Do You See a Goal Post?

Welcome to a new year of The Living Room! We've kept from renovating our show because we want to keep things familiar. But familiarity won't mean a show that's turning yellow at the corners and showing its age. Rest assured the conversations will continue to be served pipin' hot and catered to suit your palate's preferences.

I thought it most apt to invite a personal coach onto the show today, the first work day of the year, to talk about how we can seize the day (carpe diem) every day in 2010! If organisations do their audits annually and one component they assess is the number of man hours lost, then on a personal and individual level, how many 'man hours' have you lost because you (i) proscrastinated, (ii) got your priorities wrong, (iii) succumbed to bad habits, (iv) got distracted, (v) delayed or (vi) went off course?

While 362 days still lay ahead for us to grab each day by the tail (it's the year of the tiger!), Justine Moss and I wasted no time on the show picking the mind of executive and personal coach, Sabreena Andriesz who heads up her own consultancy, The Conscious Choice. She's also current President of International Coach Federation Singapore.

Here are her 7 Golden Rules for Goal-Setting & Goal-Getting:

1. Goals must be expressed in the positive where it concerns outcome or destination goals; these set the direction for us.
2. Make the goals as specific as possible.
3. Decide how you will get evidence and feedback for your achievement.
For the ultimate goal, set the evidence that will tell you that you have 'arrived'.
For the journey, or process goals or pit-stops, decided on the feedback to pay attention to.
4. Identify the resources available to you.
5. Be proactive.
6. Pay attention to ecology or your environment.
7. Make an action plan.

Here's wishing you success in netting some precious goals this new year!