Pat and Lorna's Blog » Mind Maps

SMART Goals

Pat & Lorna Shanks — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:01:25 +0000

(Click on above Image for larger size)

At the start of each new year we sit down to write our yearly goals.

There are many, many ways to write goals… and many opinions on what works best. We have found one way to write goals that in our opinion makes a whole lot of good sense. We write our goals as SMART goals.

What are SMART Goals? As outlined in the mindmap above and in the descriptions below, SMART Goals are…

S	=	Specific
M	=	Measurable
A	=	Attainable
R	=	Realistic
T	=	Tangible

Specific: There is a greater chance of achieving a specific goal than a general goal. For a goal to be specific, answer the six "W" questions:

Who: Who is involved?
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Where: Identify a location.
When: Establish a time frame.
Why: Specific reasons or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

Measurable: Determine a concrete way to measure your progress towards the attainment of each goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as: How much? How many? How will I know if I achieve this goal?

Attainable: If the goals you set are important to you, you will start to figure out ways to make them come true. You will develop the attitude, abilities, skills and financial capacity to reach them.

Any goal is achievable if you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you the space to carry out those steps. Goals that seemed out of reach become attainable because you grow to match them.

Realistic: For a goal to be realistic it has to represent something that you are both willing and able to work towards. A goal can be high and realistic… it all depends on you. Make sure that each goal leads to substantial progress. If a goal is set too low, there may be little motivation to reach it. A goal is realistic if you truly believe it can be achieved.

Tangible: A goal is tangible if you can experience it with one of the senses… taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. If a goal is tangible it is easier to make it specific, measurable and attainable.

To make it easier for you to reference SMART goals and the criteria behind them, we have provided the following for your convenience:

SMART Goals as a PDF document

SMART Goals as an Interactive Flash File

ENJOY!

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Connections and Relationships… And Other Things We Are Thankful For

Pat & Lorna Shanks — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:13:23 +0000

As we sat here in the comfort of our home office, we thought about how thankful we are to have a house to live in. Others are not so fortunate… they do not have a place to call home.

So then we asked ourselves… what else do we have to be thankful for? A LOT!

We've outlined a few of the things we're thankful for in this mindmap:

So who said Thanksgiving comes around only once a year? We can be thankful (grateful) for what we have all year round. Think about and write down what you are thankful for, it's a very uplifting experience.

For us, our connections and relationships are especially important. On a daily basis we connect with so many people… in person as well as through all the wonderful social sites and technologies. Without even really being conscious about it, we are continually connecting with others.

These people teach us, support us, enable our success, bring us more joy… and basically complete us as human beings.

That is why on our blog we invite you to "Be Social With Us"! It is also the reason we organize and manage our relationships inside our knowledge maps. It is important for us to develop new relationships and to keep our established relationships alive.

It's all about relationships… how do you stay connected?

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Business Systems – Keep it Simple

Pat & Lorna Shanks — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:49:16 +0000

In a business, if something is done over and over again it is very wise to create a system for it. The key to this, however, is to break it down to its simplest form.

People can and do spend a lot of time and energy on business tasks and systems that could be done a lot more quickly, easily and with a lot less effort.

When you decide to create a system for something in your business, look at it this way; I start from here and I want to get to there, what are the basic steps I need to do in between? The key word in that statement is "basic". Keep it simple. Anything that is accomplished can be broken down into very simple steps.

A task that seems difficult or almost impossible to accomplish, when broken down into simple steps, can actually seem easily achievable. So not only can you create simple systems for the tasks you do on a regular basis in your business, you can also break tasks yet to be done into systems to make it easier to get started and accomplish them.

One method you can use to outline a system is to create a mind map. A mind map is a basic planning tool where you start with one thought or topic in the middle and create the associated thoughts or topics around it. Start with the desired outcome as the main central topic and then outline the basic steps in the associated topics around it.

We use this tool a lot in our business and find it invaluable.

The bottom line… keep it simple. Break down business systems into basic steps and you'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish faster, easier and with a lot less effort.

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Listing Of 250+ Social Network Sites

Pat & Lorna Shanks — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:03:30 +0000

A listing of over 250 social network sites. We have also listed the top 10 social networking sites. We have attached the Wikidedia.org information to each site if there was a link.

Click here for larger version

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