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I watched a Discovery Channel's documentary just now, it never cease to amaze me when I see the world of nature and animals out there. I always enjoy to watch these documentaries, as it reminds me on:
- the power of nature,
- how God bless each creature with its own uniqueness, individualized strengths and weaknesses
- change

It reinforce what Darwin said:
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

How are you using your uniqueness, strengths and weaknesses today in reaching your goals, and adapting to the ever changing world?

Continuing further on my previous posts on achieving goals / outcomes, I came across the study of Dr. Gerald Bell. He is the Professor of Organizational Behavior and Management at the University of North Carolina. He posted question to 4000 of retired executives within the age around 70:

"If you could live your life all over, what would you do differently?"

The respond revealed 8 major areas that they regretted:

1. Life Goals
   "I would have carved out life goals and owned my life." 
    
2. Health
   "I would have taken better care of my health."
    
3. Money Management
   "I would have managed my money a lot more effectively."
    
4. Family
   "I would have worked on quality family goals a lot more."
    
5. Personal Development
   "I would have spent more time on personal development!" Finding ways to unlock your potential as an important part of your personal development, such as through training, coaching, etc.
    
6. Fun
   "I would have had a lot more fun in my life"
    
7. Career
   "I would have planned my career."
    
8. God and or Community
   "I would have lived in oneness with my God and or given more back to my community."
    

The fact that you're reading this means you want to and can take charge of you life, now. Set and achieve your goals in these areas of life, or  in other areas that are important to your life. Coaching provide support and encouragement that you need to achieve what you really really want.  By now, you understand that the choice is yours and you can do something about it, is it not?
Remember, "Life is like a taxi ride. the meter keeps on ticking, whether you're getting anywhere or standing still."

Before I uncover the steps to a powerful well-formed outcome in setting your goals, I just want to make sure the following:
• You want to know how to set meaningful goal
• You want to achieve goal that you set
• You are aware there will be obstacles that will prevent you from achieving goal, so you want to overcome these barriers.

I’ll be using “outcome” instead of just “goal” here. Why?
If goal is the representation of what you will get, the outcome will be larger aspect of it. Your goal might be “an MBA”, but you will need to be aware of what getting an MBA will do for you, such as symbol of accomplishment, or maybe to support your career development.

There have been many goal setting models available out there, whether you have tried it or not. I’m presenting “well-formed outcome” model as another option for you, which perhaps will be the most effective one that you will ever need. However, let me warned you, no matter what model you use, if your commitment to implement it is low, you may not get somewhere.
So, if you’re committed, let’s begin.

There are 8 steps to a well-formed outcome as below:

1. What do you want? State it in POSITIVE and AS IF now.
State your outcome in positive terms as your brain can’t process negatives directly. You can understand this process if you try NOT to think of a blue elephant. In order for you NOT to think of it, you actually need to think of blue elephant first.
For example, rather than saying 'I don't want a full-time job', ask yourself what you would rather have. Or rather than saying 'I don't want to work for others all my life', ask yourself what you would rather be.
When you set an outcome, you’re actually programming your mind to achieve that particular outcome. Consciously or unconsciously, you start to notice opportunities and possibilities around you that can help you reach your outcome. You may be surprised that simply by identifying what you want, you are increasing the probability of getting it.
Goals expressed in outcome thinking mode indicate that the person is imagining what they do really want as if they have stepped forward in time and have got it.

Answer:
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PS: Only until you have stated what you want rather than what you do not want, then you proceed to the second step.


2. What part will you play in achieving this goal? Is it under your control or someone else's?
Check that your outcome is under your control and that you can both initiate and maintain it. If it is not primarily in your control, it will be difficult to achieve because you are then relying on other people. If you want something that involves other people, discover how achieving your desire might benefit them too. They are much more likely to help you if they can get something out of it too. Or if this is the case, think about your goal in terms of what you can do to change things. For example, “I win a lottery” is not under your control.

Answer:
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3. How will you know when you have it? When you have achieved your goal, what it will look like, sound like, feel like, even smell or taste like?
Imagine your goal in as much detail as possible, using all your senses. Be specific. What will you see, hear and feel specifically? By making it more specific, you make it vivid, and this is what makes your goal into a compelling outcome.
For example, Jonathan's goal is to have a job within six months, so he sees himself in an office, sees himself receiving an employment contract, hears voices around him welcoming him to the company, hears himself saying 'well done, you made it!', feels that warm, contented feeling of happiness mixed with the fluttering of anticipation.
Do whatever works for you.

Answer:
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4. What are the implications of having what you want? How will it affect you? Will it affect anyone else? Is it still OK to have what you want?
What might you stand to lose if you are successful in your outcome?
In achieving your goal, will you lose, or significantly compromise, anything you’re gaining by your current behavior? If you will, this may make it difficult or impossible to achieve your goal. We need to know if there are any advantages to the present way of doing things which ideally you would take with you when you achieve this outcome. In NLP, this is referred as ecology check.
For example, if you want to work overseas, what effect will that have on your family? Or if getting a promotion means you’re going to travel a lot and away from your family, you may unconsciously be limiting your ambitions.
Ask yourself “If I could have the result I want now, would I take it?” and notice your response. If you say 'yes' with a slight hesitation, or there is a 'but' creeping in after the 'yes', this probably means that your goal needs refining in some way. Perhaps it means you need to let go of the outcome and put your energies into something else.
You can always decide and check out your amended goal each time against all these steps.

Answer:
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5. Is it appropriately contextualized?
Where, when, and with whom do you want it?
In what situations would having your outcome become inappropriate or useless?
Do you want your outcome all the time, in all places and without any limitations?

Answer:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Is your goal too big or too little?
If it is too big, you might find it too daunting even to get started on it. How would you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! So, the secret is to break it into small manageable steps, with each step being an individual goal. If your goal is too little, it may not be big enough to motivate you to get started. In this case, think about what achieving it would really give you. What difference would it make to your life? For example, taking one step on a journey would get you closer to your destination. Your destination then becomes the real motivating factor, not the first step. Knowing this may give your first step the importance it needs for you to make it.

Answer:
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7. What resources do you need to achieve your goal? What do you have already?
Think about material resources, people who can help you and about which of your own resources would be useful, such as confidence, specific skills, clarity, creativity, energy, and so on. People are usually helpful, and you may be surprise, all you need is to ask for it.

Answer:
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8. What action can you take now or will you take now to start the journey towards your goal?
It may be a simple thing, such as booking time in your calendar to do certain things, buying specific books related to financial freedom or buying a particular local newspaper on a regular basis to look for jobs; or it may be bigger, such as filling in the application form you have had for ages or talking to your boss about changing some of your priorities.

Answer:
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The above mentioned are the steps that you can use whenever you want to set your goals. You can print out for each of your goal.

Imagine what opportunities are opening up for you, as you now know how to set meaningful goal, and you know it is available for you, right now.
You will be surprised on the results you’re having, after getting so much clearer on your goals, how much easier it is now to get what you have always wanted. It is like the story that I heard from many who have implemented these steps. You now become one of them, the proud person to tell about your goal accomplishment, one after another.

Should you still struggle to set your outcome after following the proven steps above, or you clearly want someone to support you to achieve your outcome and at the same time remove the obstacles that stop you, you know I am available for you.

After all, it’s about achieving your meaningful goals, and it’s all about YOU…

Why do we set goals?

Setting goal is like setting a direction where you want to go, or a destination where you want to be, or something that you want to achieve. Only when you know what you want, then you can know how to get it and then really have it.
If you don’t know where exactly you want to go, you may just go round and round in circles. Just like a missile that has been fired without programming the target. Eventually, it run out of energy, gives up or self-destruct.

Or, take the example of a ship. You need to set course before leaving the port, where you are now and which destination you are going to. Only then the ship will “arrive”. Otherwise, you might just float around, maybe you will arrive at Australia, maybe you will arrive at Indonesia, and that’s only maybe.

How many of you are currently "floating" somewhere?
How many of you are just waiting the time to come before giving up?
How many of you saying to yourself that you might arrive somewhere, someday, and probably somehow?

Contrast those with below story.

An enthusiastic teenager made a list of all the things he wanted to achieve. When he had finished, he had written down 127 on what he called as "My Life List". Many were typical of a 15-year old, but his ambitions also extended to climbing Mount Everest, visiting every country in the world and even flying to the moon.
By the time that young man was 47 years old, he had ticked off 109 of his goals, including flying to the moon. His name was John Goddard, one of the Apollo astronauts.

So, you start to know the importance of goal setting now. But, then you may ask, how to set goals? And probably most importantly, setting goals that is meaningful to you and you really want to achieve it.

We will talk about it the next time we meet.

Contributing motivation speech with goal setting seminar during the PERMIT Boot Camp 1 - 3 May 2010 attended by 100 Indonesian students from different universities in Beijing.



Emphasizing the habit of setting goals while sharing the important steps in making goals achievable and meaningful.



PERMIT (Perhimpunan Pelajar & Mahasiswa Indonesia di Tiongkok) is an Indonesian Student Association in People's Republic of China, managed by young dinamic Indonesian who studied in China.

I just received the confirmation from International Coach Federation (ICF) on 31 Mar 2010, that I have been awarded with designation as Associate Certified Coach (ACC).
Since I completed the coach training program from The NLP & Coaching Institute of California on end of 2008, I have been setting the goal as the first Indonesian to be designated with ACC credential. Now my effort have been paid off, thanks to my trainer & Mentor Ms. Helen Attridge Green, thanks to my colleagues, my friends and my clients who support me through the journey. It is important for me to be with all of you.
Without all of you, this will not happen.
Achieving ACC designation is a demonstration of my personal commitment to the coaching profession and the effort to obtain a truly global credential, a major milestone in my career as a professional coach.

Thank you once again,

Suhendra
"Are you focusing your mind on being who you want to be, doing what truly inspires you, and experiencing the results that you know you can produce?"

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

View the clip at http://youtube.com/watch?v=5_7woDzT3Pw
Courtesy of "viktorados" & "Jupiter".

What does an Olympic athlete and the average person have in common? Goals and the will to succeed.

Olympians have their sights on winning gold, yet they rely on their trainer to help them get to the winner’s stand. Likewise, today, more and more people are turning to non-athletic coaching to help them develop a strategy for success, as evidenced by the growing number of coaches who are becoming credentialed by the International Coach Federation (ICF) and research.

“Just as Olympians are trained to win gold, ICF coaches are coaching people how to reach for their metaphorical gold,” D’Alessio said. “They help people find new career paths, transition into retirement, start their own business, have better relationships with their family or coworkers, manage their time, get organized and so much more.”

Article source: ICF (http://www.coachfederation.org)

Read Full Article:
http://www.coachfederation.org/includes/redirects/articlecount.cfm?articleID=669&filename=Olympics-FINAL.doc

“Achievement of quality of life can come in many ways, and one path we know to be helpful is partnering with a professional coach to address quality of life goals, such as career and finances; health and fitness; communication and relationships; or work/life balance,” said 2010 ICF President Giovanna D’Alessio, MCC1. “Coaching has been proven to help people attain their personal and professional goals and this attainment can naturally translate to a higher quality of life.”

In fact, the 2009 ICF Global Coaching Client Study, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Association Resource Centre Inc., showed that coaching is having a positive impact in client’s goal areas, and even other areas that aren’t primary objectives. Four in five respondents (80 percent) reported a positive change in self-esteem/self confidence as a result of coaching*. The study showed that a significant majority of clients also experienced a positive impact in relationships, communication skills, interpersonal skills, work performance, and work-life balance, as a result of partnering with a professional coach.

Article source: ICF (http://www.coachfederation.org)

Read Full Article:
http://www.coachfederation.org/includes/redirects/articlecount.cfm?articleID=641&filename=Int--Quality-of-Life-Month.doc