Last Night I Caught

Charlie.

Silly Charlie. You went after the food, thinking it was more awesome than what I feed you. Were you wrong? You didn't eat a bite!

Thank you for the great responses to my goal setting post yesterday. Today I was listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio, and he was talking about effective goal setting. He mentioned five key components of effective goal setting.

The first was to Be Specific. "Don't just say, 'I want to lose weight,' say how much, exactly."

The second was that the goal needs to be measurable. "I want to finish 3 quilts."

Third is that you have to own it. You can't say, "My mom wants me to..." and then call it a goal. That's your mom's goal. What's yours?

Fourth is to set a time frame. "I want to finish 3 quilts by February." You have a specific, measurable goal, it's yours, and you have a deadline. (Haven't I always said that deadlines are my best friend? The best way for me to get a quilt finished is to have a deadline.)

And finally, put it in writing. That sets it in your mind, once you've put it on paper.

Can you believe it? He hit all 5 of my key points to goal setting in 5 minutes! It took me 45 years to figure it out!! I think the year that I did my own 12 Step Program (setting a goal each month to get one step further along on a UFO, not to necessarily COMPLETE anything...) was the year that it really hit home. Concrete measurable goals with a time limit. perfect.

So, what was my first quilt goal for 2012? "Finish the baby quilt for my husband's friend's grandson by Wednesday." Today is Monday, tomorrow I will be making the label.

What do you think? Are goals good or what?! :)