Do you know what most young people and adults share in common? From my experience as an educational consultant and executive coach, the answer is the inability to plan and achieve their goals.

Please take a few moments to think back to your middle school, high school or college years. Can you remember how much time you spent in learning how to plan, write and implement your goals? Goal planning and goal writing are skills that in many cases are learned through what I call the Osmosis Factor. Within this strategy, a presumption exists that if I hear or read the words, in this case goal planning or goal setting, I will immediately be able to set and achieve my goals. Unfortunately, consistent goal achievement is comprised of five factors and these factors by and large are not taught within the K-12 experience or even corporate training.

Factor #1 Whole Life Approach

Take the See Level approach and not the Sea Level approach where you cant see the forest for the trees. Look at your whole life and not just one area. Think of your life as a wheel divided into important areas including: mental, physical, family, career, financial and ethics and beliefs. Assess yourself in each area and then set goals to smooth out your wheel. Both my personal and professional wheels have 6 key areas.

Factor #2 - Criteria

Write goals using specific criteria. I use an adaptation of the traditional S.M.A.R.T. criteria - W.H.Y. S.M.A.R.T. (Written, Habit Forming, Yours, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistically Set High, Time Driven)

Factor #3 - Tools

Utilize a proven goal setting tool that helps you work through the goal planning process. The tool that I use has 10 steps and recognizes the importance of reward, consequences, possible obstacles, possible solutions and affirmations.

Factor #4 Affirmations

Construct positive affirmations or belief statements that will help you visualize the success that you desire for yourself. With all the negative energy and self-talk in the world, it is essential that you consistently reprogram your mental thoughts to overcome all the negative conditioning.

Factor #5 Action Plan Implement a written or electronic (software) Action Plan where you can keep all your goals and review them on a regular basis.

The coming New Year can be one of great incredible accomplishments and with less stress provided that you believe that YOUR life is what YOU make of it.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Good Day. Thanks for visiting. I hope that you have enjoyed my articles. In 1999, I founded ADVANCED SYSTEMS because I saw that performance could and should be doubled in warp time. Individuals, small and large businesses could not afford expensive solutions that may or may not deliver improved results in 12 months.

From my corporate, small business and education experiences, I recognized the individuals must have opportunities for connecting their passion to their purpose to secure the desired performance results, but many lacked the necessary skills, strategies and tools.

With over 20 years in sales management and 10 years in education, I understand how to unite productivity with profitability by developing a proactive working culture. My previous experiences resulted in cost savings through one of the first implementations of a computer software in a wholesaler distributor to the creation of a vendor performance assessment.

Since facilitating over 500 sessions, developing and editing over 25 training programs and writing numerous articles focusing on performance improvement, I bring a results focused approach to my clients. Also, I am proud to be one of the first five nationally certified facilitators of America?s Rising Stars (a Student Leadership developmental curriculum).

My passion is to help others connect their passion to their purpose to double performance. As The small business coach in Chicago, my clients have easily doubled their performance. Since our greatest resource is our young people, I am now working with large urban schools to generate the same results.

Education Background

• Graduated with honors from Purdue University with a B.A. in Education
• Earned M.S. from Purdue University in Instructional Design and Curriculum
• Published in the national trade journal, The Supply House Times, and numerous national newsletters
• Developed seminars and training on diversity, communication, leadership, sales, effective trade show behavior, networking, knowledge management, goal setting and improved educational outcomes
• Co-authored M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capicities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement, to be available in 2006
• Working a another book focusing on performance in public education
• Speaker in a national bureau - Resource Associates Corporation