DO IT!